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     Title: Ash-E Alu (Thick Soup With Prunes)
Categories: Persian, Soup
     Yield: 1 Batch

   100 g  Lapeh (yellow lentils)
   200 g  Rice
   175 g  Fresh herbs (coriander,
          -flat-leaf parsley, chives
          -in almost equal
          -proportions); chopped
     2 lg Onions
          Oil
     1 ts Turmeric
   1/4 ts Cinnamon (optional)
     2 tb Dried mint
    12    Alu (prunes, available from
          -Persian shops)
          Salt; pepper
     4 cl Garlic

 Soak the lentils overnight in a generous amount of cold water. The
 next day, drain then rinse in one change of fresh water.

 Wash the rice and soak in cold water for 1 hour.

 Wash and shake dry the fresh herbs. Remove the stalks and then finely
 chop all the herbs. Set aside in a cool place.

 Finely chop one of the onions. Heat some oil in a large pan and fry
 the chopped onion until golden. Add the turmeric and cinnamon (if
 using) and stir again once, then sprinkle over the dried mint and
 stir once more. As soon as the scent of the mint rises, remove the
 pan from the heat.

 Add the soaked lentils to the onion and mint mixture and pour 2 L
 water. Return the pan to the heat, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer
 for 30 minutes.

 Drain the rice and add to the soup pan with the herbs, prunes and
 salt and pepper to taste. Cover, and continue simmering everything
 gently for at least another hour.

 Before serving, prepare the garnish: peel and finely chop the garlic
 cloves, removing any green shoots. Heat a little oil in a small pan
 and sauté the garlic until golden, then transfer to a small bowl.

 Cut the remaining onion into thin rings. Heat a little oil in a small
 pan and fry the onion rings until golden.

 To serve, transfer the ash to a large soup tureen and garnish with the
 garlic and onion rings.

 Tip:

 Add water as necessary until you obtain the consistency of a thick
 soup.

 Note:

 Like many other varieties of ash, ash-e alu also has a medicinal
 use--it is traditionally administered to calm the nerves.

 Variations:

 Ash-e sadeh (simple thick soup) and ash-e anar (thick soup with
 pomegranate syrup).

 For ash-e sadeh, instead of the prunes, the juice of a large lemon is
 used as an acidifier; for ash-e anar, about 2 to 3 tb of pomegranate
 syrup is used. The amount of acidifier used can be increased or
 decreased according to taste.

 Recipe by The Persian Kitchen by Neda Afrashi, 2006

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