Aush | Let’s find out about the special Iranian pottage
Aush (or Persian noodle soup) is a delicious Iranian pottage that you can see it served all over the country. You can find more than 30 kinds of Aush in Iran; because first they are so popular and second, like many other things every city of Iran has at least one special Aush for itself.
You can see different kinds of stew and soups among foods in other countries of the world; but Aush, is something that specifically belongs to Iran. It’s like maybe it was only Iranians that found out they can cook a special and tasty meal out of herbs, noodles, chickpeas and beans! And that is why foreigners call it “Persian” noodle soup.
Few people can be found who are not interested in all kinds of Persian noodle soups. They can become one of your best experiences when traveling to different parts of Iran! In this article, we have decided to invite you to gain different experiences in different parts of Iran by introducing the most famous and delicious Iranian pottages (Aush). We suggest you follow us with the continuation of this article.
What is Aush?
We can say that it is a dish similar to soups. The main ingredient of all kinds of Aush is special herbs (a combination of leek, parsley, coriander, dill and spinach), beans, chickpeas and lentil . And then some ingredients are added or removed from this basic recipe. For example to cook Sabzi Aush, they use different kinds of herbs and add meat and rice to this recipe. The ingredient you add or remove from the base recipe is the thing that make that dish special. But there may be some Aushs like yoghurt Aush that doesnt have any of the basic ingredients but we still consider the as a kind of Aush. Well, we call them an exception!
Most of the Aushs are served with whey and designed with ingredients such as: fried mint, fried garlic and fried onion on top of them, unless they write in the recipe that don’t serve it with these. But even if the recipe says to remove the onion/mint/garlic or whey, you still can use them optionally and it makes no harm!
Sometimes you can see Aush served with bread too.
The famous traditional Persian noodle soup
Aush reshteh or Persin noodle soup, is the most famous and popular Aush of Iran. It is so delicious, and very easy to make. And you can find it in every restaurant in Iran. This dish is so famous that foreigners took the name of the Aush from it and added a “Persian” at the beginning of the name to specify and called Aush the “Persian noodle soup“. Now lets find out what are the ingredients and how can you cook Aush reshteh.
The ingredients of Aush reshteh are so basic. You coock this Aush from special herbs for Aush (a combination of leek, parsley, coriander, dill and spinach), beans, chickpeas, lentil and noodles.
You have to first cook your beans, chickpeas and lentil in a pot of water, and then when they are cooked, you add the herbs that you hashed before; and after the herbs are cooked add the noodle and wait for 20-30 minutes. The dish is ready! For the decoration and better taste, cut one onion and a clove of garlic, fry them and put some on the dish. beside the fried onion and garlic use a little fried mint too. The tradition is to have Aush reshteh with whey but you can have it the way it is too; and also some use vinegar instead of whey and that is delicious too. It really depends on your taste. Enjoy!
Aush Sabzi (herbs) | The tasty Shirazian dish
This is a special pottage from Shiraz. The ingredients of this Aush are: meat, rice, beans, onions, chickpeas, lentil, herbs (leek, tarragon and origany).
To cook this Aush, you have to first cook the meat with onions and after you cooked it, you have to ulcerate the meat. This will help the Aush becoming super tasty and thick. Then you have to choose two pots; one for cooking lentil and rice, and another one for cooking beans and chickpeas. When you cooked your grains, you separate half of it and put them together with your meat and herbs. Then you blend the other half of your grains and put it in your pot.
After an hour your dish is ready! You can have this dish with dried whey if you like, but in Shiraz, they don’t serve it with dried whey. They have it with a lot of black pepper and lemon or sour orange juice. Also, don’t forget to put a lot of fried onion on the dish for better taste!
Shole Qalamkar | Iranian pottage for the king!
Aush Qalamkar or Shole Qalamkar, is one of the most famous types of Iranian dishes. We call this dish the pottage for king because it was cooked for the first time by the order of Nasser al-Din Shah (the Qajar king) with special rituals and ceremonies; and it was distributed among the people and courtiers.
In cooking this Iranian pottage, you have to use special herbs (leeks, parsley, coriander, spinach), chickpeas, beans, lentils, rice, onions, as well as boneless head meat, Turmeric, pepper and oil. Because of the amount of meat that we use in Shole Qalamkar it is one of the expensive Aushs.
The way to cook this dish is very similar to Aush Sabzi. First you have to cook the meat with onion and then cook your grains. After you cooked the grains you have to squash them a little and put it together with meat. Then add your herbs and wait for them to cook together. You have to serve it with a lot of onion which gives a perfect taste to your Aush. Shole Qalamkar doesn’t need fried mint or dried whey, but if you like, you can add them to it.
This this is a traditional food of Isfahan, and people have it for breakfast or for tea in the afternoon. Shole Qalamkr is also popular in Abadan too; but the difference is that they use a lot of black pepper in it which I like better!
Tarkhine Aush | A delicious dish from the West!
Tarkhine Aush is so delicious and has a special taste that you can’t find in every food. This dish belongs to the west of Iran; Lor and Kurd people have it to take care of themselves for confronting the cold of the Autumn and Winter. If you ever traveled to Kurdish cities of Iran or visited Lorestan, look for this special Aush and enjoy! Taq-e Bostan is one of the places that you can always find Tarkhine Aush in it and enjoy the historical monument while you are enjoying a delicious Aush!
The ingredients of this Iranian pottage are herbs (a combination of leek, parsley, coriander, dill and spinach), Tarkhine, beans, lentil and chickpeas. To cook Tarkhine Aush you will put your grains with Tarkhine in a pot to cook together. After you are sure that the ingredients are cooked, you add your herbs and wait for them to cook too. Some people add whey after they cooked the ingredients and wait for another 30 minutes, but that is optional and you can choose if you want whey in your dish or not. Then you out fried onions, garlic and mint on the dish and enjoy!
What is Tarkhine?
Tarkhine or Tarhana, is a dried ingredient that you use to cook a special Aush with. You make it out of wheat, doogh (a special iranian drink). To make Tarkhine, wash the wheat or barley semolina and soak it for 6 hours; then pour it into the doogh, which is 4 times of the semolina, and let it cook. In the last hours of cooking, we add some turmeric, pepper, mint and saffron to it; and when the ingredients become dough, we turn off the flame and let it cool. Then we make it into a ball and put it on a tray and put it in a dry place to dry.
Aush Mast (Yoghurt Aush) | A special dish from the beautiful Isfahan
As Aush is a dish that they serve it hot, most of us think that the dish is something that suits perfectly for the cold seasons. But you are wrong! Aush is so various that we can call it a dish for all seasons! Now let’s read about an Aush, that perfectly suits for hot seasons because you have to serve it cold.
This dish is one of the most famous foods of Isfahan but you can find it in Northern cities of Iran too. But the one that belongs to North of Iran is quite different. The ingredients are: Yoghurt, boneless meat, egg yolk, onion, sugar, rose water and saffron.
To cook this Aush, first cook onion and meat together and when you cooked it mash it till it gets stretchy. Then mix your egg yolk and yoghurt and let the boil. When you boiled the yoghurt and egg, add the meat and when they cooked together add saffron, sugar and rose water and wait for 15-20 minutes. Let it cool down and then design it with barberry, pistachio and almond.
Aush Doogh | Iranian pottage belonging to the NorthWest!
Doogh is a kind of Iranian drink made out of yoghurt that taste a little salty. The taste of doogh is not something that you find in everything, just like the dish cooked from it! Aush doogh is an Iranian pottage that belongs to Ardabil city. If you ever traveled to this city don’t forget to look for this dish and enjoy having it in the cold weather of Ardabil city.
You can also find this dish in Kurdish cities of Iran and Lorestan too. But they are different than the one you’ll find in Ardabil; and besides, the origin of this dish is Ardabil city.
the ingredients of Aush doogh are: Doogh, herbs for Aush, chickpeas, rice, egg, meat and flour. You have to first combine meat and flour and make meaty spheres. Then cook the chickpeasin one pot and mix rice, egg and flour in another pot. Add doogh to the mix of rice nd start swirling it till the doogh boils. After you boiled your doogh stop swirling and add your herbs. When the rice and herbs cooked add your chickpeas and sphere of meats. When the meats cooked, your dish is ready. Enjoy!
Mashhadi Shole | The main food of Mashhad
This Aush is one of the min foods of Mashhad and they mostly serve it in Ramadan. To cook this popular Aush of Mashhd you’ll need boneless meat, lamb’s tail, rice, wheat, onion, white beans, pinto beans, mung bean and chickpeas.
First you have to cook your grains and then fry lamb’s tail with onion for 1-2 minutes and then add your meat and let them cook with water. After you cooked the grains and meat you mix them in a pot and start whipping until they stick to your ladle. After than you mix your rice and wheat with some spice such as turmeric, pepper and salt and add them to the mixture of grains and meat. Then you let them cook together for about 2-3 hours and after that your tasty dish is ready.
Did you know there is a festival for this delicious food?!
The National Aush Festival is the oldest food festival in Iran, which is held every year in Zanjan. In this festival, different Iranian tribes from different parts of the country cook and display it. The place of Aush festival is in Ail Daghi entertainment complex of Zanjan. Iranian tribes from all provincial centers of Iran gather at the invitation of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism of Zanjan Province and cook their dishes and perform their rituals, and at the bottom of the top members of the festival will be honored. Until now there was 11 periods of Aush festival has been held so far.
Which of Iranian Aushs did you like the most? Let us know by commenting your favorite dish and thanks for reading the article. We hope it was useful and enjoyable for you.
