Aash-e Anar

A staple of Iranian autumn cooking, eaten around Yalda night (winter solstice, December 21) when pomegranates are at peak in northern provinces like Gilan and Mazandaran. The aash family of thick herb soups dates to medieval Persia — the cook who runs an aash kitchen is called an aash-paz, the same root that gave Persian its word for cook (ashpaz).

Iranian autumn-into-winter staple, eaten around Yalda night (December 21) when pomegranates peak in Gilan and Mazandaran. The aash family is medieval Persian — the cook is called an aash-paz, the same root that gave Persian its word for cook (ashpaz). Body comes from rob-e anar (pomegranate molasses); fresh juice goes thin and grassy when simmered.

A thick burgundy soup, almost stew-weight, with split yellow peas and rice broken down into the broth. Tiny beef meatballs (koofteh) bob through. The first taste is pomegranate molasses — sour-sweet, faintly tannic — then mint and parsley cooked long enough to turn savory. Sometimes a finish of fried mint and dried-pepper oil on top.

The sour-sweet balance lives or dies on rob-e anar (pomegranate molasses, reduced juice with no added sugar). Fresh juice goes thin and grassy when simmered; molasses gives the body color and the puckering edge. Cooks adjust with sugar or lime — too sour and it's medicinal, too sweet and it reads as dessert. The herbs must go in early enough to lose their raw bite.