The name of this dish is familiar to almost everyone. Rice and beef are added to the soup, seasoned with cilantro and walnuts - this is a must. You can experiment with meat, replacing beef with another type. As a result, you will get a new taste of a familiar dish every time.

According to the classic recipe, kharcho is prepared without potatoes and carrots, but always with beef.

Ingredients:

• beef – 750 g;
• paprika – 1 teaspoon;
• onion – 3 heads;
• hot red pepper;
• rice – 7 tbsp. spoon;
• black pepper – 15 peas;
• walnut – 130 g;
• basil – 20 g;
• garlic – 7 cloves;
• cilantro – 20 g;
• hops-suneli - 3 teaspoons;
• tkemali sauce – 8 teaspoons;
• tomato paste – 3 teaspoons;
• parsley – 20 g;
• bay leaf – 3 leaves;
• salt.

Preparation:

1. To make the broth as it should be: rich and thick, use meat with bones; brisket is good for this.
2. Rinse. Cut the pulp into pieces.
3. Take a saucepan with a volume of at least four liters, place the meat, add water. It should be poured to the very top. The broth will take a long time to cook and during this time the excess liquid will evaporate.
4. Periodically skim off any foam that appears during boiling.
5. Peel the onion and cut into thin strips.
6. After two hours, remove the meat. Take gauze and fold it in three layers. Strain the broth. This must be done; small bones may separate during cooking. Thanks to the gauze, you will get a clear broth.
7. Place the onion without frying.
8. When the meat has cooled, remove the bones, chop the flesh and add to the broth.
9. Boil for about an hour.
10. Wash the rice several times and soak in water. Thanks to this cereal, the soup has a rich consistency.
11. Pour in the sauce, tomato paste, hot pepper. Boil for five minutes.
12. Add hot peppers carefully; varieties vary in spiciness.
13. Remove the partitions from the nuts and chop them.
14. Remove the peel from the garlic and crush it with a rolling pin.
15. Mix with nuts and grind.
16. Take a mortar and grind the pepper.
17. Add rice to the soup.
18. Boil for eight minutes.
19. Add the mixture of nuts, paprika and suneli. Add some salt.
20. Chop the greens and place in the liquid.
21. Add a bay leaf. Stir.
22. Cook for a few minutes. Remove from the stove. Let it brew.

Traditional way in Georgian

Real Georgians approach the process responsibly. It will take at least two hours to prepare kharcho soup.

Ingredients:

• beef brisket – 450 g;
• tkemali – 0.5 tbsp.;
• pepper mixture;
• long grain rice – 60 g;
• coriander;
• carrots – 100 g;
• hops - suneli;
• onions – 2 pcs.;
• dill – 10 g;
• walnut – 90 g;
• parsley – 10 g;
• hot pepper - pod;
• garlic – 5 cloves;
• cilantro – 10 g.

Preparation:

1. The traditional method uses brisket. You can replace it with marrow meat, which will make the broth more tender.
2. Place the meat in a container, add water, bring to a boil, and simmer for two hours.
3. Remove the beef, remove the meat from the bone, chop it, and add it to the broth.
4. Peel the carrots and cut into strips.
5. Chop the peeled onion into thin slices.
6. When the broth boils, pour in the sauce and stir.
7. After boiling, add vegetables.
8. Heat a frying pan and fry the nuts without adding oil.
9. Cool and chop the kernels.
10. Grate the garlic finely.
11. Stir in nuts.
12. After the broth has boiled for half an hour, add rice cereal.
13. After eight minutes, add the garlic mixture.
14. Boil for a quarter of an hour.
15. Add remaining seasonings.
16. After five minutes, add chopped greens.
17. Let it boil, remove from heat. Leave for a quarter of an hour.

With lamb broth

Fatty beef broth can be replaced with lamb. The result is a rich, delicate taste of the dish.

Ingredients:

• lamb brisket – 550 g;
• chili pepper - pod;
• onion – 1 pc.;
• khmeli-suneli;
• rice – 0.5 cups;
• tomato paste – 1 teaspoon;
• tkemali – 2 teaspoons;
• garlic – 5 cloves;
• parsley;
• adjika – 1 teaspoon;
• cilantro;
• pepper;
• salt.

Preparation:

1. Cut the meat along the rib and fry.
2. Place in a saucepan, pour water.
3. Chop the onion, pepper, put in a bowl, mash with your hands.
4. Boil the lamb for an hour.
5. Rinse the rice, add to the broth, add tomato paste. Add onion.
6. Boil for half an hour.
7. Chop the garlic.
8. Add adjika, tkemali, garlic, cilantro, hops-suneli, parsley.
9. After five minutes, remove from heat and add hot pepper. Serve after a quarter of an hour.

Homemade beef kharcho soup

The recipe for making kharcho soup at home allows you to make a real rich dish that is not inferior in taste to restaurant food.

Ingredients:

• beef – 480 g;
• rice – 180 g;
• onion – 170 g;
• satsebeli sauce – 140 g;
• nuts – 120 g;
• garlic – 4 cloves;
• pepper – 5 peas;
• parsley;
• cilantro;
• dill;
• red pepper - pod.

Preparation:

1. Cut the meat into medium-sized pieces.
2. Place the meat in a three-liter saucepan and add water. Cook for one and a half hours.
3. Remove the foam mass regularly, otherwise flakes will appear and spoil the taste of the dish.
4. Finely chop the onion.
5. Chop the nuts.
6. Fry the onion in a frying pan.
7. Rinse the cereal. Pour into broth.
8. After eight minutes, add onions, nuts, pepper, sauce and salt. Stir.
9. Add crushed garlic to the soup. Turn off the stove.
10. Leave the pan with the lid closed for half an hour and soak.

Chicken recipe

If you really want a spicy soup, but cooking time is limited, replace the beef with chicken. This dietary meat will make the soup less fatty.

Ingredients:

• chicken legs – 350 g;
• walnuts – 120 g;
• cilantro – 20 g;
• coriander;
• tomato – 6 pcs.;
• rice – 100 g;
• khmeli-suneli;
• onion – 1 pc. ;
• hot pepper - pod;
• garlic – 5 cloves;
• parsley – 20 g.
• bay leaf – 3 leaves;
• pepper;
• salt.

Preparation:

1. The main secret of a successful kharcho with rice is the right broth, which must be rich. It's difficult to get it from chicken. So first you need to fry the legs until they turn golden. This will enhance the taste. Place them in a saucepan, add water, and boil.
2. After an hour, remove the legs and cool. Remove the meat, cut it, put it back.
3. Rinse the rice and add to the broth.
4. Chop the onion.
5. Peel the garlic and crush it with a rolling pin.
6. Fry two vegetables.
7. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, remove the skins. Place the chopped pieces into the pan.
8. Chop the nuts and add to the pan.
9. Eight minutes later - bay leaf.
10. Add some salt. Add spices, chopped herbs.

With rice in a slow cooker

A multicooker will help simplify the preparation of soup. With this device you do not need to strictly control the cooking process, the main thing is to choose the right mode.

Ingredients:

• smoked ham – 500 g;
• rice – 1 multi-glass;
• sunflower oil;
• hops-suneli – 1 teaspoon;
• tomato paste – 4 teaspoons;
• garlic – 5 cloves;
• salt;
• pepper.

Preparation:

1. Cut the ham into small pieces.
2. Peel and chop the onion.
3. Pour oil into a bowl and add the prepared ingredients.
4. Set for half an hour on the “Baking” mode.
5. Pour in tomato paste. Add chopped garlic, salt, suneli hops, pepper.
6. Place the washed rice into a bowl. Set it to “Extinguishing” mode for one hour.

With pork ribs

An interesting pork recipe.

Ingredients:

• pork ribs – 750 g;
• bay leaf – 2 pcs.;
• tkemali sauce;
• onion – 5 heads;
• garlic;
• khmeli-suneli;
• rice – 0.5 cups;
• walnut – 0.5 cups;
• coriander;
• parsley leaves;
• parsley root;
• cilantro.

Preparation:

1. Cut the pork along the ribs. Place in a saucepan, fill with water.
2. After an hour and a half, remove the meat, cool, and separate from the bone. Slice.
3. Place the washed cereal in the broth along with the meat.
4. Grate the roots and add to the soup.
5. Place the chopped onion with the remaining ingredients.
6. Chop the nuts and add to the food.
7. Add remaining ingredients.
8. Boil for half an hour. Sprinkle with chopped herbs.

How to cook kharcho soup in a cauldron over a fire?

When you go on a picnic, surprise your friends by cooking an amazing soup of Caucasian cuisine over the fire.

Ingredients:

• lamb ribs – 1000 g;
• polished rice – 170 g;
• hot pepper – 1 teaspoon;
• hops-suneli – 2 teaspoons;
• cilantro – 50 g;
• sweet pepper – 2 teaspoons;
• walnut – 120 g;
• tomatoes – 550 g;
• parsley – 50 g;
• garlic – 5 cloves;
• onion – 420 g;
• tomato paste – 120 g;
• bay leaf – 5 pcs.;
• lemon – 1 pc.;
• utskho-suneli – 2 teaspoons;
• salt.

Preparation:

1. Prepare the coals.
2. Slice along the rib. Place in a cauldron.
3. Pour four liters of water.
4. Cook for an hour.
5. Immediately wash the rice and soak while the meat cooks.
6. Peel the onion, cut into rings, put in a frying pan. Pour in broth. Add bay leaf and paste. Simmer until the vegetable is soft.
7. Pour the cereal into the pot.
8. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, remove the skin and chop. Place in a bowl.
9. Peel the garlic and add to the tomatoes.
10. Chop the greens and send to the tomatoes.
11. Place the chopped nuts in a bowl.
12. Add spices to tomatoes.
13. Squeeze citrus juice into food. Knead with your hands. Cover, remove from the sun.
14. Two hours after the start of cooking, pour water to the initial level. Add some salt. Put onion.
15. After a couple of minutes, add the tomatoes and spices. Boil. Remove from the fire.

Georgian classic soup kharcho is considered one of the main dishes of national cuisine. Spicy, piquant and a little spicy - this is how the signature soup of the Caucasus is described. The word “kharcho” literally translates as “beef soup,” but modern cuisine allows for various recipes with lamb, chicken and even fish. The soup base is thick beef broth, to which seasonings, garlic, hot peppers, walnuts and rice are added. This combination of ingredients is the basis of any traditional Caucasian kharcho recipe.

It is not customary to eat kharcho with a spoon, because... This is not the first course, but the second. Its name comes from Samegrelo, and the original translation sounded like “meat stewed with nuts.”
Mamaliga or lavash are usually an addition to kharcho. The modern version of this dish is a soup that does not contain many nuts, but adds rice.

In any classic version of preparation, you can find tklapi - dried cherry plum plates - among the necessary products. It is soaked and added to the broth, thanks to which the kharcho acquires its unique taste with sourness. Finding tklapi outside the Caucasus is quite problematic, so in Russia it is customary to replace it with tkemali sauce, in which the main element is cherry plum. If desired, tkemali can be replaced with fresh sour plums, tomatoes or tomato paste.

Despite its thickness and rich taste, Georgian kharcho is considered a rather low-calorie dish. Therefore, this unusual soup is perfect for the menu of people watching their figure.
The recipe for a spicy soup is not limited to one method of preparation. Everyone will be able to choose the ideal kharcho formula for themselves, deciding whether to fry the meat or not, in what proportions to add seasonings, whether vegetables (potatoes, carrots, bell peppers) are needed, etc. The main thing you should pay attention to when cooking kharcho soup according to The classic recipe at home is the presence of beef meat, tkemali and walnuts.

The rest depends on the tastes and preferences of the cook.

History of the dish

The history of the appearance of this dish in the Kremlin canteen of the USSR and its version of preparation with lamb is quite interesting. In the mid-twentieth century, Georgian soup was included in the menu of the canteen of the CPSU Central Committee, but People's Commissar for Foreign Trade A.M. Mikoyan couldn’t stand veal, so the cooks prepared a broth with lamb meat especially for him. When the information reached Stalin, Joseph Vissarionovich indignantly said: “Cooking soup for one person, even an honored party leader, is a mess. Let everyone eat lamb kharcho.” Since that time, this particular recipe has been used in restaurants in the Soviet Union, and many people still associate Georgian soup with this particular meat.

Selection of products for kharcho

The first thing any cooking begins is the selection of ingredients. Among the many varieties of traditional Georgian soup, beef broth is a classic. Very tasty and rich is obtained from lean meat on the bone. It is important that the beef is fresh, has a uniform pinkish tint and is free of foreign odors. It should be noted that veal is much more tender in taste, but beef broth is much more aromatic and thick.

Traditionally, rice is added to the soup. You can take any, long-grain or round, but it tastes better with round-grain, because... it boils well. Before adding to the broth, rice should be soaked in water for 20-25 minutes or rinsed well under running water to remove the dust from grinding it.

Tklapi or tkemali is used as a sour note. Dried plum slices must be soaked in water before use. If they are unavailable, you can use tkemali sauce, ready-made or prepared yourself at home. In the first case, before purchasing, pay attention to the composition of the sauce. Plum or cherry plum puree should come first, otherwise the product will only be a semblance of tkemali and will not bring the desired flavor to the finished dish.

It is most convenient to take walnuts already peeled; all that remains is to crush them into crumbs in a mortar.

When preparing Caucasian kharcho for the first time, it is best to use a step-by-step recipe with photos; thanks to it, the soup is prepared quickly and easily.

Step-by-step recipe for classic kharcho soup with photos

To prepare a medium pan (about 3 liters) of this dish we will need:

• beef brisket - 0.6 kg;
• 2 onions;
• round grain rice - 100 g;
• tkemali - 4 tbsp;
• tomato paste - 1 tbsp;
• garlic - 5-6 cloves;
• peeled walnuts - 100 g;
• hot chili pepper or jalapeno - 1 pc.;
• vegetable oil - 1 tbsp;
• bay leaf - 2 pcs.;
• khmeli-suneli - 1 tsp;
• paprika - 1 tsp;
• black peppercorns - 10 pcs.;
• greens (cilantro or parsley) - 1 bunch;
• salt - to taste.

Cooking steps:

• In order to cook a rich broth, it is best to take a good brisket on the bone, because... it is moderately fatty, which means the brew will be thick and aromatic. If you wish, you can use any part of beef, but it is better to take it with a bone.
• Wash the meat, cut into small pieces, add water and place on moderate heat. It is better to fill the water to the brim at the very beginning, because... It is undesirable to add it during the cooking process, and the excess evaporates during the process. As soon as the broth boils, foam forms, which must be removed so that it does not settle. After boiling, the heat should be reduced and the pan covered with a lid, leaving a small hole. The soup should bubble slightly over low heat. In this mode, cook the beef for at least an hour and a half until done. The meat should be tender and easy to cut.
• The onion needs to be peeled and finely chopped. It is better to take small heads, they taste much more tender.
• In a well-heated frying pan with the addition of one tablespoon of sunflower oil, lightly fry the onion for 5 minutes until transparent.
• When ready, remove the pieces of beef from the soup, remove the bones and cut into small pieces. The broth is filtered through several layers of gauze so that there are no small bones or their fragments left in it.
• The chopped boiled meat is added back to the kharcho along with sautéed onions and cooked for about 45 minutes.
• Rice should be prepared for cooking. To do this, soak 6 tablespoons of round rice in warm water for 15-20 minutes. Rice will give the kharcho the desired degree of thickness and richness.
• After the required amount of time has passed for boiling the onion, add a spoonful of tomato paste, Georgian plum tkemali sauce, a small hot pepper (pre-peeled from the stalk and seeds) to the soup and cook for several minutes. If chili or jalapeno peppers are not available, you can replace this ingredient with ground red pepper. It is added at your discretion at the end of cooking to ready-made kharcho.
• Pour rice into the prepared spicy broth with meat and onions and put on fire for 10 minutes.
• Grind the pre-peeled walnuts into crumbs in a mortar.
• Grind black peppercorns in a mill.
• When the rice is cooked, stirring constantly, add nut crumbs, pressed garlic, paprika, suneli hops and salt to your taste to the remaining ingredients. Seasonings will give the dish a unique color and aroma. The spiciness of the kharcho should be adjusted based on your preferences: if you want it spicier, then you can add ground red pepper to the chili, and if you don’t want to overdo it, then you can limit yourself to only a small piece of hot pepper for piquancy.
• Pour the finished soup into bowls; if desired, when serving, sprinkle it with chopped green onions or garnish with a sprig of cilantro.

The classic preparation of traditional Caucasian soup is based on the spicy component of the dish with a sour note, an abundance of seasonings, a thick rich broth and the special taste and aroma of walnuts. Next, the basic recipe is changed in each family to their own taste. Some people like it spicier, others like broth on lamb ribs. So, for example, in Russia a more European version of cooking has been adopted, with an abundance of vegetables: carrots, potatoes, bell peppers and even mushrooms. In some regions of Georgia, kharcho is prepared without the nut component, and rice is replaced with pearl barley or millet. Some recipes for Georgian kharcho contain black olives, olives, and lemons.

If you want to prepare a traditional recipe in a new way, then you can add ripe tomatoes to the base part. Cherry tomatoes are best suited for this; they not only diversify the taste, but also add extravagance to the soup. Strictly speaking, you can experiment with the recipe in any way you like, deducing your own formula for this Caucasian soup. Almost always, Georgian kharcho turns out a little different due to different proportions of seasonings added. Quite simple in execution, it will decorate any dinner, and on the festive table it will surprise any guest with its multifaceted taste.

Georgian cuisine has always been famous for its dishes, the taste of which cannot be compared even with the delights of the most skilled chefs. An excellent representative of the national cuisine of Georgia is kharcho soup. The recipe was invented back in the days when the formation of the ethnic group of this country took place.

The secrets and technology of preparing the dish have passed through the centuries. Therefore, today everyone can enjoy the unforgettable taste of this dish.

Basic information about kharcho soup

The dish is considered quite high in calories. It contains fatty meat. This soup is an excellent option for those looking for a quality source of protein.

Many people think that the dish is prepared from products traditional to Georgian cuisine. But instead of lamb they use beef. A distinctive feature of the dish is the obligatory use of tkemali plums. In their absence, dried dogwood fruits are used. These fruits give the dish a sour taste.

In our country, it is customary to replace these fruits with tomato paste. This suggests that our so-called kharcho soup is to some extent “modified”, i.e. We prepare it in a slightly modified form.

This change led to the emergence of numerous variations of the dish, including those when chicken, smoked meat and fish are used in the cooking process.

Kharcho soup: a classic recipe for cooking at home (beef)

Ingredients	Quantity
beef brisket -	300 grams
prunes -	3 pcs.
rice -	100g
tkemali -	1 spoon (tablespoon)
khmeli-suneli -	1 spoon (tablespoon)
onions -	2 pcs.
water -	7 glasses
garlic -	3 cloves
tomato puree -	50 grams
chili pepper -	1 PC.
vegetable oil -	1 spoon (tablespoon)
salt -	taste
green cilantro -	taste
Cooking time: 150 minutes	Calorie content per 100 grams: 75 Kcal

Beef brisket should be cut into small pieces and placed in a pan. Add enough glasses of water so that all the meat is hidden under it, and cook for 5 minutes over high heat.

Onion, cilantro and garlic should be finely chopped and mixed with tomato paste. Add vegetable oil, suneli hops and fry the resulting mixture for 2 minutes over high heat.

To the previously boiled meat you need to add the fried mixture, rice, tkemali, pepper, prunes, and the remaining water. Salt everything and cook for 10 minutes over high heat.

Before serving, sprinkle the treat with herbs.

It is worth noting that only a dish made from beef can be called real kharcho soup. It is enough to try this Georgian masterpiece once to understand: everything that you have tried before cannot be compared with the taste that the creators of Georgian cuisine gave us.

Kharcho soup: step-by-step pork recipe

To prepare this dish, you need to prepare the following ingredients:

• 600 grams of pork;
• 2.5 liters of water;
• 3 potatoes;
• Salt;
• 2 pcs. onions;
• Greenery;
• 100 grams of rice;
• Ground red pepper;
• 1 head of garlic;
• Khmeli-suneli;
• 2 teaspoons of tomato paste.

The pork must be cut into small cubes, add water to it and put on fire. As the water boils, you need to remove the resulting meat noise. After boiling, cook the meat with the lid closed and over low heat for 40 minutes.

Onions and potatoes are cut into cubes and added to the cooked meat. Add washed rice here and cook for 20 minutes. Then add tomato paste, salt, pepper and other spices.

Add chopped herbs and chopped garlic to the prepared soup, cover with a lid and let the dish brew for 20 minutes.

A simple recipe for making kharcho soup with chicken in a slow cooker

With the advent of multicookers, the life of a modern housewife has become much easier. Given the popularity of this kitchen appliance, let’s pay attention to how to cook kharcho soup in a slow cooker. It is also worth noting that the finished dish tastes no different from the version prepared in other ways.

To prepare you will need:

• 500 grams of chicken fillet;
• 2 medium sized onions;
• Two heads of garlic;
• 2 small carrots;
• Sunflower oil (needed for frying);
• 2 pcs. bell pepper with thick walls;
• Greenery;
• Spices – bay leaf, black pepper, salt and others as desired;
• 1 glass of rice (take the glass that came with the multicooker);
• 3 medium sized potatoes.

The chicken is cut into small pieces, the onion into half rings, the carrots into strips, potatoes and peppers into medium-sized cubes. The rice is washed several times (if you follow Georgian rules, this is done 7 times).

On the multicooker, turn on the “baking” mode. Pour vegetable oil into the bowl, then add the chicken fillet and fry it for 25 minutes. Add onion to the meat and continue frying for another 10 minutes. Then add carrots and peppers and continue frying for another 15 minutes.

Add rice and potatoes, spices to the fried vegetables, fill with water to the top mark of the multicooker and cook in the “stew” mode for 2 hours. Half an hour before the dish is ready, add salt.

When serving kharcho soup, you need to add garlic, previously passed through a press, and herbs.

Georgian lamb kharcho soup

To prepare Georgian lamb kharcho soup you will need:

• 1 kilogram of lamb breast on the bone;
• 2 large onions;
• 150 grams of rice;
• 1 head of garlic;
• 1 carrot;
• Green cilantro;
• 6 pcs. tomatoes;
• A few peppercorns (black);
• 5 ml. vinegar (apple);
• Salt;
• 2 tablespoons (teaspoons) coriander;
• 1 spoon (tablespoon) of melted butter;
• 0.5 teaspoon chili pepper.

The lamb is washed and the film layers are removed from its surface. Then the meat is cut into pieces containing 2 ribs.

The onion is cut into rings, the leaves and stems of cilantro are chopped with a knife. Black pepper, salt, chili pepper and coriander must be crushed.

In a saucepan with a thick bottom, you need to heat the melted butter and fry the prepared pieces of brisket in it. Frying time – 10 minutes. Then the meat is sprinkled with vinegar, sprinkled with onions and a mixture of crushed spices, and continue to fry everything with constant stirring for another 3 minutes.

Tomatoes need to be grated on a coarse grater. The peel is discarded, and the juice, along with grated tomato mass and cilantro, is added to the pan where the fried meat is located. Mix everything, bring to a boil, pour in 2 liters of boiling water and cook, covered, for 1 hour (heat should be medium).

At the same time as the pan with meat is brought to a boil, you need to pour water into the rice. After the meat is cooked, drain the water from the rice and add it to the pan with the lamb. The cooking process continues until the rice becomes soft. After this, chopped garlic and herbs are added to the pan.

The prepared soup should sit for 10 minutes. Only after this can it be served.

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Cooks' tricks and tips

To prepare a truly authentic kharcho soup, you need to forget about such an ingredient as potatoes. Otherwise, the result will not be a classic dish, but an imitation of it.

To get a hearty and rich dish, you need to cook it from beef on the bone.

If, after preparing the soup, you add a small amount of saffron to it, you can achieve richness in the color of the Georgian dish.

When cooking soup over regular heat rather than in a slow cooker, you need to keep the heat low.

It is best to use long-grain rice for preparing this dish, which is practically not overcooked.

Meat for making soup should only be of high quality and fresh. Fatty varieties are not suitable, as a large amount of fat will not allow you to feel the aroma of the dish.

Greens are always present in large quantities in any Georgian dish. It is served either as part of a dish or simply on a plate.

Every cook, as well as every housewife, has her own tricks and secrets of preparing kharcho soup.

Every time before creating breakfast, lunch or dinner, the housewife begins to sort through the available products and ask the eternal question “What to cook today?” For lunch, something aromatic, liquid and filling, such as soup, is best.

I recently found out a recipe for an interesting Georgian soup with Russian ingredients and a colorful name. So, kharcho is a soup with sourness and a piece of meat! And, like many dishes, this soup has both a classic recipe and many different other recipes that are already adapted for cooking at home in the average kitchen.

• Pork kharcho soup recipe

Recipe for making kharcho soup at home

This is indeed a fairly simple soup, and many are also attracted by its richness. So, if there are more men in the family, then cut potatoes into it, and if there are more women, then make it lighter, only with rice. It also seduces with its bright color and aroma.

Georgian cuisine for me is a lot of spices and beef. Therefore, it is better to use beef in this soup, but since it is not always on hand, and everyone wants to eat it now, then we make our own “Russian” version of this soup and take pork, lamb or chicken. In general, something meaty.

Ingredients:

• Piece of beef or lamb
• 3 onions
• 1 tomato
• garlic
• 200 grams of rice
• khmeli-suneli
• walnuts
• tomato paste

1. Let the meat cook.

2. Prepare the food: finely chop or grind the walnuts and chop the onion.

3. Pour rice into the prepared broth and remove the cooked meat.

4. You need to remove the peel from the tomato. You can simply cut it off with a knife, or you can scald it with boiling water and easily remove the skin. We cut it with port.

5. We also finely chop the garlic, and at this time the onion is fried in oil with one teaspoon of tomato paste and chopped tomatoes.

6.Add nuts to the half-cooked rice. You will see that they will immediately release oil on the surface of the broth.

7. Add garlic and suneli hops to this mixture.

8. As soon as the rice is cooked, add the prepared fried meat to the soup.

With sour cream and croutons it will turn out no worse than in a restaurant!

How to cook beef kharcho soup

Beef is the basis of the classic recipe for this soup, so we give preference to it. But we are still not in Georgia and therefore we don’t have all the necessary ingredients yet, so we start collecting Kharcho from what we almost always have at home.

Ingredients:

• 550 g beef
• 4 tbsp rice
• 3 onions
• Khmeli-suneli
• greenery
• 5 cloves garlic
• Bay leaf
• walnuts
• pepper
• tomato paste

Georgians used rich beef broth as the basis for their kharcho, so beef shoulder is perfect.

Half a kilogram of meat requires two and a half liters of water.

1. Place the pieces of meat in cold water and set to cook. After boiling, remove the foam and simmer over low heat for 1.5 hours.

2. Fill the rice with cool water.

3. Fry the onion pieces for ten minutes, then add three tablespoons of tomato paste and pepper. You can dilute the paste a little with the broth. Pour the swollen rice into the boiling broth.

5. Then add pieces of meat to the rice.

6. After 20 minutes, add the prepared dressing mass.

Season with two tablespoons of Khmeli-Suneli seasoning and ground walnuts, bay leaves and garlic.

Salt and add herbs.

The beef should be boiled for at least an hour and a half to become soft and chewy.

Classic recipe for making kharcho soup step by step with photos

Traditionally, the soup recipe includes several nuances:

1. meat - beef
2. presence of Tkemali sauce, which gives a peculiar sourness
3. A little tomato and 4. a lot of greens
4. A good rich and aromatic broth is also important.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. tomato paste
• 1 tomato
• 2 onions
• 500 g beef
• tkemali - 2 teaspoons
• 1 red pepper
• glass of rice
• cilantro, parsley, celery
• 4 cloves garlic
• khmeli-suneli
• coriander
• adjika

1. Add an onion to the broth with meat.

The classic recipe always includes beef.

2. Sauté the chopped onion a little.

3. Peel a small tomato after scalding it. Add tomato pieces to the onion and a spoonful of tomato paste.

4. Remove the onion from the broth and add fried and chopped hot red pepper.

Now it is important to follow the rule - do not overdo it with rice, because it can quickly turn the soup into porridge.

5. Prepare seasonings. Let's start with cilantro. The most fragrant part of the stem is the base of the root. Therefore, carefully remove the roots, leaving the stems.

Chop the garlic and herbs.

6. Pour in the rice.

7. Add a teaspoon of suneli seasoning, a little coriander, and a little adjika to the broth.

8. Pour the prepared herbs and garlic into the finished soup.

The soup should sit longer, at least fifteen minutes.

How to cook lamb kharcho soup

Lamb is also a common meat in Georgia, and I think that the “homemade Georgian” version of the soup also accepts this meat. How can we prepare a delicious and simple soup with this type of product? Also, as always, we only cook the lamb for 1.5 or 2 hours.

Ingredients:

• Mutton
• tkemali sauce
• half a glass of rice
• 1 carrot
• 2 onions
• walnuts - 100 gr
• salt pepper
• cilantro
• tomato paste - 50 gr
• khmeli-suneli

1. Remove fat from the meat; if there is any on your piece, cut it into cubes.

We begin to cook it in two liters of water and make sure that the foam is removed in time.

2. While we are waiting for the meat, we prepare the vegetables. Chop the peeled pepper and onion.

Chop the carrots.

3. In a frying pan, begin to simmer the existing vegetables with tomato paste.

Add tkemali sauce to the prepared mixture.

4. Grind large walnuts into small pieces.

After an hour, start adding rice, a spoonful of ground red pepper, suneli hops and salt into the broth.

We wait 11 minutes and add walnuts and fried vegetable mixture and cilantro to the soup.

Pork kharcho soup recipe

Sometimes broths with pork turn out to be very fatty, so I don’t make soups from it, but not everyone has this principle. The main thing is to remove the foam with excess fat in time at the moment the broth boils.

Ingredients:

• 300 g pork
• half a glass of rice
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 100 g tkemali
• 2 tsp khmeli-suneli
• 50 g walnuts
• greenery

1.Wash and chop the pork.

2. Pour 300 grams of pork with water and set to boil.

3. Wash the rice cereal and add it to the boiling meat half an hour after boiling.

4. Prepare frying vegetables and tkemali sauce.

5. Boiled pork is already waiting for ready-made vegetables, walnut cereals and suneli hops.

We sprinkle the finished dish with herbs.

A simple recipe for kharcho soup with chicken and potatoes step by step with photos

The most dietary recipe in terms of calorie content comes with chicken. Here you can get breast and legs or a full soup set.

Chicken makes soups lighter, for example, you can read about soup with meatballs.

Also, this meat cooks much faster than previous types, and therefore the housewife will finish cooking faster. The composition of vegetables varies the nutritional value of the soup, so in this recipe we added potatoes so that the family is sure to be full.

Ingredients:

• Some chicken meat or bones
• 2 onions
• 2 carrots
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 potatoes
• 50 grams of rice
• 5 cloves garlic
• khmeli-suneli
• pepper

1. We begin to boil the meat in 2 liters of water.

2. Cut the vegetables, send the onions and carrots to fry in a frying pan.

After about 7 minutes, add tomatoes and a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste.

3. Wash the rice to remove the starch. Add potatoes to the boiling broth, then fry them, washed rice and chopped garlic.

4. As soon as you see that the soup has boiled, add spices to it: thyme, suneri hops, bay leaf, dill, pepper and salt. Cut the chicken and sprinkle the soup with herbs.

And we get pleasure from our work and the satisfied faces of those chewing.

Recipe for making chicken kharcho soup with rice at home

Without potatoes, the soup will be less nutritious in terms of calories, but still filling. Because it includes a cereal base - rice. The main thing is not to shift it and prevent it from boiling into porridge.

Ingredients:

• Chicken
• half a glass of rice
• green cilantro
• 3 onions
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 carrot
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 4 tomatoes
• 10 walnuts
• tkemali 1 tsp. spoon or a little lemon juice
• Coriander, cheber, suneli hops, paprika, pepper.

1. Remove the foam from the chicken broth.

Do you want the broth to be richer? Remember that you need to cook for at least half an hour and add bay leaves, a couple of peppercorns, cilantro or parsley roots. After boiling, it is better to remove them from the container.

2. Drain the washed rice grains.

3. Add the meat mixture to the golden onion mass.

and tomatoes: fresh and in the form of tomato paste.

We put this in the soup.

We remember about spices, a spoon of salt, 10 ground kernels and cloves of garlic.

It is important to always rinse the rice grains in several waters.

You can serve this soup with garlic croutons or croutons.

I also really wanted to compare the taste of our kharcho soup with real traditional Georgian soup. What will be the difference anyway? And it will, for sure, because they don’t use the khmeli-suneli seasoning, which has several spices in its composition, but use fenugreek, but I can’t even imagine whether I’ll find it in a hypermarket in the Urals.

Real kharcho, like the Georgian people - hot and very spicy. He must “cut” the tongue! This is a sign of the quality of Caucasian soup.

Dzerokhis khortsi kharshot, beef soup or kharcho. These are all names of one dish - national Georgian soup. Its classic recipe includes three mandatory components - beef, tklapi and ground walnuts.

The characteristic savory flavor of kharcho soup is given by a “cocktail of flavors”, in which tklapi plays the main role. These thin dried slices are made from plum puree. Sometimes they are replaced with tkemali, sour cherry plum or juice of ripe pomegranates. But it is not recommended to replace plum sourness with tomato paste. Kharcho soup will lose its “character”, and it will be a completely different dish.

An equally important ingredient is the greens in the soup. There must be a lot of it. Parsley, cilantro and even saffron set spicy notes, an amazing aroma and taste that makes kharcho stand out among other first courses.

The best recipes for spicy “beef soup” collected here will help inexperienced housewives learn how to cook kharcho according to Caucasian culinary traditions, and those who have already succeeded in mastering the art of its preparation will be able to gain new ideas.

8 recipes for making kharcho soup

Recipe 1. Kharcho soup - a classic homemade recipe

Ingredients: 500 g beef brisket, 5 cloves garlic, 2 bay leaves, 2 pcs. onions, a bunch of cilantro and parsley, 0.5 cups of peeled walnut kernels, 1/3 long grain rice, 2 tbsp. spoons of tkemali sauce or 10x10 cm tklapi or 2 tbsp. tablespoons of pomegranate juice, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of suneli hops, 2/3 teaspoon of ground coriander, 1/3 teaspoon of red hot pepper, several dry saffron stamens.

1. Rinse the beef and divide into manageable pieces and place in a pan. Pour clean and cold water, cook over moderate heat for two hours after boiling. Don’t forget to skim off the protein foam, otherwise the broth won’t turn out clear.
2. Pour hot water over the tklapi and within 2-3 hours the dried puree will again become soft, “mushy”.
3. Transfer the tklapi sauce into rich beef broth. Or replace it with tkemali or pomegranate juice.
4. “Strip” the onion and cut into very thin half rings. This cut gives a special taste to the soup. Add it to the broth when it boils again.
5. Wash the rice so well that the last of the water remains clear, and pour into the soup. It should boil for 10 minutes before adding the next ingredient.
6. Mash the nuts together with chopped garlic in a wooden or ceramic mortar until the oil releases. Transfer the nut-garlic dressing to the boiling soup.
7. As soon as it boils again, you can add all the spices: suneli hops, saffron, coriander, pepper, bay and salt. Mix all the ingredients of the soup and cook for about 5-7 minutes, without allowing it to boil violently.
8. Add the chopped herbs and garlic to the soup last. Turn off the heat and cover the kharcho with a lid. Let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe 2. Lamb and prune kharcho soup

Ingredients: 1 kg lamb breast with bone, 100 g prunes, 1 tbsp. ground walnut kernels, 1 tbsp. long-grain rice, 5 well-ripe tomatoes, 6 medium-sized onions, 50 g parsley, 50 g cilantro, 3-4 garlic cloves, 1 green chili pepper, tklapi piece 10x10 cm, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon allspice, 1.5 teaspoons of dry herbs (hops-suneli), freshly ground black pepper, salt.

1. Divide the lamb brisket into pieces equal to the size of a matchbox, place in a cast-iron cauldron with 1.5-2 liters of cold water (boiling water will “seal” the meat and the juices will not escape into the broth). Cook, skimming off the foam, for about two hours.
2. After an hour, you can add salt to the broth and add prunes cut into pieces.
3. When the meat is cooked and becomes soft, you can begin to add other products: thin slices of onion quarters, washed rice and bouquets of herbs - three sprigs of parsley and cilantro each. Vegetables and rice should be simmered over low heat. 15 minutes will be enough.
4. Grind the crushed garlic cloves with salt in a large mortar. Add chopped green pepper and the remaining chopped herbs to them and grind everything together to a paste. Add peeled tomatoes, ground nuts, a ladle of broth and stir all ingredients with a spoon until the mixture is homogeneous.
5. Remove the sprigs of herbs from the cauldron and pour in the spicy dressing. Stir, season with pepper, taste and, if necessary, adjust to taste by adding the missing spices.
6. 10 minutes before the end of cooking the kharcho soup with prunes, add softened tklapi, bay leaf and chopped parsley.

Recipe 3. Chicken kharcho soup with nuts

For the broth: 1 kg of chicken meat, a large onion, carrots, celery root and parsley.

Fried dressing: 2 tbsp. tablespoons vegetable oil, 1 tbsp. spoon of wheat flour, 4 pcs. onion, 1 parsley root.

For soup: 0.5 cups of rice, 1 teaspoon each of peppercorns and coriander seeds, 0.5 teaspoons of dried parsley, basil, mint, tarragon and suneli hops, 1 teaspoon of adjika, a pinch of ground cinnamon, 3 tbsp. spoons of tkemali, half a glass of ground nuts, 3 cloves of garlic, 4 tbsp. spoons of herbs, salt - to taste.

1. Cook the broth from: 3 liters of water, portioned pieces of chicken, washed but not peeled onions and soup root vegetables. After boiling, the broth should simmer for an hour and a half until the meat is half cooked. Watch the foam.
2. Fry the dressing from: finely chopped onion, grated parsley root. Sauté in oil until golden. Sprinkle with flour and fry a little more.
3. Remove the almost finished meat and boiled vegetables from the pan. Pass the broth through a sieve/gauze and return it to the pan along with the meat pieces. Add salt and add washed rice.
4. Prepare herbs and spices: grind coriander and pepper in a mortar.
5. When 10 minutes have passed after the rice boils, add sautéed dressing, ground nuts, dry and ground spices, tkemali sauce, and adjika into the soup. Mix everything with rich broth and cook until the rice becomes soft.
6. Remove the finished kharcho from the cooking surface and put the garlic, crushed in a mortar, into the pan. Season with a generous portion of herbs - cilantro, basil and celery.

Recipe 4. Kharcho soup with beef and chili

Ingredients: 5 liters of water, 500 g of beef meat with cartilage, 0.5 tbsp. rice, 1/5 cup soft tklapi puree (or 2 tbsp. tkemali, or 10 pcs. cherry plum), 4-5 cloves of garlic, parsley root, 0.5 cup ground walnuts, 1 tbsp. spoon of flour.

Greens, herbs and spices: 2 tbsp. spoons of parsley, 0.5 tbsp. spoons of basil, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of cilantro, 3 teaspoons of suneli hops, 0.5 teaspoons of chopped coriander, a few saffron threads, 0.5 teaspoons of red pepper, chili pepper to taste, salt.

1. Remove the membranes from the meat, cut into beautiful pieces, cover with cold water and cook covered for about two hours.
2. Remove the finished meat from the pan. Transfer the broth strained through a sieve to the stove again, but this time along with the meat and rice. Add salt and let simmer gently for 10 minutes.
3. Fry the onion in quarters with flour and transfer to the broth. Immediately add parsley root, bay leaf, coriander and black pepper to the pan.
4. When the rice is “semi-cooked,” add nuts and tklapi, previously soaked in hot water, into the soup. Add some herbs and greens: parsley, suneli hops, saffron and add finely chopped chili pepper. Boil everything together for 5-6 minutes and leave covered for a while longer.
5. Place the crushed garlic and basil/cilantro into the pan after removing it from the cooking surface. Before serving, remove the bay leaf from the soup and sprinkle the kharcho with parsley in a bowl.

Recipe 5. Pork kharcho soup

Ingredients: 400 g pork with layers, half a glass of rice, 1 pc. carrots, onions, potatoes, a head of garlic, 100 g tkemali, 2 teaspoons khmeli-suneli, 50 g walnuts, herbs, sunflower oil, salt.

1. Cut the fatty pork into medium-sized pieces, place it in a three-liter saucepan, add cool water, and add salt. Bring the broth to a boil, skim off the foam and cook for 30 minutes before adding the next ingredient.
2. Wash the starch from the rice, remove the skin from the potatoes and cut into cubes. Place the prepared products into the broth.
3. Prepare the frying: chop the onion with a knife, and chop the carrots on a grater with small holes. Fry the vegetables in vegetable oil (or butter) until soft.
4. Grind the nuts into crumbs (with a knife, blender, mortar) and mix with chopped garlic, khmeli-suneli and tkemali. Add the sauce dressing to the soup when the meat, rice and potatoes are cooked.
5. After adding all the ingredients and the spicy mixture, boil the finished soup again, remove from heat, and only then add chopped herbs. Kharcho soup should steep for 30 minutes, after which it can be poured into portions.

Recipe 6. Kharcho soup with pomegranate juice, cooked in a slow cooker

Ingredients: 1 kg of young veal, half a glass of rice, half a glass of walnut kernels, half a glass of natural pomegranate juice, 3 onions, parsley root, a bunch of cilantro, 1 hot pepper, two ripe tomatoes, 1 teaspoon of hops-suneli, 4-5 garlic cloves, bay leaf, 1 tablespoon flour, 2 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil, salt and peppercorns - to taste.

1. Cut the products: meat into convenient pieces along the grain; onion rings in halves/quarters; thin rings of hot pepper (without seeds); grate parsley root; Grind nuts, pepper and garlic in a mortar.
2. In the multicooker, set the “Baking” mode and sauté the onion and parsley root in oil (6-7 minutes), add the veal to them and fry for about another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking.
3. Dilute the flour with boiled water and add to the frying, simmer for a minute.
4. Pour two liters of water and pomegranate juice into a bowl, then add nuts, pureed peeled tomatoes, bay leaves, herbs and salt. Close the multicooker and cook the kharcho in the “Stew” mode for an hour and a half.
5. Add the garlic and cilantro, ground in a mortar, to the soup after turning off the multicooker. Georgian soup is infused and can be served to dear guests.

Recipe 7. Vegetarian kharcho soup

Ingredients: 100 g of rice, 3 large tomatoes, 50 g of walnuts, 1 large onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 50 g of tkemali sauce, 30 g of butter, hot pepper, khmeli-suneli, salt, freshly ground pepper.

1. Strip the onion and cut into cubes. Place the onion pieces in a saucepan and simmer in butter until golden.
2. Mash the garlic in a mortar; Remove the seeds from the hot pepper and chop it with a knife; chop the cilantro.
3. Grind the nuts until crumbly and combine with pepper, garlic and cilantro. Mix everything and put it in a container with the onions.
4. Pour the contents of the pan with two liters of boiling water and add very well washed rice. Add salt to the soup and cook until the rice is cooked.
5. Peel the tomatoes, chop them and simmer in a saucepan for five minutes, add tkemali and suneli hops. Mix everything and turn off the gas.
6. Transfer the tomato and plum sauces to the soup and simmer everything together for five minutes.
7. Remove the vegetarian soup kharcho from the heat, add chopped herbs and let it absorb the aromas of spices before serving.

Recipe 8. Kharcho soup with melted butter and spices

Ingredients: 2 kg lamb, 2 pcs. carrots and onions, black and allspice peppers, 2 bay leaves, parsley and celery root, dried herbs, star anise, fresh herbs.
For kharcho: half a glass of rice, 2-3 onions, 2 fresh tomatoes (in their own juice), 50 g of melted butter, garlic cloves, herbs (cilantro, dill, parsley), 2 bay leaves, 2 tbsp. spoons of coriander and cumin, aromatic peppers, red hot pepper, salt.

1. For the broth, it is better to use lamb neck with cartilage and bones. To make the broth richer, you can also add “sugar” seeds. Wash the meat and put it on the stove to cook in cold water. During the boiling process, skim off any foamy whites that form.
2. As soon as the foam stops appearing, add onion with lower golden layers, carrots, aromatic peppercorns, bay leaf, a mixture of roots, dried herbs, star anise, a bunch of juicy herbs and salt into the broth.
3. Reduce the boiling temperature to the minimum possible, cover the pan with a lid and let the broth with seasonings simmer for 3 hours. It is important that the future soup does not boil!
4. Prepare ingredients for kharcho: finely crush/chop/crush the garlic; chop the onion into medium cubes; Peel the tomatoes and chop, reserving the juice; Chop fresh herbs, hot peppers and grind in a mortar with garlic; wash the rice very well and soak for half an hour; Grind all the dry spice ingredients to obtain an aromatic spicy-hot mixture.
5. Heat a cauldron over a fire and put melted cow butter on the bottom, add onions. There is no need to fry it, let it become transparent. Add to it the top layer of fat collected from the broth and a little rich liquid. Simmer the onion for 5-7 minutes.
6. Pour in the tomatoes and add the meat selected from the broth. Simmer everything together for another 5 minutes and add the crushed mixture of spicy spices. Allow another 7-10 minutes for all the flavors to simmer and blend.
7. Pour the strained broth into the cauldron and add the rice. Reduce the heat and simmer the future kharcho for twenty minutes. When the rice is ready in just a minute, add a mixture of herbs and garlic. Turn off the heat and... set the table.

Advice from those who know a lot about soups will help you prepare a real, tasty and spicy-hot kharcho soup.

1. The broth after scalding the meat will be transparent if the first water with the coagulated protein is drained. You need to prepare a new broth in a clean saucepan, with root vegetables and onions. And before adding the main products, the broth must be strained.
2. The soup will receive an additional note of flavor if the fatty pieces of meat are lightly fried in a cauldron or saucepan where the future kharcho will be cooked.
3. Finely chopped cherry plum will make any recipe for “beef soup” truly Georgian.
4. Tkemali sauce for soup should be the most sour - made from burgundy or green plums. It is allowed to mix satsibeli and tkemali sauce in a one-to-one ratio.
5. Polished and steamed rice is ideal for kharcho. This kind of rice will not boil over. It is also important not to overuse it, otherwise the soup will turn into porridge.
6. It is better to put garlic in the kharcho almost before serving, then the aroma and taste of the soup will become especially pleasant.
7. “Beef soup” must sit for twenty minutes before it reaches the plates.
8. Masters of oriental cuisine advise cutting the onion into very thin half rings, scalding it with boiling water and adding it to the soup not during the cooking process, but directly into portioned plates. Then the kharcho soup takes on a completely new flavor.

– rich, thick, spicy-hot and Caucasian-style delicious. He became famous far beyond the borders of Georgia, and all over the world his devoted fans argue about what kind of “real” kharcho he is?! Spicy or sour, with beef or lamb, with tomatoes or tklapi. But these disputes have absolutely no basis. After all, as you know, there is no arguing about tastes!