Aromatic, satisfying and rich, kharcho soup is good for winter lunches, when it’s frosty outside and you want to warm up. A popular Georgian dish, a cross between meat soup and stew, has long taken root in Russian cuisine. It's hard to resist, especially if the kharcho is prepared according to all the rules. But in order to enjoy this dish, you don’t have to go to a Caucasian restaurant. Let's talk about how to properly prepare delicious kharcho soup at home in compliance with Georgian traditions.

What is kharcho

Nobody knows when the recipe first appeared in Georgian cuisine. It is known that once the word “kharcho” was used to describe beef in a sauce made from walnuts and thin slices of dried tklapi plum puree. A little later, rice began to be added to kharcho, and now in the Caucasus it is believed that real kharcho is cooked from beef, tklapi, walnuts and rice. In the summer months, plum puree is replaced with fresh plums or tkemali sauce. It is also possible to add other products to the dish, because in different regions of Georgia, kharcho is prepared in its own way, and each recipe claims to be a classic. The delicious beef broth with its piquant plum sourness, delicate flavor of walnuts and spicy aroma of spices and herbs remains unchanged. Sometimes plums are replaced with prunes, tomatoes, tomato paste or pomegranate juice.

Cooking kharcho soup correctly: preparing the meat

Classic kharcho soup is usually prepared from beef, but since there are many different recipes for this dish, it is acceptable to use lamb, pork and chicken. The meat must be the freshest and highest quality. It is best to take beef with a bone, pork ribs or fillet, lamb brisket, shoulder or neck, and if you decide to cook chicken kharcho, both thighs and breast will do. The meat is washed well, cleaned of films and tendons, but whether it is worth removing bones and fat is a personal matter for each housewife. Some cooks believe that bones add richness and flavor to the broth. If you cook a dietary version of kharcho, then fat, of course, will be superfluous, although it makes the soup much tastier. The meat is removed from the finished broth, the broth is filtered, the meat is separated from the bones, cut into pieces and returned to the broth. The basis for Georgian kharcho is ready!

Secrets of cooking kharcho

Well-washed rice of any kind, except crushed and steamed, is placed in the finished broth. Round rice is ideal for this dish, as it looks very appetizing when cooked. While the rice is cooking, add onion sautéed until golden brown, bay leaf, slightly mashed black peppercorns, crushed walnuts, cherry plum pieces or fresh plum puree (prunes, tkemali, pomegranate juice). In some recipes you can also find tomatoes - they are usually used without skin in crushed form. But it is best to take cherry tomatoes, which give the soup originality. Towards the end of cooking, spices are introduced into the kharcho - suneli hops, red capsicum, saffron, coriander, adjika and any tasty spices. If you are cooking for children, do not add hot spices to the dish. After the soup is ready, add finely chopped garlic, chopped parsley, cilantro, rosemary and celery greens to the pan.

The sequence of adding ingredients and cooking time may vary depending on the recipe. Sometimes kharcho is prepared with bell peppers, carrots and potatoes, Italians generously add olives and basil to the dish, and the French prepare kharcho with cheese and cashew nuts. The soup is steeped for 20 minutes to make it more piquant, spicy and rich.

Cooking classic beef kharcho at home

The classic soup is cooked in beef broth without onions, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. Cook broth from 400 g of beef on the bones and 2 liters of water - this will take about 2 hours. Strain the broth, separate the meat from the bones, cut it into pieces and put it back into the pan. Add 4 tbsp to the broth. l. rice, a few sprigs of parsley and cilantro (then do not forget to take them out), and when the rice becomes soft, add half a glass of roasted crushed walnuts to the soup. At the very end of cooking, add a finely chopped head of garlic, the remaining chopped herbs, salt, 1 tsp. hops-suneli, tklapi plate or 3 tbsp. l. tkemali. A pleasant sourness is a must in kharcho - it is this that gives the dish a unique Georgian flavor.

If you want to learn more about how to cook kharcho, take a look at our catalog with recipes and photographs, experiment and surprise your guests. Kharcho soup is served with fragrant homemade bread or lavash. This dish is not only appetizing, but also healthy - maybe that’s why there are so many long-livers in the Caucasus?

Irina Kamshilina

Cooking for someone is much more pleasant than cooking for yourself))

28 Mar 2014

Content

If soup is an integral part of your diet, treat yourself to a new dish. Prepare kharcho soup the way it is done in its homeland, Georgia. Our step-by-step guide will help you with this.

Kharcho is a thick, rich and aromatic soup with meat. It is considered a traditional dish of Georgian cuisine. Even a child in Georgia knows how to prepare this dish. To make it you will need beef, tklapi - a special dressing made from dried plum puree, and prunes. You will also need: rice, onions, garlic, spices and suneli hops.

The basis of kharcho is always tkemali or cherry plum - sour varieties of plums. In Georgia, the pulp of the berry is dried in the form of round cakes - lavash, which is popularly called tklapi.

The choice of meat and rice is of great importance. It is believed that the best dish is made from steamed fatty beef on the bone. Rice should be whole, long-grain or round. Parboiled and broken rice should not be used.

How to cook classic kharcho soup: step-by-step guide

You will need:­

• 300 g fatty beef brisket;
• 100 g whole round rice;
• 2 medium-sized onions;
• 3 cloves of garlic;
• 1 hot pepper;
• 3 pcs. prunes;
• 1 tbsp. khmeli-suneli;
• 7 tbsp. water
• 30 g tklapi;
• 30 g vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp. tomato puree;
• salt to taste;
• fresh herbs to taste (cilantro, dill, parsley).

Cooking method:

1. Having separated the meat from the bones and cleaned it from the films, cut it into small pieces across the grain. Place it in a saucepan and add water. Bring the water in a saucepan to a boil over high heat and cook the meat for about 50 minutes over low heat.
2. Cooking rice. To do this, carefully sort and wash it. Then soak the rice for 15 minutes until it turns white.
3. Finely chop the onion, prunes, cilantro and garlic. Mix them with tomato paste, vegetable oil and hops-suneli. Add tklapi and finely chopped hot pepper to the sauce.
4. Place the resulting mixture on high heat and sauté for 2 minutes.
5. Add rice to almost cooked meat. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
6. Add prunes and prepared sauce. At this stage, do not forget to add salt.
7. Cook the soup for another 10 minutes over high heat.
8. Before turning off, add finely chopped parsley and dill to the kharcho.
9. The finished soup should sit for another 15 minutes.

Advice. If you are unable to find tklapi, then this seasoning can be replaced with tkemali sauce, which is sold in any supermarket. If you don't have tkemali on hand, use pomegranate juice as an alternative.

Among all the culinary instructions, tomato kharcho occupies a special place. Its main advantage is its accessibility. This soup does not use the famous tklapi sauce. It is replaced by tomatoes and popular seasonings. Soup according to this recipe is also loved by many.

Chicken kharcho has a slightly different taste, but it is also popular among lovers of similar soups. The process of its preparation differs slightly from the classic version.

To prepare chicken kharcho you will need the following ingredients:

• 500 g chicken or turkey meat;
• 200 g shelled walnuts;
• 2 onions;
• 40 g wheat flour;
• 0.5 cups of cherry plum puree or 3 ripe tomatoes;
• 3 cloves of garlic;
• 2 tsp crushed cilantro seeds;
• 1 tsp khmeli-suneli seasoning;
• salt;
• greenery;
• spices to taste - cinnamon, hot pepper, black pepper, cloves, allspice, Imeretian saffron, bay leaf.

In the process of preparing the chicken variation of the dish, there are several points that you should know about.

1. Only fatty pieces of chicken are used for soup.
2. Cilantro is not recommended as greens. It is better to replace it with parsley, dill or celery.
3. At the end of preparing the sauce, flour is added.
4. Otherwise, you should follow the recipe for preparing classic kharcho.

How to prepare pork kharcho

Discuss

How to cook kharcho soup

 An invaluable gift of wonderful Georgian cuisine is the popular recipes for kharcho soup, which, thanks to their diversity and rich taste, are familiar to virtually everyone. Traditionally, this is a thick, spicy first course that is prepared from any type of meat (beef, lamb, chicken, pork, fish, etc.), with the addition of rice and seasoned with various spices. An unlimited number of recipes for this masterpiece of Georgian cuisine makes it possible for everyone to find their own version that will give an unforgettable taste pleasure.

Translated from Georgian, the name of this dish means “beef soup,” but this does not mean at all that its preparation from other types of meat is impossible. It is not for nothing that when mentioning this dish it is worth clarifying the area of ​​​​its origin. But it is worth noting that changing the recipe does not in any way spoil the taste of this soup; moreover, it only adds piquancy and introduces new colors, replenishing the taste impressions.

However, it is worth remembering that the main taste feature of the spicy first course is the sour base and the characteristic spicy aroma of the East.

The basis of this soup is a special sour mixture - a Georgian flatbread called tklapi, which is made from unripe berries of the cherry plum tree. Thanks to the technology of its production, tklapi is called cherry plum lavash. The puree prepared from dogwood and plum pulp is placed in special layers and dried in the sun. Also, an excellent alternative to tklapi can be a kind of plum sauce - tkemali with the addition of aromatic garlic and spices. These basic ingredients are the basis of real Georgian food.

This truly deep flavor combination is achieved thanks to some cooking features:

1. As you know, finding tklapi outside the borders of Georgia is quite a difficult undertaking. But this does not make cooking kharcho soup at home an impossible undertaking. An excellent alternative to replacing the sour component would be adjika, tomato sauce, fresh plum pulp, pomegranate juice, a spoonful of apple cider vinegar, tkemali (store-bought), and lemon when serving.
2. Hot red pepper will add a spicy kick to the dish. Do not forget that when cutting it can irritate your skin or cause a burn. To avoid this trouble, you should use rubber gloves.
3. In order to cook delicious kharcho soup, you need to use long white rice, but in no case steamed, you can replace it with round rice. Before using, leave the rice in cold water (about 2 hours), or rinse it thoroughly 5 to 7 times. This will allow you to wash away excess starch, the excessive content of which can simply ruin the taste of the Georgian treat, making it viscous and cloudy.
4. A simple recipe for kharcho soup includes adding an unlimited amount of greens. You will notice how the specific aroma of cilantro will burst with new notes, adding amazing piquancy to the dish and complementing the bouquet of dill and parsley. A moderate addition of mint leaves will also be completely useful.
5. The selection of seasonings for this dish is considered purely individual, but the main and mandatory one will be hops-suneli. This seasoning contains dried herbs: dill, mint, red pepper, basil, marjoram, coriander, savory, bay leaf, etc. It is all these components that are responsible for the characteristic oriental spice of the dish. Sometimes in some recipes for true Georgian kharcho the seasoning utskho-suneli is found - this is a specific dried fenugreek that gives the dish a “gentle” nutty aroma.
6. In some western regions of sunny Georgia, for example, in Megrelia, it is so thick that it seems more like a sauce or a main course than a soup. True Megrelian kharcho is an extremely spicy component of Georgian cuisine. This extreme delicacy is savored by dipping Georgian lavash into it.

Today there are an abundance of different recipes for this delicacy. Each family in Georgia has its own unique secret of preparing this fragrant treat, which they carefully keep, passing on their secret from generation to generation.

Classic recipe for kharcho soup

Ingredients:

• Meat (beef) – 430 g;
• Rice (white long grain) – 55 g;
• Garden fruits (carrots, hot red peppers, onions, garlic);
• Half a glass of tkemali sauce;
• A handful of walnuts;
• Khmeli-suneli;
• Greens (cilantro, dill, parsley).

Cooking process:

1. First, start preparing the broth. Immerse a piece of beef in water (about 1.5 liters) and bring to a boil. Just before boiling, do not forget to skim the foam from the broth, this will help make it clear and attractive. Then reduce the heat to low and leave for 2 hours. The water should bubble slightly, but only slightly. After a couple of hours, remove the beef and separate the flesh from it, then cut it into small slices and immerse it back into the bubbling broth.
2. The next step is to add tkemali to the broth, which is extremely important. Add a few spoons of sauce. At the same time, the use of tkemali is not essential; if this particular sauce is not available, you can replace it with any other sour tomato mass. If you are lucky enough to get hold of a real Georgian layer of tklapi, then you should add it in a piece of about 10 - 12 cm. Cover with a lid until it boils.
3. After this, cut the vegetables - onions into thin slices, and carrots into strips - and add to the boiling broth. Then toast the walnuts in a heated frying pan. After the appropriate smell appears, use a mortar and mortar to grind it to a fine, homogeneous paste. Add grated garlic there.
4. After boiling the broth for half an hour over low heat, you can add the prepared rice to it and leave on the fire for another 10 - 12 minutes. The next step is to add the nut-garlic paste. After this maneuver, magical aromas will spread throughout the kitchen, which will be complemented by bay leaves, suneli hops, salt, and black pepper.
5. If desired, you can add pomegranate juice to enhance the acidity, and crushed hot red pepper is useful for spiciness.
6. The final touch in preparing this Georgian masterpiece is the addition of chopped herbs. Cook for another 2 - 3 minutes and remove from heat as the beef kharcho soup is ready. Let the delicacy brew for 10 - 15 minutes and start eating, adding Georgian lavash to the dish.

Chicken breast kharcho soup

Modern cooking has changed the recipe of this dish almost beyond recognition. By deviating from the traditional cooking recipe, you can prepare a Slavic interpretation of a Georgian delicacy - this is chicken breast kharcho soup.

For this you will need:

• Chicken breast;
• Rice (round or long grain);
• Tkemali, tomato juice or themed paste;
• Khmeli-suneli;
• Vegetables (carrots and onions);
• Butter;
• Parsley.

Preparation:

1. All ingredients listed are based on 2.5 - 3 liters of water. Let's cook the kharcho soup, starting with preparing the broth with chicken breast.
2. When the broth is almost ready, add thoroughly washed rice, vegetables, tomato juice or tkemali, salt, suneli hops, and pepper.
3. At the end you should add grated garlic, oil and crushed herbs. And the chicken kharcho soup is ready.

Young lamb kharcho soup

Ingredients:

• Fatty lamb brisket on the bone (0.7 - 1 kg);
• Medium grain rice (160 grams);
• Medium carrots and onions;
• Ripe tomatoes (5 – 7 pieces);
• Garlic;
• Apple cider vinegar (1 – 1.2 tsp);
• Melted butter;
• Coriander, black and red pepper;
• Cilantro, parsley;
• Salt.

Preparation:

1. First, peel the membranes off the lamb meat. Then divide the brisket so that each piece has 2 ribs. Heat a frying pan and fry the pieces of meat in melted butter until golden brown.
2. In a mortar, grind the coriander, allspice and red pepper, and salt until smooth. Sprinkle the meat with apple cider vinegar, place the onion on top, sprinkle with the prepared fragrant gruel and fry over the fire for about 5 minutes.
3. While the meat is cooking, you need to grind the tomatoes through a sieve and place them in a boiling frying pan, followed by cilantro and water. Cook everything for about an hour. 10 - 12 minutes before readiness, add the prepared rice and finish cooking after 10 minutes. We send the greens and garlic there, leave for 10 - 15 minutes and enjoy your meal.

Georgians in all regions of their friendly country present the classic recipe for kharcho soup in different ways. However, there is a set of products that is included in the standard dish. Thus, it is impossible to imagine without beef on the bone, tkemali puree and rice.

Advice! To prepare classic kharcho, choose fatty beef. This will result in a rich and “thick” broth with the proper aroma.

Cooking kharcho: list of all ingredients

In the recipe for classic kharcho with rice and beef, only fresh and aromatic vegetables should be used. It is also better to choose proven seasonings that have a special aroma and optimal taste (according to your ideas). Classic kharcho soup should not be so spicy that you want to drink two liters of ice water. But a certain amount of pepper must be present to enhance the unique aroma!

Products for 2.5 liters of water:

• 500 g fatty beef;
• 2 medium sized onions;
• 1 medium carrot;
• a little less than half a glass of rice (it is better to choose long grain);
• half a glass of shelled walnuts;
• 2 tbsp. l. tkemali (can be replaced with natural pomegranate juice in the same proportions);
• garlic - 5 cloves and a bunch of cilantro, parsley;
• Classic kharcho cannot be prepared without seasonings - take a teaspoon of salt and the same amount of hops-suneli, 2 bay leaves, 2/3 spoon of ground coriander and a pinch of red pepper, saffron.

Important! Some photos of the classic recipe for kharcho soup may give the wrong idea about its consistency. This dish turns out thicker than borscht and any other soup.

Stages of preparing classic kharcho

1. Before preparing the kharcho soup, prepare the beef. It needs to be defrosted naturally if the meat was in the freezer. Then cut the pulp into pieces. Pour in and place over medium heat. Cook the beef for 2.5-3 hours, remembering to remove the foam.
2. Fry the onion until light golden brown. How to cut vegetables is a personal matter for everyone. But the carrots should be finely grated. Once the onion is browned, add the carrots and cook until soft.
3. About 2 hours into the cooking time, add tkemali sauce to the broth. After adding carrots and onions, cook for 7-10 minutes, but no longer.
4. Rinse the rice and add to the broth. Boil for 10 minutes while crush the garlic using a mortar or press. Then crush the nuts and mix with garlic paste.
5. If the rice has become a little soft, then it is time to add the pasta with nuts. Boil it for 10 minutes and proceed to the next step.
6. Gradually add all the spices, except salt, into the soup. Boil for 5 minutes and add salt.
7. Leave the soup to steep. Immediately chop all the greens and add to the finished dish. Let stand for 10-15 minutes. Be sure to cover the dish with a lid so that the valuable flavor is not lost!

A step-by-step recipe for kharcho soup and its final photo will help you create the perfect dish, but be prepared that you won’t be able to achieve the optimal spice ratio the first time. Manufacturers prepare suneli hops according to different recipes, and some of them initially contain pepper and coriander.

To prepare the national dish of Georgian cuisine - kharcho soup, according to the classic recipe, only beef meat is suitable. If you prepare this spicy dish, spicy due to the large amount of garlic and seasonings, using pork, goat, turkey or chicken, then no matter what you call it, it will not become a real “Kharcho” soup.

Soup kharcho. Classic composition of ingredients:

• Fatty beef meat on the bones - 500 g
• Garlic - 1 pc.
• Onion - 2 pcs.
• Tomato puree - 50 ml
• Walnuts - 100 g
• Rice - 150 g
• Bay leaf - 2 pcs.
• Tkemali sauce - 50 ml or tklapi (plum lavash) - 150 g
• Ground red pepper - 5 g
• Salt - 5 g
• Seasoning “Khmeli-suneli” - 5 g
• Peppercorns - 5 g
• A bunch of fresh herbs - 1 pc.
• Hot red and green pepper pods - 2 pcs.

How is the dish prepared in Georgia?

Real kharcho soup is prepared with the addition of tklapi - dried strips of plum puree from the pitted and peeled traditional Georgian tkemali plum.

Tklapi has a sweet and sour taste and creates a unique aroma of the classic kharcho soup. These thin stripes can be found in every village house in Georgia. Plum puree, after drying in the sun, can be stored for a very long time due to the acids contained in the fruit. Without adding “sour plum lavash” you won’t get a real Georgian beef kharcho soup.

In some regions of Georgia, juicy ripe dogwood berries are used to prepare tklapi; sometimes sweet varieties of cherry plum are also suitable for these purposes. Sour marshmallow is also added to other meat dishes typical of Georgian cuisine, for example, satsivi or goose with tklapi.

When preparing kharcho soup, a Georgian housewife breaks off a palm-sized piece of semi-dry plum marshmallow and soaks it in a cup of rich fresh beef broth. This mixture is the most important ingredient in the classic kharcho soup recipe, creating an ideal acidic environment for digesting beef meat, which is difficult for the stomach.

A large amount of garlic and onions allows you to break down difficult-to-digest animal proteins into their component parts. Thanks to the sour tkemali sauce obtained from tklapi, garlic and suneli hops, this thick, fatty soup is easily digestible and serves as an excellent source of energy during the cold season.

Rice, which is part of the ingredients of the classic kharcho soup recipe, is an excellent adsorbent, a source of carbohydrates, and also softens the harsh taste of the aromatic garlic-plum dish.

Grated walnuts are the hallmark of real Georgian kharcho soup. Sometimes not a single national dish in Georgia can do without them.

Most often, brisket is used to prepare Kharcho soup, in contrast to another Georgian fatty soup, Khashi, which is prepared from beef legs and peritoneum.

Classic soup kharcho. Cooking stages.

1. Pour cold water over the beef bones.
2. Skim off the foam when the water starts to boil.
3. Reduce heat and simmer beef broth over medium heat.
4. Young beef will cook in one hour. If the meat is old, it will take at least two hours.
5. The finished beef must be removed from the pan, cooled and separated from the bones.
6. The broth must be strained, otherwise small bones may cause discomfort when the kharcho soup is ready and poured into plates.
7. Cut the cooled meat into small pieces and place in a pan with broth.
8. Peel the onion and cut into small cubes.
9. The head of garlic must be peeled and crushed in a mortar or crushed with a rolling pin.
10. The green cilantro and parsley need to be finely chopped.
11. Add washed rice and chopped onion, parsley and cilantro sprigs to the broth.
12. Pour a mixture of broth and tklapi or tkemali sauce into the almost finished kharcho soup, add raw crushed garlic.
13. Before finishing cooking, season the soup with salt, suneli hops, bay leaf and add walnuts.
14. The finished dish can be decorated with green and red peppers and finely chopped herbs.

According to the classic recipe for kharcho soup, the taste of the finished dish should be sour, spicy and hot. This is probably why a large number of less sour versions of kharcho arose in Ukraine and Russia. Tkemali sauce, required for the original recipe, is often replaced with chopped tomato slices or tomato paste. Refusing to add plum sauce to kharcho, some chefs are experimenting with pomegranate juice and wine vinegar, traditional ingredients in the main dishes of Caucasian cuisine.