Ash-e Shalgham

A thick Persian winter pottage of turnip, barley, chickpeas, and mountains of herbs, soured with a little lime

Origin: Iran (the Persian winter table)

From the journey of Turnip.

The ash is the thick, herb-laden pottage that is a whole genre of Persian cooking, a soup substantial enough to be a meal and tied to the seasons and the rites of the year, and ash-e shalgham is its turnip incarnation, made through the cold months when the root is sweet and at its best. Turnips are simmered until soft and almost dissolving in a pot heavy with barley, chickpeas, and lentils and a great quantity of chopped fresh herbs, the whole soured at the end with lime juice and finished, in the Persian way, with fried mint and golden onions. The turnip is valued in Iran as a vegetable of winter and of health, eaten against the coughs and colds of the season, and this soup is comfort food in the fullest sense, warming, restorative, and traditionally taken when one feels the chill or the beginnings of a cold. The faint, clean bitterness and soft sweetness of the turnip balance the sourness of the lime and the green weight of the herbs, and the barley gives the ash its characteristic thick, soothing body. It is a humble, deeply seasonal dish, the kind cooked in a big pot and ladled out over several days.

Ingredients

Soup base

  • 100 g pearl barley, rinsed
  • 100 g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight (or 1 tin, drained)
  • 80 g brown or green lentils, rinsed
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
  • 2 litres water or light stock

Vegetables and herbs

  • 500 g turnips, peeled and cut into 2 cm dice
  • 100 g fresh coriander, chopped
  • 100 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 50 g fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 bunch spring onions, sliced

To finish

  • 3 tbsp lime juice (or 1 tbsp dried-lime powder), to finish
  • salt and black pepper

Garnish (na'na dagh)

  • 2 tbsp dried mint
  • 1 onion, thinly sliced and fried golden
  • 3 tbsp olive oil or butter

Method

  1. Put the barley, soaked chickpeas, and lentils in a large pot with the water or stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer, partly covered, for about 45 minutes, until the pulses are beginning to soften.
  2. Meanwhile, fry the chopped onions in the olive oil with the turmeric until soft and golden, about 12 minutes. Stir into the pot.
  3. Add the diced turnips and continue to simmer for 30 minutes, until the turnips are very tender.
  4. Add the chopped coriander, parsley, dill, and spring onions and simmer, partly covered, for a further 25–30 minutes, until the herbs have melted into the soup and it has thickened to a hearty pottage.
  5. Make the garnish: fry the sliced onion in the oil or butter until deep golden and crisp; lift out. In the same fat, off the heat, stir in the dried mint until it sizzles and darkens.
  6. Stir the lime juice into the soup and season well with salt and pepper. Taste: it should be savoury, herby, and pleasantly sour.
  7. Serve in bowls, topped with the fried mint and the crisp golden onions.

Notes

Ash-e shalgham is winter comfort food in Iran, traditionally eaten when fighting off a cold, and it thickens and improves overnight; loosen with water when reheating. A spoonful of kashk (drained fermented whey) stirred in at the end gives the richer, tangier traditional finish; for a vegan version use the mint and onion garnish alone. Dried Persian limes (limu omani), pierced and simmered with the soup, give a deeper, more authentic sourness than fresh lime.

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