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How to cook Georgian kharcho from beef. Georgian beef kharcho soup. Delicious addition to soup

Today you will learn from our recipes how to properly cook real Georgian beef kharcho. Due to its unique rich taste, this national Caucasian dish continues to win the hearts of many consumers around the world.

The classic recipe for beef kharcho in Georgian

Ingredients:

fatty beef brisket - 550-750 g;
rice - 130 g;
tomato puree - 60 g;
- 65 g;
walnuts - 1 large handful;
garlic - 1 large head;
onions - 2 pcs.;
red and green hot peppers - 1 pod each;
lavrushka - 2 leaves;
- a few pinches;
salt;
cilantro and parsley.

Preparation

To prepare kharcho, wash the fatty beef brisket, place it whole in a saucepan, fill it with filtered water and put it on the stove to cook. Remove the foam during boiling and at the initial stage of boiling. Then we reduce the heat to the minimum and let the meat stand for one and a half to two hours or until tender. After that, take out the meat on a plate and let it cool slightly. Strain the broth and return the beef to it, separating it from the bones, disassembling it into fibers or cutting it into small cubes.

After the broth with meat boils again, pour the rice washed to clear water into it, throw in the peeled and diced onions, chopped and pounded garlic cloves with salt, add tkemali sauce and tomato sauce. We also flavor kharcho hops-suneli, throw in allspice and black peppercorns, bay leaves, and cook over moderate heat until rice grains are soft. At the end, throw in chopped walnuts, finely chopped cilantro and parsley, and a chopped pod of peeled hot pepper. Let the kharcho boil for another five minutes, brew for ten minutes and can serve.

Georgian soup kharcho from beef with carrots - recipe

In the classic version of cooking kharcho, carrots are not used. But many, adapting the dish to their taste, add carrots and other vegetables and ingredients. This recipe for kharcho soup with carrots.

Ingredients:

beef - 650 g;
rice - 120 g;
tkemali or tklapi sauce - 65 g or 1/4 piece of A4 sheet size, respectively;
large tomato - 3 pcs.;
a handful of walnuts;
garlic - 1 large head;
medium-sized carrots - 1 pc.;
stem celery - two petioles;
onions - 3 pcs.;
hot pepper - 2 pods;
lavrushka - 2 leaves;
hops-suneli - a few pinches;
allspice and black peppercorns;
salt;
cilantro and parsley greens - 1 bunch each;
vegetable oil.

Preparation

As in the classic version, boil the beef until tender, and then grind and put it back in strained broth. In this case, when cooking meat, add celery stalks and one peeled onion, and then, when the meat is ready, remove them from the broth and discard. Now add to the soup thoroughly washed rice, tkemali sauce or dried plum paste - tklapi, grated fresh tomatoes, sautéed in refined oil along with chopped onions, carrots and a handful of chopped nuts. Season kharcho with hops-suneli, peppercorns, bay leaves and cook over medium heat until the rice is soft. After that, add garlic, grated with salt, chopped hot pepper pods and chopped fresh herbs, let it boil for three to five minutes and brew a little.

Georgian kharcho is a fragrant, hearty and incredibly tasty first dish. With it, you can safely begin acquaintance with Georgian cuisine, because kharcho soup in Georgia is like borscht in Ukraine. It is prepared for dinner for the whole family, it is served to guests, and any national restaurant will certainly offer it on its menu.

How to cook kharcho in Georgian

Today, there are many options for cooking with a photo, which is not surprising: the dish has existed for more than one century. Real kharcho soup, the recipe of which was passed from one generation to another, has undergone changes over time: new ingredients and spices have appeared in it. But there is something that is invariably present in any Georgian kharcho, and all the recipes from the photo are somehow similar due to these components.

Beef

In Georgian, the name is “dzrokhis khortsi kharshot”, which literally means “beef meat in broth”. Despite the fact that in Russia kharcho is often prepared from lamb, pork, and even chicken, the classic recipe implies that it is beef that is used. Ideal for soup, the brisket is lean and bone-in for a deliciously rich broth. You can also take ribs, which will make the soup just as good.

Tklapi or tkemali sauce

The second mandatory component is tklapi, a dried cherry plum paste of the tkemali variety. No tomato paste! It is difficult to imagine a European person preparing tklapi for kharcho. However, there is an alternative - tkemali sauce, which you can buy at the store. In Georgia, it is often added to kharcho in summer along with fresh plums. In order not to be mistaken with the choice of sauce, it is important to immediately pay attention to the composition: in the first place it should be cherry plum.

Walnut

An interesting highlight is the kernels of walnuts, which Georgians love to add to soups, main courses, and baked goods.

Spices

You can't do without spices. Most often these are hops-suneli. The spices give the soup a flavor that will drive any gourmet crazy.

Tip: if you can't find tklapi or tkemali sauce, you can replace them with pomegranate juice. Such a replacement will not become a serious violation of the recipe, since even in Georgia, pomegranate juice is sometimes used.

How to buy the perfect meat for kharcho

As experienced chefs say, preparing quality products is the key to the success of a dish. The choice of beef should be taken with special responsibility. Frozen supermarket meat will not work. It is extremely rare to cook a really rich stew with him. It is best to take meat from the market. If you are not too lazy and go there in the morning, you can purchase the freshest tenderloin. The pulp for cooking kharcho should be firm, without blood, with a pleasant smell and rich color.

A set of products:

beef on the bone (400 gr);
rice (4 tablespoons);
tkemali (3 tablespoons) or tklapi (palm-sized leaf);
walnut nuts (half a cup);
head of garlic;
a bunch of cilantro;
a bunch of parsley.

Cooking process:

Rinse the beef thoroughly with cold water and place in a large saucepan. Next, the meat is poured with two liters of water and placed on the stove. After boiling, you need to set a slow fire, remove the foam and boil for two hours. The cooked meat is taken out, separated from the bones and put into a boiling broth.

Tip: if during cooking it was not possible to carefully collect the foam and the broth turned out to be cloudy, it should be filtered

The washed rice is laid out in a boiling broth and cooked over medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Along with the rice, add a few tied sprigs of parsley and cilantro (about a third of the total). Before serving, the whole greens must be removed: their function is to fill the broth with aroma.
While the rice is cooking, you need to prepare the walnuts: crush them and fry them without adding oil over low heat. Stir the nuts all the time to avoid burning. Readiness can be easily identified by its characteristic rich odor.
The greens need to be finely chopped, the garlic - chopped. Tkemali li tklapi, parsley, dill, garlic and fried nuts are gradually added to the slowly boiling broth. Some of the greens must be left: they are put directly into the plates. The finishing touch is suneli hops. Black pepper and bay leaves can be added if desired.
Finished kharcho soup is covered with a lid and infused for at least 15 minutes. The dish turns out to be rich, dense and aromatic.

How to cook kharcho: a simple step-by-step recipe

This variant is common in Samegrelo, a region in western Georgia. Such kharcho can be served as a main course or as a very thick soup. It is quite spicy, with a pungent taste: pepper lovers will not remain indifferent. If you cannot find tkemali or tklapi, but your soul asks for an original dish, this is what you need. Adjika and tomato are responsible for the sourness characteristic of kharcho soup in this recipe in Georgian. A unique feature is the absence of traditional rice.

A set of products:

beef pulp (1 kg);
onions (7 pieces);
butter (30 gr);
dry red wine (150 ml);
tomatoes in their own juice (400 gr);
tomato juice (5 tablespoons);
walnuts (80 gr);
parsley root (1 bunch);
adjika (3 tablespoons);
a mixture of five peppers (1 tablespoon);
saffron (1 tablespoon);
hops-suneli (2 teaspoons);
coriander (10 grains);
vegetable oil;
salt (to taste).

Cooking process:

The beef is peeled of film and fat and cut into large cubes. Chopped meat should be pepper, greased with vegetable oil and left for a while. The next step is to put the beef in a pan in one layer and fried on all sides. There is no need to add oil. The finished meat is laid out on a plate.
Onions need to be finely chopped and fried until golden brown in a mixture of vegetable and butter. After that, you need to pepper and pour in red wine.
The set aside meat is added to the onion with wine and lightly salted. Everything is mixed and cooked before the wine is evaporated. Then add tomato juice and pounded tomatoes. Everything is mixed and stewed for 20 minutes.
Parsley leaves must be separated from the stems and chopped, coriander - crushed with a knife and chopped. Coriander, saffron, adjika and hop-suneli are added to the finished meat. You should be careful with adjika, laying it out gradually: it is this ingredient that largely determines the pungency.
Chop the nuts, add them to the dish and mix. The finishing touch is chopped parsley.

Step-by-step recipe for kharcho with red beans

Another interesting kharcho option is with the addition of beans. Such a chowder turns out to be delicious both with beef and lamb broth. An interesting solution is to use lamb and beef at the same time for cooking.

A set of products:

beef (350 gr);
red beans (170 gr);
1 onion;
1 medium carrot;
walnuts (40 gr);
red fleshy tomatoes (4 pieces);
garlic (3-4 cloves);
tkemali sauce (2-3 tablespoons);
vegetable oil (for frying);
hops-suneli (1 teaspoon);
ground black pepper (to taste);
parsley (1 bunch);
Bay leaf;
salt.

Cooking process:

Selected beans should be poured over with cold water and left overnight. If it's warm at home, it's best to put the bowl of beans in the refrigerator to avoid fermentation.
Rinse the brisket thoroughly with cold water and cook. The meat is cooked over low heat for two hours. Be sure to skim off the foam during the cooking process. Bay leaves are added to add flavor to the broth. If lamb meat is also used, it must be boiled along with beef.
Chop the garlic, and finely chop the carrots and onions and fry in oil until golden brown.
Grind the walnuts in a mortar.
The soaked beans are washed with water.
Tomatoes are peeled and ground.
The finished meat is separated from the bones and sent to the boiling broth. Beans, tomatoes, roast, tkemali sauce and nuts are placed in a saucepan. Cook for half an hour.
Chopped parsley is poured into the finished soup and covered with a lid. Leave for at least 20 minutes to let the soup steep.

How to serve kharcho soup: an important addition to a Georgian recipe

The answer to the question of how to cook delicious kharcho in Georgian in stages will be incomplete, if not to say a few words about serving the dish on the table. Serving will help you to feel the atmosphere and flavor of the national cuisine. You need to eat kharcho with lavash or rye bread. Numerous photos on the web are a vivid confirmation of this. Often the dish is seasoned with sour cream. And for appetite, you can drink a glass of young red wine - it will be an easy aperitif preparing for dinner. Ideal if it is homemade, not store-bought.

Kharcho soup for Georgia is the same as cabbage soup for a Russian and borscht for a Ukrainian. If other dishes can be the prerogative of one region, then kharcho is cooked everywhere. That is why there are still disputes about how to properly prepare kharcho and what ingredients are appropriate for it.

Varieties of kharcho

In each region, an original kharcho is prepared, with its own set of spices and main ingredients. It is believed that in Western Georgia, kharcho is prepared mainly from beef or veal. But in the East of Georgia they love mutton very much. Accordingly, kharcho is cooked only with her. But all this is just a conditional division. The culinary geography of Georgia is much richer than the relative framework.

An important classification of kharcho is its division into soup and a second course, which is thickened with a large amount of walnuts in tomato sauce. But each hostess in Georgia prepares these dishes in her own way, taking into account national traditions, the experience that has been passed down from generation to generation, modern realities and her own preferences.

Products that include kharcho soup

The kharcho soup must contain the following products:

Meat. Georgian kharcho soup can be made from both lamb and beef. It is desirable that the meat has a bone, which will give a rich broth. The pulp is also desirable, so that later you can cut it into portions.
You need a lot of onions for kharcho. By weight, it will be a quarter or a third of the weight of all meat. The onions are first fried and then stewed until the onions are dissolved in the soup.
Tomato. This kharcho necessarily includes tomato puree from fresh tomatoes. If not in season, then you can add a blank of pureed tomatoes. It will give the necessary acid and bright color to the dish.
Another ingredient that gives the desired sourness to kharcho is tkemali. It can be a sauce made from the same name plums or tklapi. Both components can be used at once. The sauce will not only increase the acid concentration, but also add spices, since in the present tkemali there are at least two of them: cilantro and garlic.
Adding tklapi. We often call it marshmallow made of cherry plum, tkemali, sloe, grapes or any other fruits and berries from which this product was prepared. As the name implies, tklapi is very similar in appearance to marshmallow. It is prepared from mashed potatoes or cake left over after squeezing the juice. Tklapi imparts more color than tkemali or tomato puree. And also - the necessary sourness and a little sweetness.
Spices. The kharcho contains a whole set of spices, but sometimes it is replaced with a ready-made kharcho-suneli mixture. If you could not buy it, then its composition will tell you what you can add to Georgian soup: fenugreek, coriander, dried garlic, basil, black pepper, turmeric, paprika, hot pepper, marjoram, savory.
Sharpness. It is necessary in kharcho. But hot peppers or adjika are added based on personal taste preferences: someone likes a very spicy soup, someone - medium or weakly spicy.
Rice. It must be added to thicken the soup. Round varieties are predominantly used, which contain more starch. But you do not need to overdo it with the addition of rice, it should not dominate the overall ensemble, but be only a part of it.

The taste of the future dish depends on the combination of all the conditions for preparing kharcho.

Recipe: Georgian kharcho soup

Ingredients:

beef - 600-700 g;
onions - 200-300 g;
garlic - 2-4 cloves;
tomatoes - 300 g;
rice - ¼ glass;
tklapi - a flat cake the size of a palm;
turmeric - ¼ teaspoon;
coriander - 1 teaspoon;
dried basil to taste;
black pepper - ½ teaspoon;
utskho-suneli - ½ teaspoon;
fresh cilantro - 1 bunch;
salt.

Preparation:

First you need to put the meat to boil. It is washed, poured over with cold water and put on fire.
While the beef is boiling, the tomatoes need to be grated on a coarse grater to make a puree.
Finely chop the onion and fry in vegetable oil.
Add all the seasonings and crushed garlic there, mix for a minute.
Then tomato puree is poured into the onion. Everything is stewed for 2-3 minutes.
Strain the finished broth, cut the meat into portions.
Add rice, grated tomatoes with spices and tklapi to the broth and cook until the rice is cooked, season with salt.
Cut the cilantro and decorate the finished dish with it.

Kharcho soup with lamb

Ingredients:

lamb on the bone - 700-800 g;
onions - 2-3 onions;
tkemali - 3-4 tablespoons;
rice - ½ cup;
vegetable oil for frying;
tklapi - 100 g;
corn flour - 2 tablespoons;
Imeretian saffron - ½ teaspoon;
coriander - 1 teaspoon;
hops-suneli - 1 teaspoon;
salt.

Preparation:

Lamb is boiled for about 1.5 hours.
Fry onions in vegetable oil.
Add cornmeal to the pan and brown a little with onions. Corn flour in this case is used for thickening. If corn is not available, regular wheat flour can be used.
As soon as the broth is cooked, strain it and put rice in it.
Add saffron, pounded coriander and suneli hops to the rice.
Cook the rice for 10 minutes, then add the onion, tkemali and chopped tklapi fried with corn flour.
Salt the soup. While it is boiling, chop fresh herbs, which are placed on the plates when serving.

Fast kharcho soup

Ingredients:

onions - 2-3 onions;
tomatoes - 3 pieces;
tkemali - 3-4 tablespoons;
rice - ½ cup;
vegetable oil for frying;
kharcho-suneli - 1 tablespoon;
fresh parsley and cilantro - half a bunch;
salt.

Preparation:

Put the rice to cook in 1.5 liters of water.
Grate the tomatoes.
Fry finely chopped onions in a pan.
Add kharcho-suneli and tomato puree to it, simmer for 2-3 minutes.
As soon as the rice is cooked, put the tomatoes and onions, add tkemali, salt.
Bring the soup to a boil and turn off.
Decorate the finished soup with fresh herbs.

Video:

It is famous for many delicious dishes, but only a few of them entered the treasury of first Soviet and then world cuisine. There are also kharcho among these chosen ones - in translation it means simply "beef soup". Georgians are very strict about the choice of meat. Only beef and veal should be used, most commonly brisket. But they approach the soup easier: it can be a soup (though thick), and sometimes it can be a sauce. Megrelian beef kharcho soup is prescribed by the recipe to be made with adjika and to eat with gomi - this is such a fresh mamalyga. But you can just eat it with a churek, dipping the sauce with bread.

Classic kharcho recipe

Wash a kilogram of beef or veal brisket, cut into small pieces and set to cook. Naturally, when it boils, you need to remove the "noise" from time to time. Finely chop two or three onions and fry in sunflower oil. Scald a pound of tomato with boiling water, remove the skin and rub it with a mashed potato (you can replace fresh vegetables with 2-3 tablespoons of tomato paste). Add the tomatoes to the onion in a skillet and simmer for five minutes over low heat. We pass 100 g of walnut kernels through a meat grinder, add spices (2 tablespoons of utskho-suneli, a spoonful of saffron, half a spoonful of dry cilantro, a little hot red pepper on the tip of a knife), mix. When the meat is already easily pierced with a fork, add a glass of rice, onions with tomatoes and nuts with spices to the pan, add salt. Cook until the cereals are ready, then add three finely chopped garlic cloves and herbs. Let it boil for another three minutes and remove - let it infuse a little now.

Russian recipe kharcho

When Georgia became one of the fifteen union republics, kharcho rapidly spread over the entire "one-sixth of the land." It is understood that he has adapted to local products and food traditions. They began to cook it with pork, lamb and chicken. But even if the chefs remained faithful to beef, the local spices and additives gave the dish a new taste every time. For example, Russians cut meat into small cubes (2x2 cm), boil them after boiling for 10 minutes, pour out the broth, fill it with new cold water, and make soup on it. When the meat is almost ready, catch it with a slotted spoon and fry in oil with half a finely chopped onion. At this time, a couple of bay leaves are thrown into the saucepan. Further, the Russian recipe for grub suggests returning the meat and onions to the pan, bring the liquid to a boil and add half a glass of rice, and put the second half of the onion in the same oil in the pan. When it turns yellow, add crushed tomatoes or pasta to it and simmer until half of the liquid boils away. Then spices are poured into the pan - a spoonful of hops-suneli, 5 cloves of garlic, black pepper - and immediately remove it from the heat, covering it with a lid. When the rice is ready, put the tomato dressing in a saucepan with soup, stir, turn off the heat and let it brew for 15 minutes.

Pork kharcho soup recipe

The dish turns out to be as aromatic and rich as the classic kharcho. It is necessary to take into account the factor that pork is cooked faster than beef, and gives a fatty broth, so it is lightly fried before laying. When the meat is almost cooked, the kharcho recipe recommends frying dry rice in a pan until it is glassy and putting it in a pan along with garlic, sour plums, salt and pepper. Tomatoes are added, as in the previous recipes, stewed. You can season the soup with tkemali sauce.

Description

Kharcho in Georgian is a real gem of oriental cuisine. As you know, it is famous for its unusual spicy dishes. So kharcho soup was no exception to this rule. Its taste is really very unusual - sourish, with pronounced spicy and nutty notes.

If you cook really real kharcho soup in Georgian, that is, according to its classic recipe, then only beef should be used in cooking. Although in some regions of this eastern country, it is quite possible to replace beef with lamb. So the choice is yours!

It is unusual in kharcho soup and its dressing, which, in fact, is the basis of the dish. It is made on the basis of a special variety of Tkemali or Tklapi plums. However, since it is rather problematic to find such a dressing outside Georgia, we will replace it with a canned tomato dressing. In general, this will make this oriental dish more familiar to our taste.

So, let's start cooking, guided by the recommendations of this recipe photo!

Ingredients

(300 g)
(1 l)
(1 bundle)
(30 g)
(3-4 pcs.)
(70 ml)
(100 g)
(3-4 cloves)
(1 PC.)
(200 g)
Canned tomatoes
(400 g)
(taste)
(taste)
(1 tsp)

Cooking steps

Before we start the very process of making Georgian Kharcho soup with lamb and nuts, you should make sure that you have all the necessary ingredients, and then prepare them. It is necessary to wash greens and vegetables, peel walnuts from the shell.

Now we start preparing the broth. Rinse the lamb well in running water, put it in a deep saucepan, fill it with water. We put the onion there (whole, it only needs to be peeled from the husk) and sprigs of greens. It is necessary to cook the broth until the meat is well boiled.

Finely chop one large onion, and finely chop the chili pepper in the same way. These two ingredients will need to be fried in sunflower oil.

In a saucepan with onions and chili peppers, you will need to add medium-sized fresh tomatoes. Let’s extinguish all this together for 10 - 15 minutes.

While the base for the Kharcho soup is being stewed in the stewpan, we can do the meat. It needs to be cut into medium-sized pieces. Then the meat must be added to the vegetables and stew it all together a little. After that, pour the broth into the saucepan. Just keep in mind that a whole onion, and the greens from it will need to be removed in advance.