Kharcho soup recipe at home. Soup kharcho: cooking according to simple recipes. The subtleties and secrets of cooking kharcho soup: simple recipes with beef, lamb, chicken. A simple recipe for kharcho soup with chicken and potatoes step by step with a photo

An invaluable gift of excellent Georgian cuisine is the popular kharcho soup recipes, which, due to their diversity and rich taste, are familiar to virtually everyone. By tradition, this is a thick, spicy first course, which 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. No wonder when mentioning this dish it is worth specifying the area of its origin. But it is worth noting that changing the recipe for its implementation in no way spoils the taste of this soup, moreover, it only adds piquancy and introduces new colors, replenishing the taste experience.

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 manufacture, tklapi is called cherry plum lavash. The puree prepared from the pulp of dogwood and plums is laid in special layers and dried in the sun. Also, a kind of plum sauce - tkemali with the addition of fragrant garlic and spices can serve as an excellent alternative to tklapi. These basic ingredients are the basis of real Georgian food.

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

As you know, finding tklapi outside of Georgia is a rather difficult undertaking. But this does not at all make cooking kharcho soup at home an impossible undertaking. An excellent alternative to replacing the sour component would be adjika, tomato sauce, the pulp of fresh plums, pomegranate juice, a spoonful of apple cider vinegar, tkemali (purchased in the store), as well as lemon when serving.
Hot red pepper will add a piquant spiciness to the dish. Do not forget that when cut, it can irritate your skin or cause a burn. To avoid this trouble, rubber gloves should be used.
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 use, rice should be insisted in cold water (about 2 hours), or rinse it well 5 to 7 times. This will wash off the excess starch, the excessive content of which can simply spoil the taste of the Georgian treat, making it viscous and cloudy.
A simple kharcho soup recipe includes adding an unlimited amount of greens. You will notice how the specific aroma of cilantro will burst with new notes, giving amazing piquancy to the dish and complementing the bouquet of dill and parsley. Also, a moderate addition of mint leaves will be completely useful.
The selection of seasonings for this dish is considered purely individual, but the main and mandatory will be suneli hops. The composition of this seasoning includes dried herbs: dill, mint, red pepper, basil, marjoram, coriander, savory, bay leaf and more. It is all these components that are responsible for the characteristic oriental spice of the dish. Sometimes in some recipes for true Georgian kharcho, utskho-suneli seasoning is found - this is a specific dried fenugreek that will give the dish a “tender” nutty flavor.
In some western regions of sunny Georgia, for example, in Megrelia, it is so thick that it seems more like a sauce or a second course than a soup. True Megrelian kharcho is an extremely spicy component of Georgian cuisine. This extreme delicacy is savored by dipping Georgian lavash in it.

To date, an abundance of various recipes for the execution of this delicacy is known. Each family in Georgia has its own unique secret of preparing this fragrant treat, which they carefully keep, betraying their secret from generation to generation.

Classic kharcho soup recipe

In order to cook kharcho soup at home according to the classic recipe, you will need:

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).

The cooking process is as follows:

First, start preparing the broth. Immerse the piece of beef in water (about 1.5 liters) and bring to a boil. Just before boiling, do not forget to remove the foam from the broth, this will help make it transparent and attractive. Then reduce the heat to a minimum and leave for 2 hours. The water should bubbling slightly, but only slightly. After a couple of hours, the beef should be removed and the pulp separated from it, then cut into small slices and immersed back in the bubbling broth.

The next step will be adding tkemali to the broth, which is extremely responsible. Dip in a few spoonfuls of the sauce. At the same time, the use of tkemali is not fundamental, if this particular sauce is not available, you can replace it with any other sour tomato mass. If you were lucky enough to get a real Georgian layer of tklapi, then add it in a piece of about 10 - 12 cm. Cover with a lid until boiling.

After that, cut the vegetables - onions into thin slices, and carrots into strips and add to the boiled broth. Then toast the walnuts in a heated frying pan. After the appearance of the appropriate smell, grind with a mortar to a fine, homogeneous slurry. Add minced garlic to it.

After half an hour of boiling the broth over low heat, you can add prepared rice to it and leave it on the fire for another 10-12 minutes. The next step is to add walnut-garlic paste. After this maneuver, magical aromas will spread throughout the kitchen, which will be supplemented with bay leaves, suneli hops, salt, and black pepper.

If desired, to enhance the acid, you can add pomegranate juice, and for sharpness, a crushed pod of hot red pepper is useful.

The final touch in the preparation of this Georgian masterpiece will be the addition of chopped greens. 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.

The best kharcho soup recipes

There are many different recipes for kharcho soup, they differ in the ingredients that make up the dish. We will consider the most popular and delicious cooking recipes. We will find out what ingredients we need, and also learn all the subtleties of the cooking process.

Kharcho soup from chicken breast

The current cooking has changed the recipe of this dish almost beyond recognition. Deviating from the traditional cooking recipe, you can cook a Slavic interpretation of the Georgian delicacy - this is kharcho soup from chicken breast.

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.

Cooking process:

All ingredients listed are based on 2.5 - 3 liters of water. We put the kharcho soup to boil, starting with the preparation of the broth with chicken breast.

When the broth is almost ready, add thoroughly washed rice, vegetables, tomato juice or tkemali, salt, suneli hops, pepper.

At the end, add grated garlic, oil and crushed herbs. And kharcho chicken soup is ready.

Kharcho soup from a young lamb

To make lamb kharcho soup, you will need the following products:

Fat lamb brisket on the bone (0.7 - 1 kg);
Medium grain rice (160 grams);
Medium carrot and onion;
Ripe tomatoes (5 - 7 pieces);
Garlic;
Apple cider vinegar (1 - 1.2 tsp);
Melted butter;
Coriander, black and red pepper;
cilantro, parsley;
Salt.

How to cook:

How to cook kharcho soup from a young lamb? First, clean the lamb meat from the films. Then divide the brisket so that each of the pieces has 2 ribs. Heat the pan and fry the pieces of meat in melted butter until golden brown. In a mortar, grind coriander, allspice and red pepper, and salt to a homogeneous gruel. Sprinkle the meat with apple cider vinegar, put the onion on top, sprinkle with the prepared fragrant gruel and fry on the fire for about 5 minutes.

While the meat is cooking, you need to grind the tomatoes through a sieve and send them to a boiling pan, followed by cilantro and water. We cook everything for about an hour. 10 - 12 minutes before readiness, pour in the prepared rice and after 10 minutes we finish cooking. We send greens and garlic there, insist 10 - 15 minutes and enjoy your meal.

Soup kharcho with potatoes

Kharcho soup with potatoes and rice cooked on a fragrant rich broth is a delicious delicacy due to its Caucasian origin. To prepare it, you need to stock up on the following products:

Meat (any on the bone);
Round rice (100 grams);
Potatoes (200 grams);
Onion and garlic;
Tomato paste or adjika;
Butter;
A mixture of dried herbs;
Ground pepper;
Greens;
Salt.

Cooking process:

Prepare the broth in a familiar way, add potatoes and carrots to it in turn.

We fry part of the onion in cow's oil, and throw the other part raw into the boiling broth.

Add adjika or tomato mass to the fried onion, and then dried herbs. Mix everything thoroughly and sauté until cooked. Add rice, washed from starch, to the soup, leave on a meager fire for 10 minutes and set aside for further infusion.

When serving, you can sprinkle with herbs and season with cream.

As you know, the classic version is made from beef, but the recipes for this dish that have gone beyond the borders of their homeland, at least, differ in the choice of meat. True connoisseurs of pork also did not miss the opportunity not to try the preparation of this delicacy according to their favorite recipe.

To make pork kharcho soup you need:

Pork on the bone (300 - 350 grams);
Rice round (0.5 cup);
Onions and carrots;
Peeled walnuts;
Tkemali;
Khmeli-suneli;
Sunflower oil;
Salt;
Greens.

How to cook:

In a boiling broth prepared on the basis of pork, place the rice. While it is cooking, we make frying from sunflower oil, onions, carrots. In a blender, grind nuts, tkemals and suneli hops. When the rice boils over low heat for 10 - 12 minutes, you can add frying and nut paste with tkemali. Bring the mixture to a boil and turn off. Pour crushed greens into the finished dish and cover with a lid. After insisting 15 - 20 minutes, you can start tasting.

Soup kharcho in a slow cooker

The delicacy that we used to call "kharcho" definitely has nothing to do with a real Georgian treat. But as the saying goes, “even if you call it a pot, don’t put it in the stove.” But we have exactly the option when you have to put it in the oven, or rather in the slow cooker, where this Georgian spicy broth turns out to be the most fragrant and tasty.

Therefore, to make kharcho soup in a slow cooker, the following ingredients will be useful:

Meat (any) 500 grams;
Vegetables (onions, carrots, garlic, bell peppers, potatoes, tomatoes);
Rice (1/2 multi-cup);
Spices, herbs, salt.

Cooking in a multicooker:

Cut the meat into small pieces and fry in sunflower oil in the "Baking" mode for about 20 - 25 minutes. Then add chopped onions, green peppers, carrots and tomatoes to it. Pass for another 20 - 23 minutes. Turning off the “Baking” mode, put potatoes and rice in a container with meat, which should be washed thoroughly before. Add your favorite spices and salt to everything. Set the "Extinguishing" mode and wait 1 - 1.5 hours.

Before serving, squeeze the garlic and sprinkle with herbs.

Given the excessive calorie content of kharcho soup, many gourmets who take care of their figure will appreciate a truly dietary broth without meat in it. After all, it is completely unnecessary to cook this delicacy in fatty meat broth. You can replace it with vegetable, and believe me, it will not lose its taste from this.

For the execution of the lean version, you will need:

Rice (1 - 1.5 cups);
Garden fruits (tomatoes, green peppers, garlic, carrots, onions);
Tkemali or spicy adjika;
Vegetable or butter;
Spices;
Fresh greens;
Salt;

Cooking:

Prepare vegetables and rinse rice. Fry the onion in oil and pour it with water, bring to a boil and lay out the rice. Then put tomatoes, green peppers, tkemali or adjika, spices and salt into the mass with onions and rice.

Boil and leave for 12 - 17 minutes. When serving lean broth, sprinkle it with herbs.

Kharcho with wine and smoked ribs

For real gourmets, we offer a recipe for a truly delicious soup with wine and smoked ribs.

You will need:

Smoked lamb ribs (0.5 kg);
Vegetables (onions, potatoes, carrots);

Then add water (2 liters) and potatoes, boil again. After simmering for twenty minutes over moderate heat, add the rice, salt and place in the oven. After 15 - 17 minutes, remove from the oven and complement the dish with the aroma of garlic and herbs.

Kharcho soup with red fish

It is difficult to imagine such an intriguing delicacy as kharcho with red fish. But once you taste this truly amazing treat, you will no doubt add it to your personal list of favorite dishes.

For its execution you will need:

Chilled red fish (500 grams);
Rice round (55 grams);
Garden fruits (onions, peppers, tomatoes, carrots);
Spices;
Tkemali;
Pressed garlic;
Salt;
Parsley.

How to weld:

Boil all the prepared vegetables in 2 liters of water, put the onion whole, so that it will be convenient to pull it out later. Put the chopped fish into the vegetable broth.

Boil and put rice in it. Boil rice for 10 minutes, then add pressed garlic, salt and spices to the mass. After switching off, add parsley.

As you can see, cooking kharcho soup is quite simple and fast. Probably, no soup in the world has as many analogues as this magnificent Georgian dish. And this is not all of his versions.

Who and when said that kharcho soup is made from lamb? It's like dressing Olivier salad with sunflower oil. Almost blasphemy, both in relation to the soup and in relation to the Olivier salad. Kharcho, Georgian national soup is made exclusively from beef.

Most often, when specifying a recipe, they specify which area of Georgia the recipe belongs to. There are soups in Georgian, Megrelian, etc. But the essence of the soup - spicy beef soup with tkemali and nuts, remains unchanged. The soup is very spicy, spicy, with an abundance of garlic and herbs. Much thicker than the soups we're used to, and the "soup should be half liquid" rule is not respected.

Now the soup is prepared from various meats: pork, lamb, veal, and even poultry. But in the very name kharcho (Georgian ხარჩო) - literally: beef soup, “dzerokhis khortsi kharshot”.

Kharcho is always a sour base - tkemali plums. When cooking, tkemali is often replaced with more affordable tomato paste. However, there is an option to use not tkemali, but the so-called “sour lavash”. This is not bread, as many people think. This is the dried pulp of tkemali or dogwood. Fruit puree is dried in the sun in the form of huge cakes - pita bread. They are called tklapi (ტყლაპი) - break off a piece as needed, soak and add to soup or other dishes.

In recipes, kharcho can often be found - tklapi, a piece like a palm. The second most important component is walnuts.

It is worth saying that in the Caucasus, probably, only wine is prepared without walnuts. In addition, walnuts are the basis of the most famous bazhe sauce in the Caucasus, which is little known by name in our country, but the Satsivi dish is well known, which actually is a bird (meat, fish) in bazhe sauce.

Well, meat. Not lamb, not pork, not poultry. Only beef, preferably fatty, or with a bone (there is enough fat). Beef kharcho soup, just like that! You can hear a lot of fair arguments in favor of this or that recipe, that this or that component cannot be added to the soup, etc. But do not forget that, like two neighbors, it differs like an apple from an oyster. Be simple.

How to cook delicious kharcho soup?

Ingredients (2 servings)

Beef 400 grams
Garlic 1 head
Carrot 1 pc
Onion 2 pcs
Fig 3-4 Art. l.
Parsley, dill, cilantro 1 big bundle
Tkemali (mashed potatoes) 0.5 cup
Spices: suneli hops, salt, black pepper taste
Walnuts (kernels) 0.5 cup

Cooking kharcho soup is not fast. It's even long, if with a soul. It is too long! No need to rush.
Ingredients: beef, nuts, carrots, onions, tkemali, garlic, herbs (dill, cilantro, parsley), rice, spices
Lots of controversy over the quality of beef. Usually only fatty brisket is recommended. Once a familiar Caucasian let slip that it is better to cook khashlama from the brisket, and for kharcho take a piece of beef with a marrow bone, there will be enough fat in it, and the fat will be better. I checked, he's right. A piece of beef with a bone is great for soup. Remarkably, young veal is significantly inferior to old beef.
Bring 1.5 liters of water to a boil in a large saucepan and cook the whole piece of beef in it at a low boil. Cook for a long time. A couple of hours at least. The broth for the soup should turn out to be rich and “strong”.
Next, remove the beef from the broth, remove all the bones, and cut the meat into pieces: large or small - it does not matter. But I recommend cutting in portions, large enough. Return the chopped beef to the boiling broth.
Peel carrots and onions. Cut the carrot into cubes. The onion should be cut into thin strips, but not in the usual way, but along the onion. Such cutting will keep the fibers in the onion, and the onion will not turn into porridge when cooked. In the Caucasus, carrots are not added to kharcho, so carrots are at your discretion.
Next, tkemali is added to the boiling broth. This is the most important point of the whole process. For two liters of soup, I recommend adding 2 full tablespoons of tkemali puree. Or cut 100 grams of fresh cherry plum, removing the bones. Or add a soaked piece of tklapi measuring 10 × 10 cm. If it so happened that the tkemali was not prepared or had already been eaten, well, what to do - add tomato paste. I will speak for myself - I add tkemali and quite a bit (1 tsp) of tomato paste - only for color, well, I like red kharcho, I cannot deny myself the pleasure. The broth should be noticeably sour. However, then the acid can be adjusted with pomegranate juice.
Let the soup boil and after 5 minutes add chopped carrots. Boil the carrots for exactly 10 minutes.
Add chopped onion, bring to a boil and cook covered with a lid at a low boil for half an hour.
While the broth with vegetables is cooking, prepare the peanut dressing.
Sort through half a glass of walnut kernels, carefully choosing the remains of the shell and partitions. I recommend lightly roasting the nuts in a dry frying pan until a pleasant smell appears. Grind the nuts in a mortar until smooth and traces of nut oil appear.
Peel and grind the garlic in a mortar, along with nuts. But this is unprincipled. Strictly speaking, garlic can be simply grated.
After the allotted time, add rice to the soup. Once upon a time, when I was little, my father added rice to the soup, which boiled in the form of the letter "X". Since then, I have had a stable association - soup with the letters X is kharcho ... Take rice with a long grain.
Add rice and continue cooking
Rice should cook for exactly 10 minutes.
Only then nut-garlic dressing is added to the kharcho. The soup is cooked for another 15 minutes. During this time, the rice will cook to the desired condition. By the way, turn on the hood at full power, otherwise the smell will drive household milestones and even neighbors into the kitchen, and they will actively interfere with you.
By the way, did you notice that no salt or spices have been added yet??
Only after the nuts and garlic have been cooked for 15 minutes, we begin to add spices.
Homemade spice mix for kharcho
Spices in kharcho are the subject of many disputes. Usually kharcho needs a lot of coriander. Peas are coarsely crushed and added. You need pepper, Imeretian saffron, bay leaf, coarsely ground hot pepper, etc. Most cooks add the Caucasian spicy mixture "hops-suneli" to the soup. Khmeli-suneli (ხმელი-სუნელი) literally translates as "dry spice". It is not spicy, but incredibly fragrant and spicy. Slightly bitter. The composition of suneli hops is often very different, but it usually contains dry herbs (basil, dill, mint, hyssop, marjoram, savory), hot red pepper, coriander, bay leaf, fenugreek.
The composition of the "full" version of hops-suneli is very complex, abbreviated versions are often used.

Kharcho soup is considered a traditional Georgian dish. Generous housewives serve it to the table, wanting to please the guests. The recipe for the first course has spread around many countries and is firmly rooted in the kitchen book of many families. According to tradition, kharcho is prepared on the basis of beef with the addition of chili peppers. However, for those who do not like spicy, you can exclude the burning component. The housewives use pork, chicken and lamb as meat, it all depends on personal preferences. Consider the popular cooking technologies in order.

Features of cooking kharcho soup

From the Georgian language kharcho is translated as "beef". It is easy to guess that the soup is prepared on the basis of cow meat. However, there is no canon as such. When mentioning kharcho soup, it is often explained what kind of meat the dish is based on. Many housewives vary the recipe at the discretion of the family, which does not make the soup less tasty.
As a rule, the first course is characterized by sourness and sharpness, which is achieved by adding chili peppers. The so-called "tklapi" is used as the acidic component. It is prepared from unripe cherry plum, often growing in the southern regions. Due to the unique technology of obtaining tklapi, the composition is also called pita bread based on cherry plum. Plums and dogwood are pureed, then laid out in a thin layer on a baking sheet covered with parchment. After that, the composition is dried in the oven or under the sun.
An alternative option for adding sourness to the kharcho dish is the addition of tkemali - cherry plum sauce to the composition. As a rule, it is difficult to obtain basic components in other countries. In most cases, the ingredients can be purchased in native Georgian stores or kneaded on your own. If it is not possible to use an acidic component, replace it with tomato paste, cherry plum pulp, lemon (put in soup when served), pomegranate juice, adjika, purchased tkemali.
Chili peppers will help to give the soup a spicy spiciness, while both dried chopped composition and a fresh copy are suitable. In the latter case, you should be careful. At the moment when you start chopping a vegetable, inflammation may appear on your hands. For this reason, it is recommended to carry out manipulations with gloves.
If kharcho is prepared on the basis of rice, it is preferable to use a composition of long rather than round grains (not forbidden). It is important that the rice is not steamed. Before cooking, pour the cereal with cold water, let it brew for about 3 hours. During this period, the liquid will suck out the starch. If there is no time for soaking, rinse the product 10 times. Such a move will provide the soup not with a cloudy, but with a translucent consistency without a whitish tint.
Georgian chefs are very generous, they never spare food. In kharcho soup, one cannot save on meat and greens; a different behavior indicates the greed of the hostess. It is preferable to use fresh bunches of dill, parsley, celery. Some cooks prefer to supply the dish with mint leaves (in moderation).
If we talk about seasonings, they are added taking into account personal wishes. An obligatory spice is suneli hops. The loose composition includes dried bay leaf, red pepper (chili), lemon balm, fenugreek, etc. Some recipes involve the addition of suneli-utskho. After adding seasoning to hot dishes, a characteristic aroma of nutmeg appears.
If we talk about the consistency of kharcho soup, it is so thick that the product is more likely to be sauces or second courses of a different kind. As a rule, according to tradition, lavash is dipped into the composition. If we talk about tomatoes added to kharcho, they are first peeled off (the procedure is called blanching). To do this, make a cross cut on the surface of the tomato, then scald the vegetable with boiling water.
As mentioned earlier, kharcho is prepared on the basis of beef. However, experienced housewives prefer to replace it with pork, chicken, lamb. Choose meat with fatty layers to make the dish rich. Traditionally, garlic is added to kharcho. It can be passed through a press or used in its entirety, it all depends on individual preferences.

Soup kharcho: a classic of the genre

onion - 3 pcs.
rice (preferably long grain) - 60 gr.
beef meat - 550-600 gr.
carrots - 1.5 pcs.
walnut - 45 gr.
fresh dill - 40 gr.
fresh parsley - 20 gr.
tkemali - 40 gr.
garlic - 5 cloves
seasonings
chili pepper - 1/3 pod
fresh mint - 1 sprig

First you need to prepare the broth. To carry out the procedure correctly, wash, dry and chop the brisket into cubes (approximately 3 * 3 cm in size). Make sure that there are no separate fatty pieces in the soup.
Send the product to a container, fill it with filtered cold (!) Water, bring the composition to a boil at low power. Boil the soup for about two hours.
At this time, start processing vegetables. Chop the onion into thin half rings, then chop into small slices. Peel the carrots and cut into thin strips.
Do not rush to send onions and carrots to the broth, tkemali is poured first. Scoop up 40 gr. sauce, mix, wait 10 minutes. Send chopped vegetables to the pan, cover with a lid, cook for half an hour.
Take walnuts, fry them in a hot frying pan without adding vegetable oil. The duration of heat treatment is usually 5-7 minutes. After this, the kernels must be passed through a blender, making flour out of them.
Pass the garlic cloves through a press, combine with nuts, add to the soup. Send washed or soaked rice here, cook until the grains swell. As soon as this happens, add your favorite spices.
Evaluate the taste of the soup, if necessary, salt, pepper, add more suneli hops. Send a third of the chili inside, simmer the composition for 5 minutes. If kharcho is not sour enough, add pomegranate juice or tomato paste.
Wash and chop the greens, season the soup with it. Do not rush to turn off the burner, otherwise kharcho will quickly turn sour in the presence of fresh herbs. Continue heat treatment for 5 minutes. After the expiration date, add a sprig of fresh mint, cover, let it brew for half an hour.

Soup kharcho with fish

peppercorns - 5 pcs.
laurel leaf - 6 pcs.
onion - 1 pc. (large)
salt - to taste
parsley root - 1 cm.
celery root - 1 cm.
long grain rice - 160 gr.
sea fish (any) - 350 gr.
garlic - 3 cloves
tkemali - 45 gr.

Fish for kharcho soup is cooked in vegetable broth, choose marine life with the maximum degree of fat content. Pour 1.5-2 liters into the pan. filtered water, add peas, salt. Grate the celery root and parsley, stir into the total mass.
Send the bay leaf, garlic passed through the crusher, into the pan. Peel the onion, cut it into 2 or 4 parts, send it to the broth. Cook the composition on medium power for about 25 minutes.
While the broth is ready, gut the fish, cut off the fins and remove the scales. Wash, chop into large slices, place in the broth. Depending on the size, the fish should be cooked for 20-30 minutes.
10 minutes after the start of processing the fish, send the washed or soaked rice to the pan. Cook kharcho soup until the rice grains are ready. Finish the procedure by adding tkemali (5 minutes before turning off the burner).
Experienced housewives prefer to decorate fish kharcho with mint leaves and fresh herbs. Absolutely everything will do: cilantro, dill, parsley, celery.

boneless chicken - 350 gr.
onion - 2 pcs.
garlic - 4 cloves
walnut (peeled kernels) - 120 gr.
tomatoes - 6 pcs. medium size
salt - to taste
seasonings - optional
fresh parsley - 30 gr.
fresh dill - 40 gr.

Chicken fillet can be replaced with legs to end up with a rich broth. Some housewives prefer to cook kharcho based on domestic duck or broilers. Choose parts that have the maximum amount of fat streaks.
Wash the meat, cut it into small cubes, marinate in salt and spices. Pour vegetable oil into the pan, fry the chicken until golden brown. After that, pour some filtered water into the pan, simmer the product for another 10 minutes.
The broth can be prepared after pre-roasting. To do this, move the entire contents of the pan into a thick-bottomed saucepan, fill with water, cook for 35-60 minutes. The duration of languishing depends on the shape of the meat; “homemade” specimens take longer to cook.
Chop the onion into half rings or small squares. Pass the garlic through a press, add to the onion. Fry over low heat until brown. Make sure that the composition does not burn.
Make an X-shaped incision on the tomatoes, dip in boiling water and leave for 40 seconds. After this period, remove the skin, chop the tomatoes into cubes, add to the broth.
Toast the walnut kernels in a dry frying pan for 7 minutes. After that, grind the composition into dust using a blender or garlic crusher. Send the nut to the soup, after 10 minutes, supply the first dish with salt and seasonings.
Chop fresh herbs, optional parsley and dill. Cilantro, celery, etc. are also suitable. After adding the greens, cook the soup for another 3 minutes, turn off the stove and let the kharcho brew for half an hour. Serve with a mint leaf.

Soup kharcho with lamb

lamb (brisket) - 550 gr.
parsley root - 20 gr.
onion - 1 pc.
ground black pepper - to taste
salt - to taste
rice - 145 gr.
tkemali - 35 gr.
adjika liquid - 30 gr.
tomato paste - 20 gr.
garlic - 4 heads
fresh parsley - a third of a bunch
fresh dill - 1 bunch
chili pepper dry - on the tip of a knife
olives or black olives (for garnish)

Lamb-based kharcho soup is prepared from low-fat tenderloin, brisket is best. Rinse the product with running cold water, dry with napkins or towels, chop into small pieces (size 3*3 cm).
So that the meat does not lose juice during the cooking process, fry the pieces in a pan with the addition of vegetable or butter. 5 minutes of heat treatment is quite enough (during this period, the lamb will be covered with a crust).
2 minutes before readiness, add the parsley root, after rubbing it on a fine grater. Move the meat to a saucepan, fill with warm drinking water and send to the stove. Chop the onion, send it to the meat.
Salt, pepper the dish, add dry chili pepper, mix. Boil the broth for 1 hour, then add the washed or soaked rice. Pour in liquid adjika, tkemali, tomato paste.
Pass garlic through a crush, mix with chopped dill, parsley and cilantro (optional). Cook until the rice is ready, then let the soup brew under the lid for another half hour. Serve with a lemon wedge and olives.

rice (any, but not steamed) - 140 gr.
pork pulp - 550 gr.
walnut (peeled kernels) - 80 gr.
onions - 3-4 pcs.
tkemali - 50 gr.
garlic - 4 cloves
dill (fresh) - half a bunch
parsley (root) - 10 gr.
seasonings - to taste

Wash the pork, dry it with paper towels, chop the meat into cubes. Pick up an enameled pan, send the meat into the cavity and pour 2 liters. water. Cook the tenderloin over low heat for 2 hours. Throughout the languor, remove the foam with a slotted spoon.
After the specified period, remove the meat, pass the broth through 2 layers of gauze, then boil again. Send the pork inside, add pre-soaked or washed rice. Chop the onion, grate the parsley root, send the vegetables to the broth.
Add seasonings after 10 minutes. Fry the walnut kernels in a dry hot frying pan, mash in a mortar. Mix the mass with tkemali sauce, throw into the soup. Boil for a quarter of an hour, then add the garlic passed through the press.
Kharcho will be ready in 10 minutes. Grind the greens, sprinkle the finished dish with it, let it brew for half an hour. Some housewives prefer to supply the soup with pork with mint leaves and a slice of chili pepper.

Soup kharcho: a recipe for a slow cooker

garlic - 7 cloves
carrots - 1 pc.
vegetable oil - for frying
Bulgarian red pepper - 2 pcs.
onion - 1 pc.
chicken fillet - 0.5 kg.
long-grain rice (not steamed) - 150 gr.
potatoes - 3 tubers
fresh parsley - 1 bunch
fresh dill - 1 bunch
bay leaf - 5 pcs.
ground black pepper - on the tip of a knife
salt - to taste

Wash the chicken, dry with paper towels, remove the film. Chop the fillet into small cubes, peel and chop the onion into half rings. Chop the carrots into strips, do the same with bell peppers. Remove the skin from the potatoes, cut into cubes about 1.5 * 1.5 cm in size.
Rinse the rice 7-10 times until the water is completely clear. If desired, you can pre-soak the grains, leaving them for 4 hours in cool water. Pour vegetable oil into the multicooker bowl, send onion half rings, chopped carrots and bell peppers into the cavity.
Turn on the "Roast" mode, set the timer for 10 minutes. Stir constantly so that it does not burn. When the vegetables are fried, remove them, do the same with the chicken pieces (processing time is 25 minutes).
Mix chicken with vegetables, add chopped potatoes, rice. Pour with warm filtered water, set the "Stew" function, cook the soup for 1.5 hours. An hour after the start of cooking, add chopped herbs and garlic, salt, pepper, add spices.

Kharcho soup is considered to be a traditional Georgian dish. It is served at the table at family holidays, cooked as a main dish for lunch or dinner. Consider recipes based on pork, beef, lamb, fish, chicken. Add chili peppers at your discretion, replace tkemali with pomegranate juice, sour tomato paste or cherry plum sauce. Pour your favorite seasonings, the most suitable are marjoram, saffron, suneli hops, bay leaf, black pepper.

Video: principles of cooking kharcho

2016-11-28

Hello my dear readers! Remember the Georgian grandfather from the story of Grigory Gorin, who, despite all the tricks of the waiter, firmly stood his ground and politely demanded: "I want kharcho!"? So I repeated this simple phrase since the morning of today's rainy, gloomy day. Then she went crazy, turned to His Majesty Google for help and typed on the keyboard the phrase “how to cook kharcho soup is a simple recipe” understandable only to him.

To my greatest shame, kharcho, to this day I have not bothered to cook even once! Here's to God! This soup is traditionally cooked by my mother for the arrival of my son. She puts rice in the soup when her grandson drives up to her house - so that it does not get overcooked. What kharcho with overcooked rice?

"Googling" a little, I decided to turn to my mother - it's more reliable. My mother got the recipe from Aunt Nino, who is well known to readers of my blog (she was scattered all over the Internet like carrier pigeons). The kharcho recipe is really simple. It is necessary to stock up on the necessary products, and it will not be difficult to cook.

Many culinary blogs zealously argue about how to cook kharcho soup: beef or lamb, with or without nuts, with tomato or tklapi? Aunt Nino could cook it even with chicken and pork. And I did not see anything in this that would be at odds with the canons of classical Georgian cuisine.

I beg the connoisseurs of Georgian cuisine not to throw rotten tomatoes at me. I do not insist that my recipe is the real, correct, purebred and so on. Kharcho soup is no less varied than borscht. And one can discuss authenticity to the Turkish Savior, to the Greek calends and to the carrot charm.

A simple kharcho soup recipe

Ingredients

How to cook

We cut the meat into small cubes, chop the bones, cartilage, put it in a saucepan (with a displacement of 4 liters at least), pour about 2.5 liters of cold water. We put on medium heat, bring almost to a boil, reduce the heat to the smallest, remove the foam. Now we are free for 2.5-3 hours.

Cut the tomatoes in half, grate, discard the skin. Stew the tomatoes in a preheated pan over low heat for 10-15 minutes (the time depends on the humidity of the tomatoes). Add Imeretian saffron to the finished sauce.

If by some miracle you managed to get a real tklapi for kharcho soup,
then tear it into pieces, pour water (150 ml), simmer for 10 minutes over low heat.

The finished broth can be filtered, the meat is separated from the bones, the meat is put in a saucepan, poured with strained broth, put finely chopped peeled onion. You can skip all these filtering operations - we want to cook kharcho soup according to the simplest recipe, right? After 5 minutes, put the contents of the pan, bring it almost to a boil, put the washed rice, hot peppers cut in half, bay leaf. Cook for 10 minutes over low heat, add tklapi or tkemali, stir.

Season kharcho soup with finely chopped crushed garlic, crushed black pepper, season with salt, put the rest of the spices, chopped cilantro, turn off the heat.

My remarks

Take hops-suneli for kharcho soup instead of the indicated spices if you are sure of the quality of the product.
Hot pepper pods can be replaced with ground red pepper to taste. The soup should be very spicy, but not everyone likes that.
Which rice is best? I take the round Krasnodar. Take any short rice that cooks well, but does not boil into porridge.
In the absence of all acidic ingredients, take a good quality tomato paste (3-4 tablespoons).
Similarly, we cook pork kharcho soup (low-fat brisket with cartilage, shoulder on the bone) and with home-made chicken of “Balzac” age (not to be confused with the old one).
Do you put in walnuts? Aunt Nino put either rice or nuts. I like the rice version better.
Fresh shotis puri goes well with kharcho soup, khachapuri in a pan (recipe) is also very good.

How to cook lamb kharcho soup

This wonderful simple recipe was provided by my friend and co-author of the blog Vera Ramazova.

Ingredients

1 kg lamb on the bone (brisket, shoulder blade). From this amount, approximately 400 g of pure meat will be obtained.
3 handfuls of round rice.
1 large head of onion.
1 tablespoon of tomato paste.
2 tablespoons (with a slide) ground walnuts.
4-6 large cloves of garlic.
1 teaspoon ground coriander.
1 bunch fresh cilantro.
Red ground hot pepper (fresh or dry)
Salt.

Cooking method

Cut the lamb into cubes, pour 2.5-3 liters of water, cook the broth, as in the previous recipe. If the meat is too fatty, then let it boil for 3-4 minutes, drain the water, pour it again and cook like that, strain, remove the meat from the bone.

Irina Kamshilina

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

Mar 28 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 fragrant soup with meat. It is considered a traditional dish of Georgian cuisine. Even a child in Georgia knows how to cook this dish. To make it, you need beef, tklapi - a special dressing made from dried plum puree, and prunes. You will also need: rice, onion, 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 - pita bread, which is popularly called tklapi.

Of great importance is the choice of meat and rice. It is believed that the dish is best served from steamed fatty beef on the bone. Rice should be whole long-grain or round. Steamed and crushed rice should not be used.

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

You will need:

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

Cooking method:

After separating the meat from the bones and cleaning it from the films, cut into small pieces across the fibers. Put it in a pot and add water. Bringing the water in a saucepan to a boil over high heat, cook the meat for about 50 minutes over low heat.
Cooking rice. To do this, carefully sort and wash it. Then soak the rice for 15 minutes until it turns white.
Finely chop the onion, prunes, cilantro and garlic. We mix them with tomato paste, vegetable oil and suneli hops. We introduce tklapi and finely chopped hot pepper into the sauce.
We put the resulting mixture on a strong fire and sauté for 2 minutes.
Add rice to almost cooked meat. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
Add prunes and cooked sauce. At this stage, do not forget to salt.
Cook the soup for another 10 minutes over high heat.
Before turning off, we send finely chopped parsley and dill to the kharcho.
Ready soup should be infused for another 15 minutes.

Advice. If you could not find tklapi, then this seasoning can be replaced with tkemali sauce, which is sold in any supermarket. In the event that you do not 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 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 such soups. The process of its preparation is slightly different from the classic version.

To prepare chicken kharcho, you will need the following ingredients:

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

In the process of preparing a chicken variation of the dish, there are several points that you should be aware of.

For soup, only fatty pieces of chicken meat are used.
Cilantro is not recommended as a green. It is better to replace it with parsley, dill or celery.
At the end of the preparation of the sauce, flour is added.
For the rest, you should follow the recipe for making classic kharcho.