Persian night in the kitchen!

Last weekend we celebrated the feast of the Epiphany, and so to commemorate the Magi who visited the infant Jesus I decided to cook a Persian dish: Noodle Soup! Although, to be honest, it turned out to be more of a noodle vegetable stew. But it was still delicious!

I started by frying some red onion in olive oil until it was nice and crisp. This was to serve as a garnish later, and really helped make the dish.

While that was cooking, I soften some onion and garlic in a pot, and then added tumeric and vegetable broth. This was set to a slow cook, with the onions and garlic slowly dissolving in.

Also also added some kidney beans and some lentils to the mix. That slow cook was going to take a while, so I used the time to chop up some parsley, mint, green onion and cilantro. I also rinsed some lentils. This eventually got added as well.

One the mix had cooked some more, with lots of stirring the blend the flavours, I added the noodles. I didn't have anything authentically Persian, so I used linguini.

The final ingredient was some spinach. This goes in last, and cooks just long enough for the leaves to wilt.

And voila! Dinner is served, with salt and pepper to taste, and dollop of Greek yogourt with friend red onion on the top (same as in the first picture). 

I do enjoy cooking, I must say. There are a few things I'd adjust in this recipe, such as the suggested amount of noodles (it just sucked up the water in the soup) as well as the timing of some of the cooking. As well, next time I'll go with dried beans rather than canned ones (I just need to remember to leave them to soak for a few hours first). But the end result was still delicious!