Asure: A Desert to Remember Noah's Arc

Here is a recipe for a desert that comes with a story: Aşure (pronounced Ashure). It is said that when Noah's Arc finally landed on top a mountain on the 10th day of the 1st month, people (possibly Noah's wife) took out all the foodstuff they have left, boiled them together and celebrated their safe landing with this sweet dinner.




"Muharrem" is the 1st month of the year on Arabic calendar. The name Asure comes from an Arabic word as well, which means "10th".
Here is a thing about the Arabic calendar: It is a lunar calendar with about 354 days in a year. It is 11 days shorter then the calendar we use. Therefore there is no fixed season to enjoy a cup of Asure: This year it is winter, 10 years later it will be in the summer. I hear it is becoming a regular Christmas desert in the U.S.

The problem about most of Turkish deserts is that they are too sweet for most people, especially for my wife. When she tasted a cup of Asure during our visit to my cousin's home, I was surprised to see she really enjoyed it. Then we started to talk about Asure: the ingredients, the traditions, the legend... Finally we made the shopping and made ours at home.

Anyway, here are the ingredients:

• 1 and a half cup of wheat
• 1/2 cup of chickpeas
• 1/2 cup of dry white beans
• A dozen of dried apricots
• 6 pcs of dried figs
• 1/3 cup of raisins
• 2 cups of sugar
• 2/3 cup of walnuts
• 1/3 cup of haselnuts
• 1 pomegranate
• Water

There are more ingredients you can include: 1/3 cup of rice, a glass of milk, zest from an orange, one diced apple. The tradition says you make Asure on the 10th of Muharrem with 15 ingredients or more. So, anything goes. I urge you to play around with the amount of sugar to find the taste that suits you best.

Here is how to make it, remember you need to start preparing a day in advance.

The 1st Day:

1. Wash the wheat, put in a pot. Add cold water to cover them 2 inches. Bring to boil and turn off the heat. Cover the pot and let it sit.
2. Soak the chickpeas and the white beans in seperate bowls in cold water. Add a pinch of salt to the bowl with white beans.

The 2nd Day:

1. Drain the wheat and put in a big pan. Add 10 cups of water and bring to boil.
2. Remove the foam forming during the boiling. Cover and boil for 30 minutes. (If you want to add rice, do it at this point)
3. Drain the chickpeas and the dried beans and cook them in enough water in seperate pots.
   The reason we are cooking everything in seperate pots is because they all have different cooking times. For each item it is possible to use a pressure cooker to reduce the time but it is not necessary.
4. Dice all the dried fruits.
5. When the wheat water thickens (this means around 4-5 hours of slow cooking), add the sugar, cooked and drained chickpeas and beans into the main pot. Put everything else here: the dried apricots, zest, milk, walnuts... Everything except the dried figs, walnuts and pomagranate. Mix and let cook for about 10 minutes. Add the dried figs and mix.
6. Put into serving bowls and decorate with walnuts and pomagranate and anthing else you like (some of dried apricots can give a good color to it)

You can enjoy it while it is still warm or when it is refrigerated.
You can also enjoy it after a a rainy day;)