Ash ( fa, آش), sometimes transliterated as aush or āsh, is a variety of thick

noodle soup Noodle soup refers to a variety of soups with noodles and other ingredients served in a light broth. Noodle soup is a common dish across East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Himalayan states of South Asia. Various types of noodles are used, such as ...

s, which are usually served hot and is part of

Iranian cuisine Iranian cuisine () refers to the culinary practices of Iran. Due to the historically common usage of the term "Persia" to refer to Iran in the Western world,Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 ( ...

and

Afghan cuisine Afghan cuisine ( ps, افغان پخلی, translit=Afghan Pakhlai, ) is influenced by Persian, Central Asian and Indian cuisines due to Afghanistan's close proximity and cultural ties. The cuisine is mainly based on Afghanistan's main crops, suc ...

. It is also found in Azerbaijani,

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, Pakistani, and

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

cuisine.

Etymology

The spelling of the name of this dish varies in English and can include ''āsh'', ''aush'', ''ashe'', ''ashe'', ''āshe'', ''aash'', or ''osh''. Aush means "thick soup" in

Iranian languages The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau. The Iranian languages are grouped ...

. The word "cook" translates to "Ashpaz" (آشپز) in Persian. The word is a combination of two Persian words of "aush" and "paz" and literally means "a person who cooks ash". Also the word "kitchen" in Persian is "Ashpazkhaneh" (آشپزخانه) literally meaning "house of cook" .

Ingredients

Ash is typically made with a variation of ingredients but may include flat wheat noodles, turmeric, vegetables (broccoli, carrots, onion, celery, spinach), legumes (chickpeas, kidney beans), herbs (dill, mint, coriander, minced cilantro), and optional meat such as ground lamb, beef or chicken. Depending on the type of aush, it could contain different types of grain, legumes (

chick peas The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Its different types are variously known as gram" or Bengal gram, garbanzo or garbanzo bean, or Egyptian pea. Chickpea seeds are high ...

black-eye bean The black-eyed pea or black-eyed bean is a legume grown around the world for its medium-sized, edible bean. It is a subspecies of the cowpea, an Old World plant domesticated in Africa, and is sometimes simply called a cowpea. The common co ...

lentil The lentil (''Lens culinaris'' or ''Lens esculenta'') is an edible legume. It is an annual plant known for its lens-shaped seeds. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in pods, usually with two seeds in each. As a food crop, the largest pro ...

s), vegetables, tomato, herbs (

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, Por ...

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed either f ...

dill Dill (''Anethum graveolens'') is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus ''Anethum''. Dill is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food. Growth ...

spring onion Scallions (also known as spring onions or green onions) are vegetables derived from various species in the genus ''Allium''. Scallions generally have a milder taste than most onions and their close relatives include garlic, shallot, leek, chi ...

ends,

coriander Coriander (;

, dried

mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAES g ...

), yogurt,

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...

, and

spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices a ...

s, such as

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

turmeric Turmeric () is a flowering plant, ''Curcuma longa'' (), of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, the rhizomes of which are used in cooking. The plant is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asi ...

saffron Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent i ...

, etc. Ash can be considered a full meal or a first course. Aush can often be bought in Persian stores canned, as dried mixes or frozen.

Regional variation

Afghan cuisine

The

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

soup is usually made with

noodle Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures (for example, Chinese noodles, Filipino noodles, Indo ...

s and different vegetables in a tomato-based broth. The Afghan version of the soup is more likely to have tomatoes or a tomato broth. It is topped with chaka (yogurt sauce), fried garlic, and dried/crushed

leaves.

Iranian cuisine

There are more than 50 types of thick soup (āsh) in Iranian cooking,

ash reshteh ''Aush reshteh'' or a''ush-e-reshteh'' ( fa, آش رشته) is a type of ''aush'' (Iranian thick soup) featuring reshteh (thin noodles) and kashk (a dairy product, made from cooked or dried yogurt), commonly made in Iran. About There are more ...

being one of the more popular types; using

reshteh Kesme or erişte is a type of egg noodle found in various Turkic countries, Iran and Afghanistan. It is also found in Turkish cuisine and is called ''erişte'' and “kesme” in modern standard Turkish. The word itself is a nominalisation of ...

. Some other well known āsh include

ash-e anar Pomegranate soup ( fa, آش انار ''āš e anār''; az-Arab, انار آشی, ; Mazandarani: اسپاش انار او, ''aspāsh enār oo''; ar, شوربة رمان ''shorbat rummān'') is an Iranian dish made from pomegranate juice and seeds ...

(pomegranate stew), ash-e-jo (barley stew),

ash-e doogh Ash-e doogh ( fa, آش دوغ; az, آیران آشی, Ayran ashi, or , Azerbaijani alphabet, romanized: ''Dovga ashi'') is a yogurt soup found in various parts of Iran, such as Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan and Shiraz, with differing but similar ...

(yogurt stew), ash-e sak (spinach stew), ash-e torsh (beet/pickle stew), and aush-e-shalqham (turnips stew). The Iranian variation of aush often is topped with a garnish (na’na dagh) of fried mint oil, garlic chips, and/or shallot chips. In Jewish Iranian cuisine, aush is not typically served with dairy or yogurt.

References