Celebrate spring and Nowruz, the Persian new year, with this traditional Persian noodle, Ash Reshteh, a vegetarian soup made with beans, lentils and herbs.
The staple starch in Persian cuisine is rice and bread. Noodles are not very common in traditional Persian recipes. But noodles are served for the Persian new year (nowruz), as they represent long life.
Among the many traditions we have for Nowruz, Persian New Year, we have the traditional meal, too.
I’ve already shared my family’s recipe for the sabzi polo, and our trail mix (ajeel) for Chahr-Chambe Souri. So, today is dedicated to my favorite Persian soup, Ash Reshteh.
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Recipe highlights
- Hearty: Persian soups, or ash, are hearty soups, filled with all kinds of goodies. Ash Reshteh is made with three kinds of beans, lentils, herbs and greens.
- Norouz: This soup as well as herb rice (sabzi pollo) and an aromatic herb frittata (kookoo sabzi) are served for nowruz. The noodles represent long life and the herbs represent the greens of spring.
- Flavor: Ash reshteh is an incredibly aromatic and delicious soup on its own, without any garnishes. We like to garnish our soup with extras like dried mint sautéed in olive oil, caramelized onions, bloomed saffron and kashk, fermented yogurt.
- Make Ahead: You can easily make this soup several days before you serve it, and it will taste even better because the flavors meld together. Leftover soup makes a great meal on its own whether for lunch or dinner.
“Ashe Reshteh, Persian Noodle Soup, thanks to @familyspice’s recipe. The soup is traditionally served for Nowruz, the Persian New Year (March 20). This is a comfort-food soup with lentils, beans, caramelized onions, spinach and a dollap of kashk (though I used sour cream).”
Ingredients you need
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- Beans: This soup is filled with all kinds of beans. The variety can vary depending on who is making it, but I use lentils, kidney beans, navy beans, garbanzo beans
- Fresh greens: Like the beans, the variety of greens can vary depending on who is preparing the dish. I use parsley, green onions, spinach. I personally add spinach to make it healthy. I prefer fresh, but you can use frozen spinach. I also prefer fresh herbs, but some people prefer dried.
- Reshteh noodles: The traditional Persian reshteh noodles can be found in middle eastern grocery stores or online. If you cannot find it, use linguini instead.
- Onions: The base of most recipes starts with a simple brown onion. You can also use white or yellow onions.
- Vegetable stock: This is a vegetarian soup so vegetable broth or stock is preferred. Some people use beef stock.
- Garnish ingredients: Garlic, dried mint, kashk (sour cream), ground saffron dissolved in hot water. Instead of kashk you can add sour by using red wine vinegar.
- Oil: To sauté vegetables you can use vegetable, canola or extra virgin olive oil.
- Spices: Turmeric, salt, pepper
Step-by-step directions
- Sauté the onions. Sauté the chopped onions in hot oil until they soften. Season onions with salt, turmeric and pepper.
- Add greens. Add parsley, green onions and spinach to the onions and cook for 5 minutes.. Stir in vegetable stock, water and lentils.
- Simmer soup. Bring to a boil, then cover pot and simmer for 40 minutes.
- Soak beans. I find that by soaking canned beans in water, it reduces the gas or stomach issues.
- Add noodles. Discard water and add beans to the soup. Stir in linguine. Cover pot, reduce heat to low and cook until noodles are done, stirring occasionally to keep the noodles from sticking.
- Add kashk. In a small bowl whisk together soup broth and kashk, then add this back into the soup pot.
- Serve. Garnish soup with caramelized onions, sautéd mint with oil, more kashk and/or saffron liquid.
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Recipe tips and FAQs
Like the other meals served on norouz, this Persian noodle soup is filled with herbs and greens to represent the green of spring. The reshteh noodles are not broken up in this soup, but left long. It can be a hassle to eat them this way, but the long noodles represent a long life.
Ash reshteh is a delicious soup on its own, without any garnishes. But it is traditionally served with some extras, requiring a little extra work. Here are some of the garnishings that are typical with this soup. Typically, more than one type of garnish is used:
- Onions are sliced and fried until dark and caramelized.
- Dried mint is sautéed in olive oil until aromatic and dark green.
- Saffron is also crushed and steeped in hot water.
- Kashk is swirled into the soup or dollaped to make a design. Kashk is basically fermented yogurt with much of the liquid evaporated off. You can make kashk at home, buy kashk on amazon or at a middle eastern market, or substitute it with sour cream or creme fraiche.
If you want to make it faster, check out my recipe for instant pot ash reshteh.
I prefer to cook with fresh herbs and greens because of flavor and texture. But if you do not have fresh parsley or green onions you can totally swap them out for dry. Typically, you use about 3 times as much fresh herbs as you do dry.
Traditionally, kashk is swirled into the soup. You can substitute it with sour cream or creme fraiche or use red wine vinegar instead. Ash reshteh can also be garnished with caramelized onions, dried mint sautéed in oil and drizzles of bloomed saffron.
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: Store any leftover soup in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
TO FREEZE: You can also freeze leftovers. Transfer to a resealable bag or freezer safe container and freeze for up to 4 months.
Nowruz ebook
Want to learn more about Norouz and the Persian New Year? I have put together an ebook that has all the history, traditions and recipes of Norouz, in a beautifully photographed ebook. And it’s only $1.99! Learn more here!
Ash Reshteh (Persian Noodle Soup)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 onions chopped
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 cup chopped parsley
- ¾ cup chopped green onions
- 2 ½ cup chopped fresh spinach
- 5 cup vegetable stock
- 6 cup water
- ½ cup dried lentils
- 15 oz canned kidney beans drained of liquid
- 15 oz canned navy beans drained of liquid
- 15 oz canned garbanzo beans drained of liquid
- 4 oz dried reshteh or linguini
- 1 onion sliced thinly (for garnish)
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- ¾ cup kashk or sour cream
- ¼ teaspoon ground saffron dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water
Instructions
- Heat a large stock pot on medium and add 2 tablespoon oil. When oil is hot, add chopped onions. Season onions with salt, turmeric and pepper.
- When onions start to soften approximately 5-7 minutes, add parsley, green onions and spinach.
- Cook vegetable for 5 more minutes then add vegetable stock, water and lentils. Bring to a boil, then cover pot and simmer for 40 minutes.
- Add in canned beans.
- Stir in linguine.
- Cover pot, reduce heat to low and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep the noodles from sticking to each other.
- In the meantime, prepare the garnish by heating a small frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the hot pan then sliced onions.
- Cook until onions start to brown and caramelize, reducing heat to medium-low to prevent burning. This can take up to 30 minutes.
- Stir garlic in with the onions. Cook for 2 minutes and remove pan from heat.
- Stir in dried mint.
- Prior to serving soup, whisk ¼ cup of soup broth with ½ cup kashk or sour cream. Stir mixture back into the soup pot.
- Garnish soup with mint mixture and/or ¼ cup kashk/sour cream and saffron liquid.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
