My version of Ash Reshteh – Persian Bean and Noodle Soup

My husband is a foodie – in that he scours the net for recipes from all over the world. Being a vegetarian he loves looking for vegetarian dishes from different countries. Also he loves sweets and thus has a huge collection of cakes and puddings and every type of dessert. There are times when he will pick out something to try and if we do not have all the ingredients we either have to wait and get it next shopping round or improvise. Now many a time waiting to get all ingredients is not good as we forget and the recipe remains untasted.

We have moved homes just a couple of weeks ago and the effort to pack and unpack and try to get some order into the new home is tiring. In fact, I am still moving things about so that things are where I can find them / reach them. For a whole week I could not find the energy to cook at the end of the day as fatigue is hard to fight. But eventually I got the kitchen up and running. This description is shows you how we came about sitting and vegging on the net last Sunday as we were too tired to do anything. He came upon Persian recipes in some of his favourite food blogs. This one popped out and while we did not have all the ingredients putting it off did not sit well today. Quick look through the cupboard and fridge showed that we had most of the ingredients and some we could improvise. So apologies to the Persians for taking some liberties with their recipe but hey ultimately it is the taste that matters and variations are always part of and art of cooking.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of red beans – drained and washed
• 1 can of chick pears – drained and washed
• 1 can of black beans – drained and washed (it was supposed to be 1 can of lentils but I guess we can play with which ever bean tins we have)
• 1 – 2 cups of chopped spinach (I added all I had in the freezer – tend to chop and freeze so I do not waste it if not used up right away)
• 1 packet of Singapore noodles (fresh vacuum packed ones – am sure you can use any other types of noodles but I think the fine ones will disintegrate. One of the recipe states you can use spaghetti as well. This will be cooked in the soup and of course the time for that has to be factored in)
• 1 cup fresh chopped coriander
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 2 medium green chillies finely chopped (the ones I have are fairly hot so I would say chillies according to your taste otherwise the recipe states ground black pepper)
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• ¾ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• Salt to taste
• 1 table spoon of olive oil
• 2 – 3 tablespoons of plain yogurt (beat it smooth)

Method:

Since all the beans are cooked and from the can it takes the cooking time down quite a lot as the recipes talk about dry beans and lentils which will have to be cooked for an hour to hour and half.

In a large pan mix all the beans, adding water to cover the beans by an inch and some salt to get the beans boiling and hot. Even though these are cooked beans it is good to boil and then simmer them for about 20 mins or more to soften them further.

Meanwhile in a small saucepan pan add the olive oil and cumin seeds. Get it hot so the cumin just starts turning brown and add the onions, chillies and garlic. Sauté them till the onion goes translucent. Then add the turmeric powder and cook for a 2 – 3 mins. Once cooked add this to the pan with beans.

Add the spinach as well, bring to boil and cook for a further few minutes.

Add the noodles which just need heating for a few minutes. 

Add the coriander last. The other herbs you can add are parsley and mint.

Serve it in bowls and top it with a couple of dollops of plain yogurt. (you can also use sour cream if you want).

Then enjoy this heartwarming 1 bowl meal on a cold winter evening.

Sourdough bread – A Cheat Method to get the Taste

I love sourdough bread, does not matter if its white flour or rye or whole meal, I just love that sour taste. Every so often I look up the various recipes and think shall I make some. The time and effort it takes to make ‘mother’ the starter for it puts me off. I am not sure I have that dedication to make the starter over a period of I think couple of weeks (that was the shortest time I saw for this).

So I would yet another recipe and another and eventually I gave up the thought of homemade sourdough. I have learnt to make naan and one uses some yogurt in making the dough. This made me think, why can I not use that to make bread and see what it tastes like? I tend to use sour yogurt and so it should give sourness to the bread. And yes I was right and I have my cheat version of sourdough.

Ingredients

·       300 gm of wheat flour (roti atta will do or plain flour)
1 heaped teaspoon of yeast (I got live ones that I keep in fridge)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 to 1 and half table spoon of yogurt (sour if possible)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of sugar
Water should be warm – I generally make it just hot enough to be able to knead as that will get the yeast going.

Method

Put the dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Add the yogurt and then water to knead.

Just add water as you require (I do it by feel like how you do roti atta).

Knead it for a good 5 mins.

Once it is smooth and come together take a little oil in your hand and knead it so it covers the whole outer surface of the dough ball and at the same time it will line the bowl so when it rises it will not stick to the sides.

Cover it with a lid or Clingfilm so that it does not start drying out- I found that just using a tea cloth to cover tended to dry out the surface.

Leave it for a couple of hours and it will rise to double in size. The punch the air out and re-knead for a few mins.

Shape it up for the second rising. Now at this point you can put it in the baking tin and let it rise there. Just dust the tin with some flour so it does not stick.

Bake on high heat 250 C for about 30 mins. I would check after about 25 mins. But you should know your oven and the time it takes to bake your bread. Once done turn it out on a rack to cool as otherwise it will not cut properly.

You can have variations by adding garlic in when kneading the second time. I sometimes add poppy seeds. My point is once the bread is right you can add things you like.

Have it warm with butter or with olive oil and balsamic mix for dipping.