Persian New Year's Soup with Beans, Noodles, and Herbs (Ash-e-reshteh)

Ingredients

• 14 cups chicken stock see 
• 0.5 cup chickpeas to cover
• 0.3 cup dill leaves fresh minced
• 0.5 cup avarakkai / broad beans dried to cover,
• 0.3 cup lentils dried
• 0.5 cup cilantro leaves fresh minced
• 0.5 cup flat-leaf parsley fresh minced
• 1 large handful mint leaves fresh
• 5 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric 
• 0.3 cup kidney beans to cover
• 1 bunch leafy greens stemmed coarsely chopped
• 6 ounces pasta thin
• 7 tablespoons olive oil 
• 2 cups yogurt plain
• 6 servings salt 
• 3  onions yellow

Equipment

• frying pan
• pot

Directions

1. Dice 1 of the onions.
2. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and add 4 tablespoons of the olive oil.
3. Add the onion and sauté until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
4. Drain and rinse the chickpeas, kidney beans, and fava beans, and add them to the onion along with 4 of the minced cloves of garlic, the turmeric, and lentils. Sauté for 1 minute, then add the stock and bring to a boil. Boil the beans, covered, for 1 hour. Tilt the lid so the pot is partially covered and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours. Season with salt. Slice the remaining 2 onions into thin half moons.
5. Heat a sauté pan over high heat and add the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil.
6. Add the onions and fry, stirring frequently, until the onions are brown and caramelized.
7. Add the remaining garlic and the mint and sauté for 1 minute. Season with salt and set aside.
8. Add the noodles to the soup and cook until tender, 6 to 8 minutes. When the noodles are almost done, add the leafy greens and the fresh herbs and cook for 2 minutes.
9. Serve with a large dollop of yogurt and a few tablespoons of the sautéed onion mixture.
10. Taste
11. Book, using the USDA Nutrition Database
12. Reprinted with permission from Lucid Food: Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life by Louisa Shafia. Text copyright © 2010 by Louisa Shafia. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.Louisa Shafia is the founder of Lucid Food, an eco-friendly fine catering company based in New York City. A graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute, she has worked at Millennium Restaurant and Roxanne's in the San Francisco Bay Area, and at Aquavit and Pure Food and Wine in New York.