Aşure is a healthy dessert made with dried fruits, legumes and whole grain wheat, sweetened with sugar and fruit juices and cooked together in one pot. This pudding traditionally contains apricots, raisins, currants, figs, pine nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, chick peas and navy beans.
Like many Turkish dishes, A has it’s own story. Turkish legend has it that the first version of “aşure” was made by Noah himself. After weeks on the ark, food stocks dwindled and Noah decided to throw the bits of everything that was left in ark’s larder into one pot to cook.
What he got was a delicious pudding that kept his family and his passengers well-fed until the waters receded and the ark finally rested on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey. Some say “aşure” is the oldest dessert in the world.
In modern Turkish culture, Aşure is a symbol of diversity, friendship and unity. When a cook prepares “aşure,” they make a large batch and distribute bowls of pudding to as many friends and neighbors as possible.
For Shia muslims, the day of Ashura is celebrated a few days before Ramadan, during the 10th month of “Muharram,” to commemorate the martyrdom of al-Husayn, the son of Ali and Fatima and the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed.
There is no set recipe for making Aşure. In fact there are hundreds, if not thousands of variations. You can use the basic recipe below as a guide.
The ingredients can be adapted according to your taste or what you have on hand. Classic versions of “aşure” use rose water to flavor the pudding.
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 2 hours plus soaking overnight
Ingredients:
• 3 cups uncooked whole grain wheat or barley
• 1 ½ cups canned chick peas, rinsed and drained
• 1 ½ cups canned navy beans, rinsed and drained
• ¼ cup uncooked rice
• 3 tbsp. dried currants
• 3 tbsp. pine nuts
• 8 dried apricots, cut in chunks
• 8 dried figs, cut in chunks
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• zest of 1 orange (optional)
• zest of 1 lemon (optional)
• or
• 2 tbsp. rose water (optional)
How to prepare:
1. Put the wheat or barley in a large pot and cover it with plenty of water. Bring it to a boil, cover and reduce the heat. Allow it boil gently for about ten minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the grain to cool and soak overnight.
2. The next morning, the grain should have absorbed most, if not all the liquid. Add the chick peas, beans, rice, dried fruits, sugar and optional rose water or orange and lemon zest.
3. Add more water to just cover the ingredients, if needed. Bring the mixture to a boil. Stir the mixture gently with a wooden spoon as it cooks until it thickens. Remove it from the heat and fill dessert bowls or a large serving bowl with the pudding.
4. Once it cools down and sets, cover and refrigerate it for several hours. Before serving, garnish the pudding with fresh pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, finely chopped dried fruits and ground nuts.
5. Some prefer their pudding more watery, some prefer it stiffer. If you prefer a stiffer pudding, add a teaspoon or two of powdered gelatin while the mixture cooks. This will give you a firmer pudding once it cools down.
