Ash Reshteh Persian Noodle Soup with Vegan Saffron Macadamia Cream

vegan ash reshteh

Dear readers, I’m excited to post my first recipe since I started working as a vegan chef at Dropbox. Truth is ever since I moved to San Francisco, the dramatic change has taken me time to adjust and get into a routine to make time for blogging among a few other things. I want to commit to share all the delicious things I am learning and creating at work. Everyday every recipe has to be different and that is one of the amazing challenges I love from work. Today I made a Persian noodle soup called Ash Reshteh. Ash is a thick soup and Reshteh is a type of noodle similar to linguini but thinner. At work I just used udon noodles but you can use any similar type of noodle. This soup consists of beans, spinach, and lots of herbs. At work I added roasted carrots and summer squashes and smeared the cream along the side of the bowl, but you don’t have to put extra veggies if you don’t want.

Ingredients | Serves 4-6

Ash Reshteh

3 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
8 garlic cloves, minced
2 cilantro bunches; separate leaves for garnish and mince stems
2 parsley bunches, mince leaves, stems, keep separate
3 tsp turmeric
3 tsp Ras El Hanout or Garam Masala
1 cup chickpeas, cooked
2 cup kidney beans, cooked
1 cup lentils, cooked
2 lbs baby spinach leaves
1/2 pasta: Reshteh noodles, linguini, udon, vermicelli…your fave…
mint leaves for garnish
chives for garnish

Macadamia Saffron Cream

1/2 cup soaked macadamias(unroasted, soaked for 15 minutes)
a pinch of saffron
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup water or more
1 tsp salt
Sauté onions until translucent and add garlic, parsley and cilantro stems. Cook until onions caramelize (brown). Add turmeric, ras el hanout, chickpeas, red beans, and lentils. Sauté for a few minutes together and add 2 qts (8 cups) of water, bring to a boil for 3 minutes and simmer until beans are cooked.
Meanwhile bring a pot of salted water to boil for your desired noodles and cook according to package. Cook al dente and run them under cold water so the heat doesn’t carry off to over cook them. Place in a bowl and add olive oil so they don’t stick.
Stir your bean soup and add spinach and parsley. You might have to add the spinach in small bunches to allow the first batch to wilt. Cook soup for another 15 minutes on low heat and turn off.

For the vegan saffron cream, soak saffron threads in 1 cup of warm water for 10 minutes. Place your soaked macadamias in the blender, add the apple cider vinegar, salt and saffron water. Turn your blender on low and gradually turn up to a higher speed. If the blades don’t move add 1/2 cup water gradually until you have a smooth creamy paste.

Place noodles in bowls and pour the hot bean soup on top. Add mint, cilantro, chives and the saffron cream. A super simple version that is also delicious, is just the cilantro on top which is how I made it at home. 🙂

ash reshteh

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and hopefully understand the directions. Please comment if you have any questions or if I got typos :p (I gotta wake up early at 5am for work tomorrow so I must have a few that slipped). Hasta La Vista Baby!!!

Photo taken at by Brian Mattingly at Dropbox’s Headquarters
Heres my picture from my cell phone that I took at work. I didn’t get the best angle so excuse the poor photography and sloppy plating. 😛

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