🇦🇫 Afghanistan
AushAfghan noodle soup
A thick Afghan soup of noodles with chickpeas and kidney beans in a chicken or vegetable broth, topped with garlicky yogurt, dried mint and often a spiced minced-meat and tomato sauce.
Origin and history
Aush is an Afghan noodle soup made with meat or without. Afghan-American cookbook author Humaira Ghilzai, citing Louis Dupree's book Afghanistan, says pasta originated in Central Asia, in what is now northern Afghanistan, and she serves aush as comfort food for fall and winter. An Arkansas newspaper feature says the name comes from the flat wheat noodles, which turn silky as they cook, and describes an Afghan cafe in Virginia serving both a meatless aush and one with beef.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h
- Hands-on
- 40 min
Ingredients
- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 15 ml1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 450 g1 lb ground beef, ground turkey also works
- 1.5 tsp1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1.5 tsp1 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 30 g2 tbsp tomato paste, mixed with 30 ml (2 tbsp) hot water
- 2.4 L10 cups chicken broth
- 200 g7 oz flat wheat noodles or spaghetti, broken into short lengths if you like
- 425 g15 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 425 g15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- a few handfuls spinach or Swiss chard, chopped, optional
- 480 g1 pint (2 cups) plain yogurt, to serve; many cooks stir 1 to 2 crushed garlic cloves and a pinch of salt into it
- dried mint, to finish
Method
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1. Cook the onion in the olive oil in a wide pan over low heat until soft and golden.
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2. Stir in the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes.
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3. Add the beef and break it up as it cooks until it is loose and crumbly.
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4. Add the coriander, paprika, salt, pepper and the tomato paste mixture, then simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes. This is the meat sauce.
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5. Meanwhile bring the broth to a boil in a large pot, add the noodles and boil for 5 minutes.
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6. Add the rinsed beans and keep cooking until the noodles are done; stir in the greens near the end if using them.
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7. For each bowl, ladle in noodles, beans and broth, top with two spoonfuls of the meat sauce and one or two spoonfuls of yogurt, and sprinkle with dried mint. Stir before eating.
Notes
- Meatless version: one restaurant owner in Virginia serves aush without meat, with tomato, onion, garlic, turmeric, chickpeas, mixed vegetables, spinach, dill, mint and yogurt cooked into the pot itself, so skip the meat sauce and cook the vegetables into the broth.
- Spaghetti is a stand-in; flat wheat noodles are the traditional shape and turn silky as they cook.
- Make-ahead: keep the meat sauce and yogurt separate and assemble each bowl when serving, as the noodles soften if they sit in the broth.
- The cookbook author who gave this recipe thinks of aush as a fall and winter dish, though she says it works in summer too.
- Cooks vary: another recipe adds fresh dill and chili flakes to the pot and a garlic yogurt (Hungry Paprikas), notes that the noodles were traditionally hand-pulled and the beef cooked separately, and most Afghans now use store-bought spaghetti. Afghan-American cookbooks also top bowls with qurut, dried yogurt whey.
Adapted from Humaira Ghilzai, Afghan Culture Unveiled: Aush, noodle soup with beef and yogurt, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Spicy Afghan soup thaws winter's chill, and Hungry Paprikas: Authentic Afghan aush.
At the festivals
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