Persian Noodle Soup (Vegan Ash Reshteh)

Ash Reshteh is a thick Persian noodle soup packed with a cornucopia of herbs, lentils and beans. It’s nutritious, filling, and perfect for cold winter nights.

Growing up, I could always tell when my mom was making ash. I’d come home from school and the entire kitchen would be filled with the aromatic scent of minced herbs. While making this recipe recently, I found myself fondly reminiscing about chilly afternoons spent in the living room. I’d be doing my homework and waiting for my mom to finish the Ash Reshteh so I could be the first to chow down on a bowl.  

Ash (pronounced aash) is a variety of thick soup from Iran. While the word “ash” has become synonymous with the most popular variety—Ash Reshteh—there are more than 50 different types of ash in Iran.

A traditionally vegetarian dish, Ash Reshteh is hands-down the essential Persian soup. The three defining ingredients in Ash Reshteh are reshteh, kashk and herbs:

1. Reshteh is a type of noodle slightly saltier and starchier than Italian noodles. While you may be able to find reshteh at your local Middle Eastern grocery store, my mom typically made her version using spaghetti noodles. If it’s good enough for mom, it’s good enough for me.

2. Kashk is a thick drained yogurt which is saltier and more sour than your run-of-the-mill greek yogurt found in stores. For our vegan version, we swapped out the kashk with dairy-free plain yogurt and it worked like a charm.

3. Finally, as is common with many Persian staples, Ash Reshteh is jam-packed with herbs—both fresh and dry. There is a ton of cilantro, parsley and mint in this recipe, ensuring the moment you start cooking, your kitchen will smell like a Persian house the day before Nowruz.

Like most things Persian, Ash Reshteh is old. Like really, really old. I’m talking ancient. Through the centuries, cooks tinkered with the recipe until around A.D. 500, when noodles were added, resulting in something similar to what we know and love today.