Recipe contributed by Anahita Ghista
A Banker by profession, Anahita is a foodie at heart. Cooking is a stress-buster for her after a day at work. On the Weekends she loves to spend more time in kitchen than the sofa whipping up extras, with some baking thrown in.
As a kid, I awoke to a myriad of kitchen flavours every morning. My mom was a bustling kitchen person and everyone who came across her cooking were sent back licking their fingers. Thus, my introduction into the world of cooking. I continued my keen interest for cooking, and with the web at my feet (fingers!!) the world of food has been thrown open to me.
The first time I tasted the Osh-e-Meer was at a friend’s place, almost 30 years ago. The taste lingered on and the recipe was tucked away somewhere safe but I never ended up making it. The traditional Persian name for this dish is Asheh Reshteh. In Farsi, Asheh means soup and Reshtey translates to noodles.
Traditionally served at Navroze and other such happy occasions, Osh-e-Meer is a delicious heavy soup that is made with an assortment of lentils, greens and noodles (meer). Osh-E-Meer is very special for the Iranis because while sprinkling the Meer , a prayer is said and according to legend that wish will then get fulfilled. The noodles in the soup symbolise good fortune and success in the path ahead. I don’t know how true the legend is but if you wished for a tasty meal, then I can guarantee that atleast that wish will most certainly come true.
Osh-E-Meer is a winner if you have vegetarian or even vegan guests and want to make them something special (Yes, just imagine! An almost Parsi vegetarian dish featuring no potato or egg) . However, if you can’t get through a meal without meat, then feel free to add in some mutton on the bone along with the stock and just watch the flavours come alive.
As with most soup, Osh-e-Meer tastes best when its prepared in advance and had after a few hours (or even the day after) as that allows for the flavours to mingle and develop.
Recently, my friend Parwan Vakshoor, posted the recipe on a food forum and this gave me the opportunity to try out the Osh-e-Meer years later and I fell in love. I’ve since made this dish again and again and now I hope you too will make it for your family.
This post is part of my ongoing series on the blog, the A to Z of Parsi Food which has been curated in collaboration with Parsi food enthusiasts globally. For more interesting recipes follow the hashtag #AtoZChallenge mentioned below.
I’ve always been curious – and so curious about osh-e-meer as well.
The meer part is the (reshteh) persian noodles, the Osh-e the soup.
If you see the ingredients, except for the meer, they quite sound like a dhansak daar.
could the bawas have tweaked the dish, separating the lentils & vegetables from the grain….and made the daar and chawal of dhansak….also eaten on occasions – though sad ones?
do comment!
Freddy
That is quite the interesting theory and makes a lot of sense. I don’t know the history of Dhansak so i couldn’t comment for sure though but thanks for bringing this to my notice 🙂 Also explains why more Parsis like Dhansakwhile Irani’s make Osh far more frequently than Dhansak…