INGREDIANTS:
1 cup dry kidney beans (not canned)
1 cup garbanzo beans (not canned)
2 cups lentils (not canned)
2 cups pinto beans (not canned)
6-7 bunches of spinach
4-5 bunches of cilantro
4-5 bunches of parsley
3-4 bunches of chives (or just the green portion of green onions if you can’t find chives)
3-4 bunches of green onions
2-3 bunches of mint
about 10 onions
about 5 cloves of garlic
1 package of RESHETEH noodles
2 Tabelspoon dried mint
This recipes serves about 25-30 people.
PREPARATION:
Allow beans to soak in water for 24 hours. You can soak kidney, garbanzo and pinto bean together, keep lentils in a separate container for soaking.
Chop and wash all vegetables in about 1” pieces (like the size you would chop romaine lettuce for salad).
Slice onions evenly and fry until golden brown
Dice garlic and fry until golden brown (be sure not to burn it!)
Crush dried mint (remove all stems) and fry in about 3 tablespoons of oil
Drain the beans.
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:
In a large pot, add all kidney, pinto and garbanzo beans with water (approximately 1 ½ cup water for each cup of beans). Cook on medium-high heat for 45 minutes. Add lentils and more water. Cook additional 45 minutes. Beans should be tender, but not fully cooked (al dente).
At this point, you should still have a good amount of water in the pot. If not, you will need to add more.
Add all vegetables (except fried onion and garlic). Make sure there is enough water to get all vegetables wet, but this is a very thick soup, so be mindful not to add too much water. If you can push all the vegetables down and the water will cover them, then it’s enough. You can always add more if the soup is too thick …..
Allow to cook for approximately 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes on medium heat.
After 2 hours cooking, add the fried onions, fried mint (and its oil) and fried garlic and allow to cook an additional 1 hour. Continue to stir every 30 minutes.
Add Reshteh. Allow to cook additional 15 minutes (or so) until the noodles are cooked.
Add salt to taste (usually about 3 tablespoons).
Ash e Reshtah is typically served with a garnish of fried onions, fried mint, fried garlic and “Kashek”. Kashek is a form of whey that is sour (a very sour yogurt).
ENJOY!!!
