Kharcho soup - general principles and methods of preparation
The fragrant and rich Kharcho soup is the real pride of Georgian cuisine. Having mastered the recipe for its preparation, you can arrange for your family a real Georgian restaurant.
The classic kharcho soup is made from beef. Even its name translates as "beef soup." Further, the original recipe for kharcho soup involves the use of a special dressing - tklapi, in other words, dried plum puree. If you want to make a real Georgian kharcho soup, then you can not do without this dressing. However, if you fail to get it, and you really want kharcho soup, then you can use tkemali sauce for its preparation. If tkemali is not available, then you can take pomegranate juice.
What do we need more? The traditional kharcho soup is also prepared from rice, onions, spices, garlic and suneli hops. Our housewives often use tomatoes in the preparation of this dish, but this is already a matter of personal taste preferences. Ready kharcho soup in Georgia is customary to sprinkle with fresh cilantro on a plate.
However, in Georgian cuisine, as a rule, there are no strict recipes for main dishes common to the whole country. Recipes of residents of Eastern and Western Georgia may differ from each other, so you can choose those recipes that are closer to your preferences.
Kharcho soup - preparation of products
When preparing kharcho soup, it is important to choose the right meat and rice. Many people think that all dishes of Georgian cuisine, including kharcho soup, are prepared from lamb. However, for this dish you need to use beef, or, in extreme cases, chicken. It is better to prefer a piece of fresh fatty beef on the bone. Having separated the meat from the bones and stripping it from the films, we cut it across the fibers into small pieces.
As for rice, it can be round or long-grain, but not steamed, and certainly not crushed.
Kharcho soup - the best recipes
Recipe 1: Classic Kharcho Soup
Having prepared a dish according to this recipe, you will get not just a delicious first dish, but a real Georgian kharcho soup. It uses beef, rice, onions, prunes and traditional Georgian seasonings, which make it unusually tasty and fragrant.
Ingredients:
300 gr beef brisket;
100 gr. rice;
2 onions;
3 cloves of garlic;
3 pieces of prunes;
1 pod of hot chili pepper;
1 tbsp. l hops-suneli and tklapi;
50 gr tomato puree;
1 tbsp. l rast. oils;
7 glasses of water;
to taste salt, fresh herbs cilantro.
Cooking method:
1. Cut the brisket into small pieces, put them in a pan. Then, adding a couple of glasses of water so that it covers the meat, cook it over high heat for about 5 minutes.
2. Finely chop the onion, garlic, cilantro, mix the greens with tomato paste, suneli hops, vegetable oil and cook this mixture for about 2 minutes, also over high heat.
3. Add to the meat the resulting mixture with tkemali, prunes, pepper, rice. Then, pouring the remaining water into the pan and salt, cook the soup for about 10 minutes over high heat.
4. We chop parsley and dill, sprinkle them with soup before serving.
Recipe 2: Tomato Kharcho Soup
This recipe is more affordable in terms of its components, but the taste and aroma of a dish prepared with it is no less appetizing. The famous Georgian tklapi sauce is not used here, but the necessary sharpness and sourness are achieved by using tomatoes and popular seasonings.
Ingredients:
0.5 kg of beef on the bone;
3 medium onions;
4 tbsp. l rice;
4 ripe red tomatoes;
1 clove of garlic;
to taste salt and cilantro;
spices to taste (hops-suneli, basil, bay leaf, allspice).
Cooking method:
1. Take a pot with a capacity of about 2.5 liters and cook meat in it for about an hour and a half with the lid closed. Half an hour before the end of cooking, salt to taste. We take out the meat with bones from the finished broth, filter it.
2. Finely chop the onion, fry it in a pan with vegetable oil until soft. Then we put the meat in a pan with onions and fry again for about 5 minutes. Then, reducing the fire, pour a few spoons of the broth into the pan, and simmer everything under the closed lid for about 15 minutes.
3. During the stewing of meat, we are engaged in the preparation of tomatoes. After washing them, we cut each one from above crosswise. Then, putting the tomatoes in a bowl, fill them with boiling water (so that they are completely covered with water). After a few minutes, drain the water and easily peel the tomatoes from the tomatoes, then cut them randomly and send them to the pan, where the meat and onions are stewed, simmer all together for about 10 minutes.
4. We put the pan with the broth on the fire and, when it begins to boil, put the stew with vegetables. We bring it to a boil again and send the rice there, reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Then add the spices.
5. Before the very end of cooking, add crushed garlic and finely chopped greens to the pan. Letting the dish stand under the lid, serve it with pita bread or bread.
Recipe 3: Chicken Kharcho Soup
Chicken kharcho soup is no less tasty than beef soup. It is also fragrant and satisfying, and in Georgia kharcho soup made of chicken meat is no less popular than a dish with beef.
Ingredients:
hen;
2 onions;
40 gr wheat flour;
0.5 cups mashed plum tkemali or 3 ripe tomatoes;
200 UAH peeled walnuts;
3 cloves of garlic;
1 tsp hops-suneli;
2 tsp crushed cilantro seeds;
several branches of green cilantro;
taste:
peppers;
allspice;
black pepper;
cinnamon;
cloves;
Imereti saffron;
Bay leaf;
salt.
Cooking method:
1. Put prepared pieces of chicken in a pot with a capacity of about 2.5 liters and cook until half ready, remove the fat during cooking in a separate pan.
2. Finely chopped the onion, put it in another pan with fat, which we removed from the broth, and stew well. Then we transfer into this pan the pieces of chicken that we cooked, cover and simmer further with occasional stirring for about 15 minutes.
3. Then pour in the same flour and simmer for about 5 minutes.
4. Pour the chicken stock into the pan and boil everything for about 10 minutes. Then add mashed plums or tomatoes, which should first be boiled and rubbed through a sieve. We boil for about 5 minutes, then add crushed walnuts with garlic, cinnamon, cloves, pepper (capsicum, black, allspice), Imereti saffron, sunflower hops, cilantro seeds, finely chopped cilantro greens, bay leaf, salt. Boil the soup for about 10 minutes and let it brew.
Kharcho soup - useful tips from experienced chefs
Contrary to popular belief, red spicy pepper should be used very sparingly when making kharcho soup. Like the many other spices used in the preparation of this dish, pepper should not give it spice, but create an aromatic effect.
Care should also be taken with cilantro. It is distinguished by a very specific taste, which not everyone likes. Using this seasoning for the first time, do not put it in a pan with a prepared dish, but add finely chopped greens to a plate before serving.
When preparing kharcho soup, it is important to remember the cooking technology and the order of bookmarking the products, however, you can experiment by trying to diversify its taste by adding various spices or ingredients, for example, finely chopped cherry plum. And most importantly - cook it with your soul, and then everything will turn out perfectly!
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