RFCJ RECIPE ARCHIVE
Posted by : Schelly Dardashti Barley Soup, Persian: Ash-e-jo - meat
Here is a wonderful recipe for Persian Barley Soup, called "ashe-e-jo" in Farsi (Ash meaning a thick soup, and jo meaning barley). This can be served as a meal on its own, with bread and/or a salad. Ashe are generally thick, rib-sticking soups. Great winter fare for shlepping through snow, shoveling, skiing, ice skating, etc. This will serve about 6-8 Americans, fewer hungry Persians! Recipe can be doubled, etc. Use an 8 quart pot for this amount given. Meat amounts can be less or more, depending on how hearty you want this to be. Persian soups are very forgiving in amounts used. 1/4 pound dried kidney beans 1/4 pound dried chickpeas 1/2 pound lentils 3-4 quarts water 3-4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1 tsp turmeric 3 large onions, chopped 2 TB oil 1 to 1 1/2 pound lamb shank, cut in small pieces, if boneless or left whole with bone. 1/2 cup rice, rinsed and looked over 1 cup barley, rinsed and looked over 2 to 2 1/2 pounds mixed greens (including spinach, parsley, leeks, fresh cilantro, fresh dill weed) Proportions would be about 1 to 1 1/2 cups spinach, frozen squeezed is OK; 1/2 to 1 cup of chopped Italian flat leaf parsely, 1/2 to 1 cup fresh cilantro chopped, 1/2 to 1 cup fresh dill chopped). 2 TB fresh chopped or dried mint (less if desired) Soak kidney beans and chick peas in water for several hours (to do this faster, you can do the microwave thing of putting them in a bowl with some water, cover, and zap for 10-15 minutes or so). In the big pot, saute onions in oil until golden brown (reserve about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of sauteed onions for garnish when serving). Add the meat pieces, drained beans and chickpeas, lentils, water, salt and pepper, turmeric. Those who want garlic, can put a few cloves in to simmer as well. Cover and simmer gently for about an hour. Add rice and barley, cover and simmer for 1/2 hour. Add the chopped herbs and vegetables (some people lightly saute them before adding), cover and simmer another 1/2 hour. Soup should be really thick. Remove the meat from the pot if it was cooked whole with the shankbone, and bone it. If cooked in small pieces just leave it in the soup. Generally, this would be served as is, with mint sprinkled on top and tiny mounds of golden brown (moist, not dry) sauteed onions arranged on top of the large serving bowl or on individual serving bowls. The non-kosher, obviously, variation adds 2 cups of diluted whey (called kashk) or yoghurt, sautes onions in butter, etc. Also, the traditional serving method would be to pound (or food process) the cooked meat to a paste and return it to the soup, which would be simmered more until it was very thick. Like all soups/stews, and even brisket, this will taste even better if made the day before serving. Also, if you are really ambitious you can double the recipe, and freeze the extra, heats up very easily in microwave. Almost all Persian stews and soups freeze very well. OPTIONAL: Instead of water, a beef broth can be used, but be careful with added salt and pepper in the recipe. If you don't mind MSG, a Telma beef soup cube or two can be thrown in also with the water.
