This comforting soup is inspired by the Persian ash soup. Clean-up fridge veggies plus simple seasonings, make this easygoing soup a perfect midweek meal.
To be honest, I didn’t know much about Persian ash soup (or called aash, ash reshteh), until I read it in The Secret of Cooking, mentioning that this is an easy-made yet comforting soup.
It caught my attention since the ingredients listed were all in my cupboard and flexible enough for me to use up anything from the fridge.
Soup Base: Soffritto and Chickpeas Broth
I love the seasoning of this soup. It is so simple that I re-read the recipe over and over again to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
That simplicity is treasured by slowly sautéed aromatic vegetables, aka soffitto (you can buy in supermarket now). Together with the flavourful chickpea broth, both combine to become the strong backbone of this soup. Only by adding a bit of turmeric, salt and pepper, is more than enough to complete this hearty and filling soup.
A Note for Chickpeas
Feel free to use tinned chickpeas if you don’t have dried chickpeas or simply don’t bother to cook them. In that case, use the whole tin with its liquid plus 2 tins of water for the soup. However, the soup base would be less flavourful, but convenience plays a good part here.
And, you don’t have to soak dried chickpeas overnight. I soaked it in the morning when I decided to make the soup. After 4 hours, I pressure-cooked it for 10 minutes. That’s it.
Now, let’s dive into the recipe.
Persian Ash inspired Chickpeas and Noodles Soup Recipe
Don’t let one or two lacking ingredients deprive you of this bowl of goodness. I encourage you to swap the vegetables with anything you have on hand. Ultimately, it’s a very forgiving soup.
Ingredients
Serves 2 – 3
- 200 g dried chickpeas, soaked in advance
- 1 L water
- 10 g salt
- 30 g moong dal
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 small carrot
- ½ leek
- 1 celery stalk
- 2 large mushrooms
- ½ courgette
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- salt and pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 dried lasagne sheets (or other broken-up pasta, whole grains like barley)
- 30 g mixed herbs, chopped
- dollops of crème fraîche (optional, omit for vegan)
- 1 tbsp of lemon juice
How to Make
- First cook the chickpeas. Put the chickpeas, water and salt in a pressure cooker and turn on to medium-high heat. When it reaches to the highest pressure, lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes. Release pressure naturally.
- Meanwhile, dice all the vegetables.
- Warm 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large casserole pan, slowly cook the onions, garlic, leek and celery, stirring often. These humble vegetables take time to release their aroma. Add a generous pinch of salt to season. Let them take on some colour, about 10 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms as well and cook for a further 5 minutes. Then add the carrots, courgette, moong dal, pinch of salt, pepper and turmeric. Cover and let them sweat a bit.
- By this time, the chickpeas should be done. Add ⅔ of it to the pan along with all the chickpeas cooking water, bay leaves and lasagne sheets. Let the whole thing simmer for 15 minutes. Save the remaining cooked chickpeas for another dish.
- Discard the bay leaves and squeeze in fresh lemon juice. Check for seasonings and divide the soup into 2 soup bowls. Drop in a dollop of crème fraîche to each bowl, sprinkle in fresh herbs and a few twist of black pepper. Finishing with a glug of good extra virgin olive oil and serve.
More Simple and Tasty Soup Ideas
- Scent of Ocean: Prawn and Samphire Miso Soup
- A Sweet and Humble Roots Shine Soup
- One Pot Meal: Poached Fish in Charred Tomato Broth
- Homey Chinese Black Eyed Peas Soup
- Easy Bottoms Up Tom Kha Soup Recipe with Shrimp
- One Pot Kimchi Tomato Soup Noodles
- Caramelised Carrot Soup with Pressure Cooker (Nathan Myhrvold’s Recipe)
- Vegan Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Coconut
