Ash Anar | Persian Pomegranate Soup
a joyful warm & light meal
Ingredients
- 1 medium size onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- ½ cup rice
- ⅓ cup yellow split peas or lentils
- 3 cups chopped fresh herbs equal amount of parsley, chives, cilantro, and mint
- 5 cups pomegranate juice
- ¼ cup pomegranate molasses
- 3 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp grounded Persian hogweed
- salt & black pepper
Instructions
- Wash and soak yellow split peas and rice in lukewarm water for an hour.
- Put a pot on medium heat and place yellow split peas, add four cups of water and let it boil for 20 minutes. If you are using canned yellow split peas, just add it to the soup.
- In a medium-size pot, saute the chopped onion and garlic together till they get golden, then add the turmeric and saute for 3 minutes.
- Add chopped herbs and stir for 10 minutes until the colour of the herbs changes to dark green.
- Add the semi-cooked yellow split peas or lentils with rice to
the pot and mix them. - Pure the pomegranate juice. Stir gently, and
bring it to boil. - After about 15 minutes, add pomegranate molasses along with grounded
Persian hogweed, salt, and black pepper. - Then cover the pot and reduce the heat. Let the soup gently
simmer for an hour.
Notes
- You can substitute yellow split peas with lentils.
- Dried herbs can be used instead of fresh herbs. In this case, substitute each tablespoon of fresh herbs with one teaspoon of dried herbs.
- Using canned yellow split peas or lentils significantly shorten the cooking process.
- To garnish this hearty soup, you can use the crispy fried onion, pomegranate seeds or chopped parsley