Ashura

Ingredients for 5 servings:

• 250 g wheat bran (Aşure quality)
• 100 g rice (Osmancik)
• 1 cup beans, white, cooked
• 1 cup chickpeas, cooked
• 4 ½ liters of water
• 1 orange zest
• 1 lemon zest
• 2 apples
• 2 tbsp rum raisins
• ½ jar almond flakes
• 2 tbsp currants
• ½ jar hazelnuts
• ½ jar walnuts
• 10 dried apricots, chopped
• 450 g sugar, white
• 450 g brown sugar
• 5 carnations
• Dried fruits, e.g. figs
• Nuts, chopped, e.g. pistachios, macadamia
• Pomegranate seeds
• sesame
• Cinnamon powder
• 150 g kaymak
• 1 vanilla pod(s), including the pulp
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp butter, salted
• 100 ml red wine
• some figs, fresh

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 2 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 40 minutes; Total time approx. 4 hours 10 minutes

from the show “The Perfect Dinner” on VOX from 28.03.2025

Wash the wheat grains thoroughly and bring to a boil in a large pot with 1 liter of hot water. Cook over medium heat for about 40 minutes, until tender. Add the rice and another 2 liters of hot water and cook for another 30 minutes. Add the cooked chickpeas and white beans to the pot with another 1.5 liters of hot water and simmer. In a separate small pot, boil the cloves in 1 cup of water for about 10 minutes. Strain the clove water into the large pot. Add the orange and lemon zest, grated apples, raisins, currants, apricots, almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts. Stir well and continue simmering over low heat. Add the sugar and continue simmering, stirring constantly, for about 30 minutes, until the mixture thickens. Remove the pot from the heat and let the aşure cool for about two hours, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming. Ladle the aşure into serving bowls and garnish with pomegranate seeds, sesame seeds, chopped almonds, dried figs, and cinnamon, if desired. For a fresh kick, serve with a dollop of kaymak mixed with sugar and vanilla. Melt the butter in sugar, caramelize thick slices of fresh figs, and deglaze with red wine. Hüseyin prepared this recipe as a dessert on the show “The Perfect Dinner” – Day 5 of the AIDA special “On the High Seas II” on Friday, March 28, 2025.