Georgian cuisine is diverse. But there is one point that is characteristic of all its traditional dishes - it's juicy and rich names. Here, for example, kharcho. Hearing this word, many imagine a rich, thick and fragrant beef or lamb soup with the addition of tomatoes or tomato paste. There is a classic recipe for kharcho soup, and there are many other rather unusual ways to cook this dish.
Cooking features
According to the rules, the recipe for kharcho soup involves the use of beef meat. However, no one forbids taking lamb, chicken, pork, turkey or duck. Each region of Georgia is distinguished by its specific subtleties of cooking a traditional dish. So, the Imereti soup is prepared without the addition of walnuts. In turn, the Mingrelian recipe for kharcho soup has no right to exist without them.
Traditional Georgian cuisine implies the obligatory addition of an important ingredient - we are talking about sour tklapi (this is pastille made from cherry plum or dogwood, which is dried in thin sheets). It is the combination of tender meat broth and natural tklapi acidity, seasoned with the aroma of fresh herbs and tartness of walnuts, that creates the unique taste and aroma of kharcho soup. Its recipe allows the replacement of tklapi with tkemali or fresh tomatoes.
Real Georgian spices for real Georgian soup
It is important to remember that any tklapi substitutes (with the exception of juices) should be added to the dish 15 minutes before it is ready. This applies to fresh tomatoes and tkemali.
Kharcho soup recipe is an abundance of greens. There really is a lot of it there - traditionally they put a lot of cilantro, parsley and basil, as well as garlic and hot pepper in the dish. The bay leaf with black pepper will also be useful. Kharchos Suneli is a piquant highlight of the soup, which creates a unique aroma. Nobody forbids conjuring over a pot with rich soup - using the trial method you can make your own combination of spices and spices, the aroma of which will not leave indifferent any connoisseur of Georgian cuisine.
What is kharcho?
It should be said that no one still knows how spicy and rich soup with the addition of spicy spices and spices appeared in Georgian cuisine. Only one thing is known - before, kharcho was called beef cooked in a sauce of walnuts and the finest plum puree plates (this is tklapi).
A little later, the Kharcho soup recipe began to contain rice, fresh tomatoes and other ingredients. Even now in the Caucasus, it is traditionally believed that the true dish is made from beef, rice, tklapi and walnuts. Plum puree can be replaced with fresh cherry plum or tkemali sauce.
Other ingredients may be added, because in different regions of Georgia kharcho is prepared in its own way. But one thing remains unchanged - the delicate aroma of beef broth and the subtle notes of plum sourness, seasoned with the piquancy of walnuts and natural Georgian herbs and spices. Traditionally, the recipe for making kharcho soup with rice involves the use of beef. Therefore, it is worth talking about how to prepare meat.
Beef or lamb?
This question cannot be ignored. Yes, of course, you can also make kharcho from chicken, but it will not be a real dish of traditional Georgian cuisine. Still, it is beef broth that determines the main taste of the soup. The recipe for kharcho soup with rice involves the use of beef. You can replace it with lamb or pork. There are recipes that allow the use of chicken, but this will be discussed later.
For cooking soup, it is best to use pork or beef on the bone, sirloin of pork or ribs, lamb brisket, neck or shoulder. Any meat must be carefully prepared - wash well, remove all tendons and films. Some housewives prefer to get rid of bones and fat, but they make the broth rich.
The meat is cooked with bay leaves and a few peas of black pepper. As soon as the broth is ready, meat is extracted from it, it is freed from the bones, cut into small pieces. Then the broth is filtered, and pieces of meat are again sent to the pan. This is the basis that is important for the preparation of a true Georgian dish.
Beef kharcho soup recipe with photo
In the prepared beef broth put rice (pre-washed and peeled) of any kind. Do not use crushed or steamed. For rice, round rice is ideal, which when boiled looks very appetizing.
While rice is being cooked, you can cook onions. Grind it and fry it in a pan until golden brown. Together with it, bay leaf, crushed walnuts and slightly softened peas of black pepper, as well as pieces of cherry plum or plum puree (it can be replaced with tomatoes, pomegranate juice or prunes) are sent to the pan. It is best to use cherry tomatoes for kharcho.
Often there is a recipe for kharcho soup with potatoes. This is a Russified version of a traditional Georgian dish. Potatoes are added to beef broth instead of rice.
At the very end, hops-suneli, red capsicum, coriander, adjika, saffron and any other aromatic spices are sent to the pan.
Kharcho soup: a classic recipe with a photo
Initially, you need to cook beef broth. It should be boiled without onions, potatoes, carrots and tomatoes. Two liters of water and 400 grams of beef on the bone are enough to prepare the broth. Together they go to the pot, where they will cook for two hours.
After this, you need to strain the broth, separate the meat from the bone, cut it into small pieces and send it back to the pan. Rinse thoroughly and put 4 tablespoons in the soup. Together with it, you can put a sprig of cilantro and parsley in the pan. In the end they will need to be removed. Once the rice is cooked, chopped walnuts can be added (half a cup will be enough).
At the very end, usually add the head of garlic and the rest of the greens (hops-suneli, tklapi or plum puree, tkemali, etc.).
Chicken Kharcho
Few people like beef, and finding lamb in the market or in the store is not so simple. Therefore, many housewives with great pleasure use chicken meat. The recipe for chicken kharcho soup with rice is simple - it will take no more than 1.5 hours to prepare the dish. You will need the following ingredients:
- Round rice - two tablespoons.
- One chicken breast.
- One middle head of onion.
- One head of garlic.
- Half a can of tomato paste.
- Cilantro, hops-suneli, bay leaf, salt, black pepper.
The dish is prepared quite simply and quickly. It can be made even by a young hostess who cannot boast of a solid culinary experience.
How to cook?
First of all, you need to put a pot of water on the stove and boil the chicken breast. At the same time, you can thoroughly rinse the rice so that the soup does not turn into porridge.
Once the meat is cooked, it must be removed from the pan, strain the broth. Then put it on the fire again and put rice in the pan. While it is boiling, you can chop the onion and lightly fry it in a pan until golden. Once the onion has become transparent, you need to add two tablespoons of tomato paste and several tablespoons of chicken stock to the pan. This is a simple recipe for kharcho soup, so cooking it is a pleasure.
Now you need to add the mixture from the pan to the pot with soup, leave over medium heat until boiling. Now you just need to add chopped garlic, suneli hops, salt and other spices.
Lamb kharcho
Before you get acquainted with the step-by-step recipe for lamb meat kharcho soup, you should prepare all the necessary ingredients. For 4 servings you will need:
- Lamb brisket - 300 grams.
- Two tablespoons of round rice.
- One medium onion.
- Vegetable oil.
- Tomato paste or sauce - two tablespoons.
- A tablespoon of tkemali.
- Three cloves of garlic.
- Hot peppers.
- Cilantro, parsley, suneli hops, adjika, cinnamon and water.
How to cook real Georgian kharcho soup? Step by step recipe with a photo - in front of you:
- First of all, you need to cut into pieces and boil the lamb brisket.
- While the meat is cooked, you need to chop the onion, add a pinch of ground black pepper and mash it with your hands.
- In a frying pan in a small amount of oil, put out two tablespoons of tomato paste.
- Finely chop the herbs with garlic and mix thoroughly.
- By this time, the broth should already be boiling with might and main. Onions with black pepper, pre-washed and soaked rice, as well as sautéed tomato paste are sent to the pan.
- It remains only to bring the dish to readiness.
- Add spices and spices a few minutes before cooking.
The soup is almost ready. It is advisable to let it brew for a few more minutes. Serve aromatic kharcho with herbs.
Kharcho Lenten Soup
This dish is no less tasty and satisfying. Yes, of course, this is not homemade pork kharcho soup. A lean dish recipe is suitable for those who follow their figure and observe fasting. For cooking, you will need the following ingredients:
- 1/2 cup glass of rice.
- 3 plums.
- The same amount of prunes.
- One medium sized onion.
- One carrot.
- 1/2 cup of walnuts.
- One head of garlic.
- Cherry tomatoes (2-3 little things).
- A pinch of saffron.
- A teaspoon of paprika.
- Suneli hops, coriander, salt and sugar.
- Lemon juice, water and fresh parsley.
Step by step recipe
First of all, you need to cook the vegetable broth. To do this, boil 2 liters of water and send there pre-peeled and chopped vegetables (celery, carrots and onions). Saffron is enough just pour warm water and let it brew. Saffron infusion is gradually poured into the vegetable broth (through a sieve). There, send carefully washed rice and put the pan on the fire. Then bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes.
Walnuts should be dried in a microwave and chopped using a blender.
Drain plums with boiling water and peel. Do the same with tomatoes. Prune should be soaked in warm water. Grind everything and fry in a pan for several minutes.
In a pan with vegetable broth and rice, send walnuts and plum-tomato puree, after which the soup needs to be cooked for another 7 minutes. All that remains is to add the soup and season with aromatic spices.
Real Georgian Kharcho
This dish is for real men who love spicy, hearty and rich food. This soup has an incredible palette of flavors and aromas. Spicy, with spicy notes and a spicy finish, will surely appeal to every lover of Georgian cuisine. To create a culinary masterpiece, you will need the following products:
- 1 kilogram of lamb.
- 1/3 cup barley.
- Red boiled beans (half a glass).
- 1/3 of a glass of round rice.
- Two medium sized onions.
- Hot red pepper (2 pods).
- Sweet pepper (2 pieces).
- 3 sprigs of oregano (can be replaced with 1 teaspoon of dry mix).
- Fresh mint (2 branches) or dry (half a teaspoon).
- Tomato ketchup or pasta (3 tablespoons).
- 1 cup walnuts.
- A teaspoon of coriander.
- 3 cloves of garlic.
- A pinch of Imereti saffron.
- Cornmeal (tablespoon).
- 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar.
- A pair of sprigs of fresh cilantro.
How to cook?
Lamb should be washed, cleaned of tendons and films, cut into small pieces and sent to a pan with water. After boiling, salt the broth and continue to cook over low heat, regularly removing foam from the surface. The broth will be ready in about 2 hours.
During this time, you can prepare a gas station. To do this, mix the butter and vegetable oil and fry finely chopped onions, pulp of sweet pepper and crushed pods of red hot in this mixture. There you should send oregano and mint leaves. It is advisable to slightly add the vegetables and season with two tablespoons of tomato ketchup or pasta. From time to time, you can add broth from the pan to the pan.
As soon as the meat is cooked, it needs to be removed from the dishes, cool, strain the broth and return to the stove again. In the pan put the pearl barley, after 60 minutes - washed rice and cook until all the cereals are ready. After that, reduce the heat and add boiled red beans to the dish along with vegetables from the pan. As soon as the soup boils again, you can put boiled lamb in the pan.
Now you just need to prepare a dressing for kharcho. To do this, grind walnuts and mix them with coriander seeds, lightly fry them in a dry pan, grind in a mortar with saffron, garlic, cornmeal and chopped hot pepper pod. Dilute all this with a few tablespoons of broth, add wine vinegar and send to a saucepan with soup.
Kharcho is ready in Georgian! It remains only to pour the fragrant soup on plates and decorate with cilantro. Enjoy your meal!
It doesn't matter which cuisine is preferred in a particular family. The culinary traditions of Georgia have long found their place in the hearts of true gourmets. Every housewife must learn how to cook real chicken kharcho soup. The recipe for this dish of beef or lamb also deserves the highest praise.