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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 saut‚ 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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