GLUTENFREE AŞURE (NOAH’S ARK PUDDING)

According to a Turkish legend, the first version of ‘aşure’ was made by Noah himself. After some weeks on the ark, food stocks dwindled. Thus Noah put a bit of everything he had left on the ark into one pot and created the first “aşure”. Noah and his passengers well-fed with “aşure”until the ark finally rested on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey.

Furthermore, Noah’s ark pudding is a symbol of diversity, friendship, and unity. According to Turkish tradition, during the “Aşure month” (The month of Muharrem according to Arabic calendar) we cook and distribute bowls of “aşure” to as many friends and neighbors as possible.

Despite the fact that the original recipe contains wheat, I substituted it with buckwheat for the “glutenfree” version.

In line with the philosophy of “aşure”, I just used the existing ingredients at home and avoided any extra shopping. So,there is dried papaya and dates instead of dried apricots and dried figs respectively.

I hope you will try and enjoy this glutenfree recipe.

Ingredients:

– 1 cup buckwheat

– 1 cup granulated sugar

– 1 cup cooked (boiled) white beans

– 1 cup cooked (boiled) chickpeas

– 1 apple

– 1 orange

– ½ cup walnuts

– ½ cup raisin

– ½ cup dried sourcherry

– ½ cup dates or dried figs

– ½ cup dried papaya or dried apricot

– 1 clove

To garnish:

– 1 pomegranate

– 2 fresh figs

– 1-2 table spoons pine nuts

Instructions:

– Soak the buckwheat in warm water for 1 hour. Then drain it and put the buckwheat in a pot. Add 5 cups water and cook it until buckwheat gets tender..

– Add beans and chickpeas , cook for another 2 minutes.

– Grate the zest of orange, squeeze the juice of it.

– Soak dates, raisin and dried sour cherries into warm water for 15 minutes.

– Chop the apple and dates into small dices.

– Add sugar, orange juice, hazelnuts, dates, dried papaya, raisins, dried sour cherries and apples into the pot. Cook them altogether for 10 minutes.

– Finally add 1 coffee spoon orange zest and 1 clove into the pot; take the pot from the stove and let the “aşure” cool down until room temperature.