Turkish Oven-Bakes Pasta: Today’s Recipe
In Turkey, we call dishes made with flour as “hamur isleri” or “dough works,”. They have always been popular in Turkish cuisine. In this, you… Read More »Turkish Oven-Bakes Pasta: Today’s Recipe
In Turkey, we call dishes made with flour as “hamur isleri” or “dough works,”. They have always been popular in Turkish cuisine. In this, you… Read More »Turkish Oven-Bakes Pasta: Today’s Recipe
As you all now know, breakfast is the most important part of the Turkish family meal. (You can check out our article on Turkish breakfast… Read More »The Guest of Every Meal in Turkey: Mixture of Vegetable and Egg — Turkish Menemen
If you ever have to opportunity to visit Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, you’ll come across a selection of delicious street foods like no other around… Read More »Turkish Fried Mussels With ‘Tarator’ Sauce: “Midye Tava”
Dry beans are commonly famous as the ‘sultans of the Turkish kitchen.’ They are a staple in Turkish cuisine where delicious recipes for fresh and… Read More »A Recipe: “Piyaz” — Delicious Turkish Bean Salad
If you love anything with eggplant, you’ll surely enjoy this flavorful Turkish appetizer, or meze called şakşuka. Şakşuka is a vegetarian medley of eggplant and… Read More »A Yummy Turkish Flavour: Eggplant and Vegetable Ragout (Şakşuka)
Şalgam (SHAAL’- Gahm) juice is a popular beverage from Turkey’s southeastern region around the cities of Mersin and Adana. In the base of şalgam, there… Read More »The Delicious Turkish Şalgam Suyu
You cannot visit Turkey without coming across a very special dessert. The name of this flavour Turkish desert is Noah’s ark pudding. It is also and more commonly known as ‘aşure’. Noah’s ark pudding is a cornucopia of healthy ingredients like dried fruits, legumes and whole-grain wheat. They are sweet with the joining of sugar and fruit juices and cooked all together in one pot. This pudding traditionally contains a lot of different nutritional sources. Some of them are apricots, raisins, currants, figs, pine nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts. Furthermore, aşure also contains chickpeas, and navy beans to name just a few ingredients.
Some cooks even add chestnuts, lima beans, bulgur wheat and slivers of fresh coconut. Almost anything goes.
Noah’s ark pudding, like many Turkish dishes, has its own story behind it. Turkish legend has it that the first version of ‘aşure’ was made by Noah himself. After weeks on the ark, the waters began to recede. As food stocks dwindled, Noah decided to throw bits of everything he had left on the ark into one pot.
In modern Turkish culture, Noah’s ark pudding is a symbol of diversity, friendship, and unity. When a cook prepares ‘aşure,’ they make a lot. Because it’s customary to distribute bowls of pudding to as many friends and neighbours as possible.
‘Aşure,’ the Turkish name for Noah’s pudding, is associated with Ashura. Ashura is common throughout the Middle East and spans many cultures, traditions, and religions. So, Ashura was originally a Jewish celebration. The celebration is marking the rescue of Moses from the Pharaoh during which Hebrews fasted. At the same time, Sunni Muslims connect this period during the year with the deliverance of Moses, too.
There are even says that people in Haiti are also celebrating a version of Ashura!
There is no set recipe for making Noah’s ark pudding. So, there are hundreds, if not thousands of variations. Because of that, you can use the basic recipe below as a guide. You can adapt the ingredients and according to your taste or what you have on hand. Classic versions of ‘aşure’ use rose water to flavour the pudding.
First of all, the night before put the wheat or barley in a large pot and cover it with plenty of water.
Then, bring it to a boil, cover and reduce the heat. Allow it to boil gently for about ten minutes.
Afterwards, turn off the heat and leave the grain to cool and soak overnight.
The next morning, the grain should have absorbed most, if not all the liquid. Add the chickpeas, beans, rice, dried fruits, sugar and optional rose water or orange, and lemon zest.
Add more water to just cover the ingredients if needed. Bring the mixture to a boil.
Stir the mixture gently with a wooden spoon as it cooks until it thickens.
Remove it from the heat and fill dessert bowls or a large serving bowl with the pudding.
Once it cools down and sets, cover and refrigerate it for several hours.
Before serving, garnish the pudding with fresh pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, finely chopped dried fruits and groundnuts.
Some prefer their pudding more watery, some prefer it stiffer. If you prefer a stiffer pudding, add a teaspoon or two of powdered gelatin while the mixture cooks. This will give you a firmer pudding once it cools down.
Read More »Recipe of A Delicious Turkish Desert: Noah’s Ark Pudding Asure (Aşure)
If you’ve eaten at a real Turkish kebab house or ocakbaşı (meaning “fireside restaurant”), you’re sure to have sampled this classic puff bread from southeastern Turkey.… Read More »Authentic Turkish Lavas Puff Bread (Lavaş Ekmeği)
People from all around the world pleasantly eat and consume Dolmas. Dolma, which is also famous as stuffed grape leaves, dawali, and dolmades, has a lot… Read More »Savory Turkish “Dolma” — Stuffed Grape Leaves Recipe
Sekerpare is a very loved, traditional and delicious Turkish dessert. In Turkey, you can come across with this crunchy dessert in every Turkish home. What’s… Read More »A Very Traditional Turkish Dessert — Şekerpare (Turkish Semolina Cookies with Syrup)