Description
Loaded with spices, filled with meat and pasta, and enriched with cream, this divine soup will brighten even the coolest of autumn days or dreariest of winter nights.
Ingredients
- A lug of olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 4 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 to1.5 pounds ground beef or turkey
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds, freshly ground
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- Chicken bouillon to taste
- 1 pound dried pasta (fettuccine or farfalle work well)
- Ground black pepper and/or crushed red pepper to taste
- 1 can garbanzo beans
- 1 can kidney beans
- Salt to taste
- 1 cup yogurt
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Dried mint for garnish (note: don’t skip the mint! It may seem like an unusual flavor to add to this soup, but it seriously works!)
Instructions
- Heat a generous lug of olive oil in a big soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once hot, and the onions, and sauté until they begin to brown.
- Add the garlic, and continue cooking for about 30 seconds.
- Next, add the ground meat, and cook until almost completely done.
- Stir in the turmeric, coriander, and tomato paste.
- Add just enough water to make it look like a soup. At this point, it will be bland, so add in enough chicken bouillon to make it taste a little overly salty, along with black pepper and/or crushed red pepper to taste.
- Bring the soup up to a boil, add the dried pasta, and give it a stir so that the pasta can absorb all that spicy, salty goodness.
- Stir in the garbanzo beans and kidney beans, along with enough water to bring it back to a soupy consistency.
- Bring everything back up to a boil, and cook until the pasta is tender.
- Give it all a taste, and adjust the spices or add salt as desired. As Sabrina puts it, “This is the fun of Afghan cuisine – Our recipes get passed down by observation, not paper, and every time I make this dish, the amount of spice I use may change.”
- Meanwhile, combine the yogurt and sour cream. Mix a small amount of the hot soup into the dairy to temper it and prevent curdling, then stir the dairy into the soup.
- Serve the delicious, steaming bowls of hot Aush with a generous sprinkling of dried mint on the top.
Notes
The quality of your spices will make a huge difference in the flavor of your finished soup. Use the freshest spices you can, and in the case of the coriander seeds and black pepper, grind them fresh just before use. The flavor and aroma of freshly ground spices are worlds away from the bland pre-ground stuff available in most grocery stores. If you are looking for an online source to buy fresh spices, my absolute favorite spice source is Savory Spice Shop.
Interested in trying more tasty dishes from Afghanistan? Afghan Mantu are tasty dumplings stuffed with seasoned beef and onions, topped with an herby yogurt sauce. And Afghan Bolani is a fun street food style recipe made by stuffing thin crust with savory ingredients. Delicious!
- Category: Soup
- Cuisine: Afghan
Keywords: Pasta, ground meat, spices
