Asure

Servings: 10

Preparation:
Wash the wheat, chickpeas and dried beans. Soak them separately overnight with beans and chickpeas in 1 cup and the dövme and rice mixture in 2 cups of water. Add 3 cups of water to dövme and 2 cups of water each to chickpeas and beans and place them individually on the burner. Cook the dövme until the grains are dissolved and the starc comes out. If necessary boil the chickpeas in pressure cooker. Wash the dry fruit and soak them for 2 hours in 1 cups of water. Mix the cooked ingredients and the dry fruit in a pan and cook for 15 minutes. Peel the orange and cut the rid, including the white inner part into 3-4 cm long and 1 cm wide strips. Divide the orange slices into 4-5 pieces. Add them alltogether to the mixture and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the sugar and cook for 1-2 minutes and turn off the heath. Add the rosewater and stir. Pour into dessert cups. Garnish with walnuts and pomegranate pits.

Nutritional Value (in approximately one serving):
Energy 634 cal, Protein 15.0 g, Fat 8.9 g, Carbohydrates 133.2 g, Calcium 150 mg, Iron 5.53 mg, Phosphorus 318 mg, Zinc 3 mg, Sodium 21 mg, Vitamin A 1164 iu, Thiamine 0.45 mg, Riboflavin 0.10 mg, Niacin 3.35 mg, Vitamin C 5 mg, Cholesterol 0

Notes: Asure (Ashura) is one of the oldest and most traditional desserts of the Turkish cuisine. The month following the Feast of Sacrifice (Kurban Bayrami) is known as the Asure month. Plenty of asure is cooked in every household during it which is both served to the guests and distributed to the neighbors and relatives. Although it is celebrated among both Sunnis and Shias on the 10th day of Muharram month, it is for a very different reason for these two Muslim sects;

• For the Shias, it commemorates the murder of Mohammed's grandson, Husain, in Karbala in 680 AD. By the way, this Asure is different, it's not a sweet dessert but it's a salty soup.
• For the Sunnis, it commemorates two things;
  1. that Prophet Moses led his people (the Israelites) from Egypt to Canaan, freeing them from Pharaoh's oppression
  2. that Prophet Noah landed his Arc on land after the Great Flood

The legend regarding the origins of asure related to Noah goes as follows:

When the Flood finally subsided and the Noah's Arc settled on Mount Ararat in today's province of Agri, those on the vessel wanted to hold a celebration as an expression of the gratitute they felt towards the God. But alas, the food storages of the ship were practically empty and so they made a soup with all the remaining ingredients they could find and thus ended up with the asure.

Today, asure is prepared by cooking together 15 or more ingredients. In some regions a piece of the sacrificial meat is saved and added to the pot while asure is being cooked. Rice can also be substituted for wheat or it can be used in combination with it. The pudding can be enriched with almonds, hazelnuts and currants. In addition to dried white beans and chickpeas, dried broad beans and dried black-eyed beans can also be added. In some regions molasses replaces sugar. To the later version, which is known in the Corum region as "Pekmezli Hedik", anise is added in Gaziantep. In other regions raisin gum is added. If a pressure cooker is to be used, the chick peas, beans and the wheat can be cooked together. In normal, non-pressure pots the cooking time can vary between 1 - 2 hours depending on the type and quality of the ingredients used. Due to the difference in cooking times and ways of the ingredients, cooking them separately would be more appropriate.

"Afiyet olsun", meaning Bon Appetit in Turkish...