Surely in the culinary arsenal of every housewife there is the first dish that I wanted to cook, but it was not always possible to do it in the right way. Today we will talk about such a wonderful dish as hodgepodge classic meat. And if you have never once spoiled your household with this amazingly tasty, fragrant dish, then it's time to fix the culinary flaws.
It is proved that the hodgepodge is not only one of the most popular soups for cooking in the home kitchen, but also the most popular and often ordered dish in fashionable restaurants and cafes. Abkhazian thick and incredibly satisfying meat hodgepodge is especially popular. This recipe will be discussed today.
Hit Caucasian cuisine
As you know, the culinary specialists of the Caucasus have long known many recipes for meat and spicy dishes. Abkhazian hodgepodge recipe is no exception. Hot, surprisingly satisfying and aromatic soup with many pieces of various meat has been a favorite dish of the local population for many centuries. The obligatory component of the hodgepodge is not only a variety of seasonings and aromatic spices, but also a slice of lemon.
Recently, a hodgepodge has become very popular, in which, in addition to meat, smoked sausages are also present. The recipe for this dish seems rather complicated, but it is only at first glance.
Essential Ingredients
In order to master and experience the Abkhazian hodgepodge recipe in your own kitchen, you will need the following set of products. Note that meat - the basis of the hodgepodge used in the preparation of the first dish, must certainly be fresh, bought from a trusted butcher.
In Abkhazia, beef is most often used to make hodgepodge. This meat and fat gives excellent, such that the broth is obtained simultaneously thick, but not muddy. And about the beneficial properties of this type of lean meat and can not speak. Therefore, we go to a trusted store or to the butcher we trust, and buy a kilogram of good beef. Specialists recommend taking the scapular part for the recipe for the Solyanka in Abkhazian way.
Also, vegetables will be required for cooking:
- Cucumbers (salted) - three pieces.
- Onions - two pieces.
- Garlic - three large wedges.
- Tomatoes - 3 pcs. (can be replaced with three tablespoons of homemade tomato paste).
And of course, you can’t do without cooking Abkhaz hodgepodge with beef without aromatic spices and seasonings:
- A pinch of dried adjika.
- Bay leaf - 2 pcs.
- Peppercorns - 5-7 pcs.
- Dried garlic - on the tip of a knife.
- Red ground pepper or half fresh chili pepper.
- Salt.
- Water is one glass.
- A large bunch of fresh herbs (cilantro and parsley).
Also in the recipe will be used a couple of tablespoons of flour and a little vegetable oil, which is required for frying vegetables.
Preparation: meat phase
To master the Abkhazian hodgepodge recipe, you will need the appropriate kitchen utensils. To prepare this soup, a cauldron with thick walls and a powerful bottom, in which nothing will burn, is best suited. Finely chopped onions are the first to be sent to the dishes. Moreover, in this recipe it does not fry, but simmers over low heat in a small amount of vegetable oil for about five minutes.
While the onions will cook, you can do meat. Beef should be removed from the films and rinsed thoroughly under running water. Cut the meat into small cubes. We send meat pieces to the cauldron to the onion. We add fire and fry the meat for two to three minutes. After that, pour a glass of water into the dishes. The process of stewing meat is quite lengthy. The meat should be on the stove for about 1.5 hours. The water in the process can evaporate, so do not forget to follow the preparation and pour it on time.
Stage "vegetable"
The next stage in preparing Abkhazian hodgepodge with Adjika is vegetables. Dice the cucumbers. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Add vegetables to the meat and simmer for another ten minutes. In some recipes, capers are found, so if there is such a product in the house or it is possible to buy it in the store, then we add them.
Stage "fragrant"
Well, what a Caucasian hodgepodge without spices and fragrant herbs! Salt the dish, add the bay leaf, peas, hot peppers, adjika to it. You can also add Suneli hops or ground coriander. Now we plant tomato paste in a glass of water and pour it into the cauldron. Tomim five more minutes and turn off the fire. Fresh chopped greens can be added both to the cauldron and separately in portions to the plates.
Abkhazian solyanka in a slow cooker
Despite the external simplicity, the recipe for making hodgepodge takes a lot of time and effort. Meat in a cauldron should always be carefully monitored and controlled. But what if there is not enough time, but you want to cook a fragrant and tasty dish of Caucasian cuisine? The answer is one: we use a kitchen assistant - a slow cooker.
First, pour a little vegetable oil to the bottom of the multicooker bowl. Add finely chopped onions to the same place and fry in the “baking” mode for about two minutes. And now all the other ingredients are used, except herbs and garlic. We will add them at the very end of cooking. We put pieces of meat, add tomato paste, salt, put pepper and capers, cucumbers, bay leaves, etc. If desired, you can add any other types of meat or smoked sausages, which we talked about a little above. In this case, you get a real classic hodgepodge meat.
Close the lid, turn on the "quenching" and forget about the hodgepodge for one hour. In some slow cookers, the dish cooks even faster - in 40-45 minutes. After we open the lid, add fresh chopped garlic and greens finely chopped. Serving a hodgepodge is recommended to be necessarily hot.
Useful tips and important rules.
- If you want to cook a truly classic hodgepodge, then the recipe will never have potatoes. Traditional recipes of hodgepodge, which came to us from old cookbooks, say that there is no place for this vegetable in hodgepodge.
- If you are preparing a mixed hodgepodge, then the obligatory type of meat is beef. And already to it you can add smoked sausages, ham, chicken or sausage.
- If excessive salinity is the taste that seduces you in this dish, then not only pickled cucumbers can strengthen it. Try adding capers or green olives to the hodgepodge. These ingredients are also great for the first course and give it the necessary piquancy.
- To save time, some housewives boil beef in advance. As a result, you will only need to fry the onions, add pieces of meat and pour it all with tomato paste.
- And one more important rule. The more fragrant herbs you add, the tastier and more traditional your hodgepodge will turn out.