ASHURE (Aşure)

Ashure, also known as Noah's pudding, is a Turkish dessert and a tradition. It is the meal cooked when Noah's ark was mounted on Ağrı Dağı (Mount Ararat). Those who had been saved from the flood cooked a meal from what was left (primarily grains). This pudding is now called Ashure and we cook it every year to celebrate the survival of Noah and his people. But the purpose of cooking Ashure is not only about indulging ourselves into this delicious dessert, but mainly sharing it. Ashure is cooked in large amounts and distributed to our neighbors. All there is to having joy comes from sharing and giving. A dessert is the best gift ever you can give and also there is something so naive, so pure in sharing your food with people close to you. Especially in these times where people hardly know who their neighbors are. So lets celebrate this time by cooking some Ashure, warming ourselves in this cold winter nights with the sweet grains and with the joy of sharing.

 Ingredients:

• 500 g sugar
• 300 g barley
• 100 g dry chickpeas
• 100 g dry white beans
• 100 g sultanas
• 100 g apricots
• 100 g walnuts
• 5 figs
• Half apple

Preparation:

• Soak the chickpeas and the beans in cold water in the night before.
• In the morning, cook barley in a saucepan with water enough to cover for 1 hour. Top up with water whenever needed. 
• Drain chickpeas and beans and cook them in another saucepan for 1 hour. As with the barley, top up with water as needed. Because we won't drain the water that grains are cooking in, we try to keep the water level just enough to cover them.
• Cook sultanas for 5 minutes.
• Add apricots (chopped into 4) onto the sultanas, cook another 5 minutes.
• Combine the barley, chickpeas and beans in the same saucepan. Continue cooking.
• Dice figs in 6 pieces and the apple into small cubes. Add them both onto apricots and sultanas.
• Cook for a further 5 minutes and then add them all with their water onto the barley-chickpeas-beans saucepan. 
• At this stage, you may add more water. At all times, ashure should have a soup consistency; neither runny, nor solid.
• Continue cooking for 45 minutes. 
• Add sugar and cok for a further 15 minutes.
• Take them all into small bowl while it is hot and decorate with walnuts, pomegranate seeds, nuts, or cinnamon.

ps. If you haven't got the time or the patience, that's quite forgivable. I must admit that I use ready mixtures and actually cannot find a reason why not. I strongly recommend Dr. Oetker's ready Aşure mixture, so easy and gives amazing results.