Milesent's Persian Resarch Page

Ash-e Reshte - Persian Noodle Soup

This paper documents my attempt to re-create the medieval dish the modern traditional Persian dish Ashe Reshte evolved from; a soup prepared with dried noodles. In particular I wished to recreate the soup as eaten in the Safavid dynasty, circa 1550. It is a humble dish; something served in bourgeois households not palaces and I believe it would have varied greatly from family to family and season to season. Most of the ingredients can be prepared and dried ahead of time making it an ideal dish for nomadic cultures.

Soup is served in this detail from a Freer Sackler Gallery minature

Period recipe sources

The recipe I used primarily in my recreation was from the 1373 cook book “The Description of Familiar Foods” (itself including a compellation of recipes from the 13th century al-Baghdadi’s Kitab al-Tabik) includes the following recipe in the section on ‘plain’ stews meaning not sweet or sour¹:

“Rashta [Persian reshta, string, noodles]. Cut up fat meat medium and put it in the pot with water to cover. When it boils, take its scum aside and throw it away. Put in a scraped stick of Chinese cinnamon and a handful of washed, picked-over lentils. Some people put in soaked chickpeas instead. Adjust its salt, and when the meat is done and the water boils, throw the noodles on it. When it is done it settles on the fire and is taken up².”

Another Freer Sackler detail of camp cooking

The same book has the following recipe for fresh noodle soup:

“Itriya [Greek itrion, soup noodle]. The way to make it is to cut up fat meat medium and melt a bit of tail for it and throw its cracklings away. Throw the meat on the fat and stew it in it. Then put water to cover on it, and a handful of soaked chickpeas. Cut up an onion and throw it in when it is done, and as much salt and spices as necessary. Then add as much lukewarm water as you want. Take as much washed, picked-over rice you want, and a stick of Chinese cinnamon and pepper and mastic. When the rice is nearly done, put in a quarter as much North African itriya as the rice. Leave the pot on the fire a while until it settles, and take it up.³”

The three following recipes were used for additional reference and inspiration and are from a 15th century cookbook, the Kitab al-Tbakha, translated by Charles Perry:
“Itriya [dried soup noodles]. It is made of dough, and it is thrown in the pot by handfuls. Cook it like rishta [fresh noodles]; put it with broth and boil it with it.”⁴

“Rishta. Boil meat⁵, then put rishta [fresh noodles] with it. Some put onions with it, others chickpeas. Some put minced green coriander on top of it.”⁶

“Tutmaj. Roll out dough and cut it [into noodles] and cook it in water until done. Put yoghurt, mint, garlic, clarified butter and fried meat with it.”⁷

a beautiful 12th or 13th century extant cauldron of the same shape as those pictured in illuminations from the Hermitage Museum (image from their website).

As I see this soup as a variable dish, it is important to be aware of what other vegitables and spices might be available to the cook (not that the cook is necesarily going to use any of these, mind you! But I thought it would help to know what was in the larder, so to speak.
Vegetables and spices from “The Essential Rumi” translations (13th century poetry): Garlic, Basil, Capers, Cumin seed, Cabbages (as a broth), Lentils, Onion, Salt, Saffron, Turnips
Vegetables and spices from other sources (above recipes unless otherwise noted): Chickpeas⁸, Onions⁹, Coriander (Cilantro), Mint, butter, Salt, Pepper, Cinnamon, mastic

First Recipe trial:

I purchased a lamb’s neck bone (with meat attached), put it into a pot of water (enough to submerge the meat entirely) and brought it to a boil. I then reduced the heat and allowed it to simmer while I chopped 3 cloves of garlic and one green onion and added them to the soup. I scraped a cinnamon stick lightly with my chopping knife and then put it in (assuming that is what they meant by scraped cinnamon; perhaps to make the surface more prone to mixing?). I added a dash of salt and left the soup covered to boil. I drained some pre-soaked chickpeas and set them aside to add to the soup later. I had an appointment so I turned the soup off and let it cool while I was gone. When I returned I re-heated the soup, and added the noodles I had made previously. Once the noodles (see below for how I prepared the noodles) were cooked thoroughly I served the soup.
The cinnamon overtones reminded my of Vietnamese Pho soup, which I like, however the texture was watery.

Second Recipe trial:

For my second attempt at the recipe I prepared the lamb broth the night before by cooking a lamb’s neck bone (with meat attached!) in water with a little salt and garlic for four hours. I refrigerated the broth overnight before preparing the soup the next day. Other changes: I used a my second batch of noodles which are thinner and smoother than the first batch, added fresh cilantro (“minced green coriander”), added the onions and cinnamon later in the cooking process and used lentils as well as chickpeas for a heartier soup. I found this version superior to the first trial. In particular by adding the cinnamon at a later stage it was a more subtle seasoning. The fresh cilantro added a lovely complement to the flavor as well. The thinner noodles also cooked much faster and had a better texture than the first batch noodles.

Final recipe:

Lamb Broth:
Lamb foreleg (with bone)
3 cloves minced garlic
Ľ tsp salt
Brought lamb to a boil in a pot of water, reduced heat added garlic and salt and kept at a low boil for approximately four hours. Refrigerated overnight, removed solidified fat and oil from the surface of broth after refrigeration.
Noodles:
2 cups whole hard wheat flour
Ľ cup (approximately) water
See the Noodle page for detailed explanation of noodle process.
Soup:
8 cups (approximately) Lamb broth
2 cups (approximately) homemade dried noodles
1 cup dried lentils
1 green onion and stalk diced
1 stick cinnamon
1 tsp dried coriander seeds
Ľ cup fresh cilantro; minced
Ľ tsp salt
1 cup prepared chickpeas
1 clove minced garlic

Brought lamb broth to a boil, added lentils, garlic, coriander, chickpeas and cinnamon. After 20 minutes reduced heat and added noodles, some of the cilantro, onions and salt. Cooked until noodles were tender. Garnished with minced cilantro before serving.

Placement in a menu

Najmieh Batmanglij identifies it as an appetizer in a modern Persian “Traditional” menu¹⁰ and goes on to indicate noodle soup in particular as being part of the traditional New Years feast or something served three days after friends or relatives have left on a journey for luck¹¹. Hekmat, conversely does not mention it in his description of the New Year’s celebration which is otherwise remarkably similar to Batmanglij’s¹². He does identify soup as “a humble food” and suggests its serving as a luncheon food by itself or with a rice dish. Hekmat suggests serving soup with “chopped fresh herbs, radishes, chopped onion, fresh mint leaves, bread, and pickles.¹³” Charles Perry indicates that bread would have been served with a plain dish¹⁴. Depicted right is an image of a woman preparing flat bread such as may have been served with soup. Many illuminated manuscripts depicting more noble feasts show platters of fruit (Pomegranates most commonly, sometimes mixed with other fruits, oranges perhaps?)

A woman cooking flat bread in a Freer Sackler minature

¹Translation by Charles Perry in Medieval Arabic Cookery, p.280

²Ibid, page 334

³Ibid, page 333

⁴Translation by Charles Perry, Medieval Arab Cookery page 471. Note that it is the first recipe he lists in his translations giving the recipe some implied prominence in the list. Also this source reverses the definitions of Reshte as fresh noodles and Itriya as dried noodles from the al-Baghdadi cookbook also translated by Perry. As Reshte is translated as dried noodles modernly I am inclined to believe this is an error either in the translation or in the original cookbook.

⁵Need to find the actual word used, from Waines p. 575 referring to a different medieval stew recipe “One calls simply for a single ‘meat’ (Arabic lahm) a term generally understood to mean lamb, the most widely favored meat in Middle Eastern Cooking”

⁶Translation by Charles Perry, Medieval Arab Cookery page 472

⁷Translation by Charles Perry, Medieval Arab Cookery page 473

⁸From the Food Timeline website: http://www.foodtimeline.org/index.html

⁹Noted in Perry’s translation of the period recipe

¹⁰Batmanglij, page?

¹¹Ibid, page 40

¹²Hekmat, page 28

¹³Ibid, page 78

¹⁴“The ‘plain’ dishes might have been served without rice or much bread (bread would always have present, however.)” Perry, page 280