Servings: 7

Preparation: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 onions (chopped or diced)
  • ½ cup oil
  • 2 tsp. fresh crushed garlic
  • salt to taste
  • 1 tsp. coriander
  • 1 lb. ground meat
  • 1 can tomato paste
  • 12 oz. fresh noodles (found in the refrigerator section)
  • 1 tbsp. flour
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • 4 tbsp. lebne (kefir cheese)
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • mint powder
  • ½ tsp. ground chili powder
  • sumac

Step 1

On medium heat, fry chopped onions in oil until golden brown.

Step 2

Add 1 tsp. garlic crushed and simmer for one minute.

Step 3

Add the ground meat, salt, and coriander. Cook until the meat is brown.

Step 4

Add about 1 cup of water and let it simmer until the meat is done.

Step 5

Add the tomato paste and ⅓ cup of water. Mix well and let it simmer until the oil surfaces.

Step 6

On high heat, boil one gallon of water.

Step 7

While it is boiling, cut the noodles making sure they are not very long. Roll in flour.

Step 8

Add to boiling water. Cook per directions on the noodle package or until a la dente.

Step 9

To prepare the yogurt mix it with lebne and lemon juice.

Step 10

Add salt to taste. Stir well.

Step 11

Strain noodles when done, leaving behind about 4 cups of water.

Step 12

To this water return the noodles and add the yogurt and cooked ground meat. Stir.

Step 13

Garnish with ground mint, chili powder and sumac.

Step 14

In a frying pan, fry 1 tsp. crushed garlic in a couple of tablespoons of oil and season entrée. Serve hot.

Chef's Note:

This is an easy dish to make and very tasty, especially on cold winter days. The traditional way to make Aash is to make the noodles from scratch; but if you cannot do that, then purchase the fresh, soft noodles found in the refrigerator section of grocery stores. I have used the dry, traditional spaghetti noodles (12 oz.) for Aash and my husband prefers it over fresh noodles.