Soup; Kharcho; - a classic recipe for making at home

Soup "Kharcho" - a classic recipe made at home

Dear readers, I welcome you to the “In Your Own Home” website. Kharcho can rightfully be called the pearl of Georgian cuisine. This first dish has been around since time immemorial and continues to be beloved and popular. Natural vegetables, intoxicating spices and fresh meat are in perfect harmony with each other and make hundreds of thousands of people all over the world fall in love with kharcho.

A thick and very satisfying soup, every region prepares it in its own way. But the classic manufacturing recipe remains virtually constant. In this article for us, we will analyze the aspects and learn how to deliciously prepare a warming dish of the highlanders. Try it, you will certainly succeed, and your home tasters will ask for more.

Ingredients

Modern cooking provides a huge number of options for this invigorating dish. And the more recipes appear on the Internet, on TV (Television (Greek - far and Lat. video - I see; from the New Latin televisio - far-sightedness) - a set of devices for transmitting moving images and sound over a distance) -shows and in magazines, the more people ask themselves the question: how to create correctly? The following set of goods can be called unusual: beef, rice, plum paste, walnuts. The introduction of lamb and chicken is not prohibited, but is considered a deviation from normal production. I usually cook specifically with beef.

Classic recipe

Video recipe

Other common recipes

Surely you are accustomed to a slightly different set of goods? Especially if you remember the taste of kharcho in canteens and cafes. Well, let's look at some of the most common options.

With potatoes and carrots

Making a regular recipe with potatoes takes no more time than traditional kharcho. But the soup turns out to be the most satisfying and rich in taste. Especially if you add the Gypsy potato variety to it. This is a good first course for the whole family, as it allows you to quickly replenish energy reserves by immediately enjoying this slightly strong and spicy, but very pleasant soup.

With chicken wings

This kharcho comes in handy when you need to quickly prepare the first dish. Since the wings cook even faster than beef, the total cooking time is reduced by approximately half.

In addition, such broth does not need to be filtered.

For those who like to eat tasty food with the smallest set of goods, this soup option is suitable. In the absence of tkemali and plum paste, you can get by with tomatoes in their juice or paste.

From sturgeon and stellate sturgeon

Fish gives the first dish a completely different taste. It turns out to be the most unique. It is better to add specifically the freshest fish. But if it is not available, fresh frozen will do. You can cook kharcho on fillets, fins, and even the head. Something similar comes out in my ear.

Kharcho with fish is cooked quite quickly, approximately 1.5 hours.

From smoked goose

For this recipe, it is better to take the bird from a proven smokehouse, where the color and smell are acquired through natural smoking. The younger the goose, the faster the meat will cook. You can take a leg, a breast on the bone, or an unblemished fillet.

How to choose the right products

To choose high-quality and fresh meat for soup, you should go early in the morning specifically to the butchers at the market. The cutting takes place in front of you; you can ask to select a piece directly for kharcho.
In winter, finding fragrant greenery is not always easy. Therefore, you can freeze several chopped bunches of cilantro and parsley. The greens keep well, and you don’t need to defrost them before adding them to the soup.
Unique sauces can be found in state grocery stores or from grandmothers who prepare pickles and preserves. When choosing tkemali in a hypermarket, pay attention to its composition. Often the taste of vinegar or citric acid predominates in it.
Instead of clean meat, you can use beef ribs with a good meat layer. In this case, 700 g of product will be useful.
Plum paste can be replaced with tkemali sauce in equal proportions.
When choosing rice, pay attention that it is not chopped or steamed cereal. The most common varieties are suitable, including Jasmine and Basmati.

Conclusion

I often cook oriental soups, because they fill with fresh energy and are simply very tasty. Having dined on this first course, you want to create and experiment. How do you feel about oriental cuisine, replete with spices and herbs? Do you cook hot soups? Write in the comments, we will definitely read it!

Kharcho - classic recipe

According to the traditional recipe, kharcho soup must consist of 3 main components, which cannot be partially removed or replaced. After all, then the character of kharcho soup as a state dish with a special, unique taste disappears. The first distinctive feature is beef, the second is the use of tkemali, and the 3rd corresponding highlight is walnuts, without which almost all Georgian dishes are hard to imagine - that’s probably all. I’ll tell you and show you the intricacies of making kharcho according to a traditional recipe below.

Total cooking time – 1 hour 45 minutes
Active cooking time – 0 hours 35 minutes
Cost – average cost
Calorie content per 100 g – 65 kcal
Number of servings – 8 servings

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How to cook kharcho according to a traditional recipe

Ingredients:

Beef – 500 g medium fat (brisket)
Water – 3 l
Rice – 120 g
Onions – 400 g
Tomato – 300 g
Corn flour – 1 tbsp. (fine grind)
Walnuts – 100 g kernels
Ghee butter – 1 tbsp.
Tkemali – 150 g
Coriander – 1 tsp. ground
Cilantro – 10 sprig(s)
Parsley – 10 sprig(s)
Khmeli-suneli – 1 tsp.
Garlic – 5 teeth.
Cumin – 0.5 tsp.
Bay leaf – 2 pcs.
Allspice – 6 pcs. (peas)
Reddish hot pepper – 0.5 pcs. pod
Dark pepper - to taste (ground)
Salt - to taste

Manufacturing:

Wash the brisket thoroughly. According to the traditional recipe, choose meat with medium fat content for kharcho.

Cut the beef brisket into pieces (including cartilage, if any) weighing 25-30 grams - as for making goulash.
Choose a saucepan with a volume of approximately 3.9 - 4.2 liters. Place the beef pieces in a saucepan and add 3 liters of cool drinking water.

First, you need the water to boil well—it’s best to do this over high heat.
Afterwards, transfer the pan to the smallest burner or simply turn down the heat, making the flame the smallest. Cook the soup over this heat for 40-50 minutes, maybe an hour, constantly skimming off the foam.

Kharcho according to a traditional recipe. 5 best step-by-step recipes

Kharcho soup with beef, rice, spices and tkemali cream sauce came to us from Georgia. Its most distinctive and important highlight is its beef broth and thick texture. Although in some regions of Georgia, the recipe may differ slightly from the traditional one.

For those housewives who have not yet prepared this wonderful dish , it will probably become invaluable. Therefore, using ordinary and affordable ingredients, you can easily get a fragrant, appetizing and very satisfying first course. And since this dish belongs to the state cuisine of Georgia, this means that it must contain a huge amount of pepper and garlic.

So, my dear readers, in this article I will carefully tell you and show you how to correctly prepare kharcho according to a traditional recipe, which is exactly what was prepared and eaten in Russian times. I also suggest checking out my past recipes for Pea Soup with Smoked Ribs.

Kharcho according to a traditional recipe with chicken and potatoes

Ingredients:

Chicken fillet on the bone - 400 g
long grain rice - 100 g
potatoes - 3 medium pieces
onion - 1 piece
carrots - 1 pc.
garlic - 2-3 cloves
tomato paste - 2 tbsp. l
vegetable oil for frying
adjika - 1 tbsp. l
khmeli-suneli
salt and pepper to taste.

Manufacturing method:

First, we prepare the necessary products. Then place the chicken in a pan of boiling salted water and cook over medium heat.

In the meantime, let's take care of the vegetables and for this we need to chop the carrots and onions into small pieces and fry them lightly in a frying pan in vegetable oil.

Next, add tomato paste and stir until cooked for 2-3 minutes.

Half an hour has passed since the chicken fillet was lowered, now we put the rice in the same pan and leave it to cook for another 20 minutes.

10 minutes before readiness, add chopped potatoes into medium cubes.

As well as fried vegetables, chopped garlic, adjika, suneli hops, salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the soup from the stove, cover with a lid, let it steep for a while, and then serve.

Recipe for making pork kharcho soup with walnuts

Ingredients:

Pork – 500 gr
long grain rice - 150 g
onions - 2 pcs
medium tomatoes - 3 pcs.
tomato paste - 1 tbsp. l
shelled walnuts - 100 g
garlic - 4 cloves
hops-suneli - 1 tbsp. l
vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l
herbs, salt and pepper to taste.

Manufacturing method:

We wash the pork and cut it into medium-sized pieces. Place it in a saucepan with a thick bottom, add chopped onion in half rings and pour in vegetable oil.

Fry it for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, and then pour in approximately 2.5 liters of boiling water. And when the water in the pan boils, pour the thoroughly washed rice into it.

Next we do the frying and for this you need to remove the skin from the tomatoes, cut them into pieces and fry them in a frying pan with tomato paste in oil until soft.

It’s ideal to use sour tkemali sauce for kharcho, but you can also replace it with ordinary tomato paste, and you need to add a few drops of lemon or pomegranate juice.

We grind the walnuts using any method that is easily accessible to you, using a blender, passing them through a meat grinder or finely chopping them with a knife, and combining them with hops-suneli. And when the meat is ready, transfer the seasoned nuts along with the fried tomatoes into the soup.

Now chop the greens and garlic cloves and put them in the finished dish. Stir, remove from heat and let steep for 15-20 minutes with the lid closed. Then we pour it into plates and serve it to the table.

Savory beef kharcho

Ingredients:

Beef – 500 gr
rice - 100 gr
walnuts – 100 gr
tkemali sauce - 3 tbsp. l
garlic - 4 cloves
sweet pepper - 1 pc.
tomato paste - 60 gr
bay leaf - 3 pcs
hops-suneli - 1 tbsp. l
cilantro
salt and reddish pepper to taste.

Manufacturing method:

Place the washed beef in a pan, fill it with water, add a bay leaf and put it on the fire.

After boiling, reduce the heat, skim off the resulting foam and continue cooking over low heat for 1.5 hours.

After the time has passed, strain the resulting broth through a sieve, separate the meat from the bone, cut it into portions and return it back to the broth.

Next, add washed rice and finely chopped sweet pepper to the meat, the stalk and seeds of which have previously been removed.

To make the dressing, fry finely chopped onion in vegetable oil in a frying pan until light golden brown. Then add tomato paste and immediately mix everything well.

Now we grind the peeled walnuts in a coffee grinder or twisted through a meat grinder, combine it with the garlic that was previously passed through a special press. Transfer the resulting mass into a frying pan, stir and immediately remove from the stove.

Add the prepared dressing, tkemali sauce, khmeli-suneli, salt and pepper to taste into the soup.

All that remains is to add finely chopped cilantro, cover with a lid and remove the finished dish from the heat.

Let it brew for 10-15 minutes and serve.

How to properly cook kharcho with lamb in a slow cooker

Ingredients:

Lamb – 500 gr
rice - 150 gr
onions - 2 pcs
flour - 1 tbsp. l
walnuts - 1/2 cup
tkemali sauce – 100 gr
garlic - 5 cloves
dark peppercorns - 6 pcs
ground red pepper - 1/2 tsp
cilantro and parsley
salt to taste.

Manufacturing method:

1. Wash the meat thoroughly, remove the film and veins. Then cut into pieces no more than 2 cm wide.

2. Next, put it in the multicooker bowl, turn on the “Soup” program and set the time to 1 hour.

3. After the time has elapsed, after the sound signal, strain the broth into another pan and remove the meat.

4. Peel the onion and chop it into small cubes. Grease the multicooker bowl with vegetable oil, pour the onions into it and set the “Frying” program. Fry it, stirring occasionally, until translucent.

5. Now add pieces of meat to it and fry for another 5-7 minutes.

6. We thoroughly wash the rice, ideally a couple of times, add it to the meat and fill it with broth. Turn it on and set the time for half an hour.

7. Meanwhile, while the rice is simmering, peel the nuts and finely chop them along with the garlic, after which we pour the whole mass into a dish.

8. Towards the end, add spices and tkemali sauce. And at the moment when the set time has expired, add the chopped herbs and let it brew for about 15 minutes, during this period of time it should be saturated with all the smells of the added ingredients.

Georgian kharcho with tkemali (video)

Is it possible to cook real Georgian soup at home? It's definitely possible! I advise you to cook it for those who are just starting to get acquainted with this cuisine. This particular dish is quite ordinary, fragrant and very tasty!

Classic soup-kharcho

At first, kharcho soup is a dish of classic Georgian cuisine, but has long been popular far beyond the borders of its own homeland. There are a huge number of recipes and different options for making kharcho. In our description, kharcho is a classic recipe. This soup is for those who love something special - pleasantly spicy, with tomato sourness and the smell of garlic, herbs and spices, it will relieve even the most severe hunger, because it contains meat and rice. Meat is rich in protein and, if not completely lean, fat, and rice is a source of carbohydrates and microelements.

Lamb kharcho is popular among a large number of people all over the planet. The basic recipe involves using beef in the base of the soup, but lamb turns out no worse. Lamb meat is a specific product, and it has many fans. Correctly prepared lamb kharcho soup will leave an unforgettable memory and you will certainly want to cook it again.

So, classic kharcho - step-by-step recipe with photos

Ingredients

Lamb 0.5 - 1 kg;
Rice 100 - 150 g (0.5 cup)
Onions 200 g (2 medium onions)
Carrot 1 medium
Tomatoes 0.4 kg (2 - 3 pcs)
Garlic at least 5 cloves
Hot pepper
Spices for kharcho
Salt
Dill, parsley, cilantro (choose based on preference)
Parsley root (not essential, but better for an even richer flavor)

We choose the right meat for kharcho

You can prepare lamb kharcho according to the traditional recipe, using both ribs and pulp. With all this, the cooking time until the meat is cooked will change. But still, the neck part, shank (lower part of the front leg) or shank (lower part of the back leg) of the ram will be impeccable. The loin (ribs), shoulder (the top part of the front leg) and the ham (the top part of the back leg) have more fat, so the soup can turn out very fatty. And of course, you need to take into account the age of the animal. The older the lamb, the longer it will have to be cooked.

It is better to use chilled meat, because when defrosted, the product loses its nutritional value, and with repeated freezing and thawing it is completely transformed into something indigestible. In addition, it is easy to find its properties in chilled lamb, which cannot be said about frozen lamb, of course, unless you have frozen it yourself.

Cooking a rich, fragrant broth with lamb

The meat needs to be washed, poured with cool water and cooked. (There is another method - with preparatory frying of meat, but usually the meat is cooked immediately). As soon as it starts to boil, you need to remove the foam, otherwise the broth will turn out cloudy, with flakes. If the moment is missed and the foam boils over, the situation can still be saved. To do this, pour a glass of cool water into the bubbling broth. After boiling again, the foam will rise to the surface again, and it can be removed - the main thing is, again, not to miss the moment and not spoil the future kharcho at the very beginning of the process. The fact is that when the temperature rises, the protein coagulates, protein flakes are formed, which rise to the surface. The fat in the meat also floats to the surface. If you add fat to the broth and continue to cook it, saponification of the fat occurs. The broth takes on a nasty taste and becomes cloudy. Therefore, when skimming, it is important to remove as much fat as possible from the surface of the broth.

After the broth boils, you need to skim off the foam and fat, reduce the heat and simmer over low heat for 1 - 1.5 hours, until the meat just separates from the bones.

Recipe for properly sautéing vegetables

In cooking, there are precise rules regarding cutting: if round grains are used, everything is cut into cubes, if vermicelli - into strips. There are, of course, exceptions, for example - pilaf. After all, there is rice and the carrots are cut into strips, but this does not spoil the dish in any way, and most people do not even think about the shape of the tenderloin. In this sense, kharcho meets the standards of cooking.

Cut the onion and carrots into 0.5*0.5*0.5 cm cubes and fry in vegetable oil. There is a simple way to remove the skin from a tomato. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes so that the water completely covers the fruit. After 10 minutes, drain the water and the film can simply be removed, leaving only the mature pulp. Cut the tomatoes into cubes or chop with a blender, and place them in a deep frying pan where the onions and carrots are fried. Simmer over low heat for about 12 - 15 minutes. Properly sauteed tomatoes get a bright red color, because they contain fat-soluble coloring substances, which, during the frying process, when the tomato juice evaporates, run into vegetable oil. This is how a catchy, burning color comes out. In kharcho cooked according to a traditional recipe, it is customary to add the freshest tomatoes, but you can always experiment, for example, add tomato sauce or paste, pickled tomatoes or tomatoes in their juice. This is for those who love the richest, thickest tomato taste.

Add tkemali sauce, khmeli-suneli seasoning, finely chopped reddish hot pepper or crushed in a blender to the finished sauté. You can use ready-made seasoning specifically for kharcho soup. It is sold in markets, at spice stalls. When purchasing, you can consult a dealer and adjust the spiciness of the set by adding reddish pepper.

At what point do you add salt?

Most likely, the lamb is ready by the time the vegetables are sautéed. Transfer the contents of the frying pan into a saucepan with the bubbling broth and bring to a boil again. According to the rules of cooking, salt should be added specifically at this moment, but nothing terrible will happen if you add salt at the very beginning, when you just set the broth to cook, or at the end, when all the ingredients are ready.

It is important to correctly calculate the amount of salt. The most experienced housewife constantly understands how much salt needs to be put in her favorite pan. For beginners, add 10 grams of salt per 1 kg (1 liter). In any case, it is better to put less than to over-salt - over-salt on the table! Particular care should be taken when salting kharcho, because many spices are added to it, which in themselves enhance the taste.

Although it is usually recommended to salt the dish at the very end, in practice this results in salty broth and lean vegetables with meat, the taste is uneven. It is normal to create this 20 - 30 minutes before the end of cooking.

If the meat is cooked in a large piece, you need to take it out, let it cool slightly, cut it into small pieces and put it back into the bubbling soup.

Add rice

Now is the time to add rice to the pan.

Before cooking, rice must be washed and soaked in cool water for 1 - 1.5 hours. You can cook using 2 methods:

boiling it in broth is the usual method
cook separately, wash and add to the finished broth

The difference between these methods is that in the first case, the rice water remains in the broth, and it becomes thick and rich. At the same time, almost everyone doesn’t like the sticky, stretchy mixture, so there is a second option. To be fair, it should be noted that even separately boiled rice will still hold the broth together after some time. Naturally, the broth mixture depends not only on the cooking method, but also on the rice itself. You can use both round and long-grain rice, just not steamed.

In our case, the rice is cooked in broth. After adding it, increase the temperature, and when it boils, reduce the heat again. Let it simmer (not boil, but gurgle) for about 8 - 10 minutes. If you prefer the second method of making rice, then immediately after the broth with rice boils, you need to turn it off.

Add garlic and herbs

Before turning off the heat, at the very last stage, when the soup is already one hundred percent ready, add garlic and herbs. Garlic cloves must be grated on a small grater or passed through a garlic press, mixed with finely chopped herbs, mashed a little with salt and added to the soup.

Naturally, a real, classic recipe for kharcho requires the addition of cilantro. But often for people who are not accustomed to the spicy greens given to us, an extreme touch spoils the entire memory of the dish. Therefore, when choosing greens for kharcho, it is important to take into account the tastes of your own household. It is impossible to spoil the soup by adding parsley and dill, which are the most common for most people.

After the actual cooking is finished, the soup needs time (40 - 50 minutes) to infuse and be saturated with the smells of herbs, spices and garlic.

What to serve with kharcho soup

The soup must be served with fresh bread. Naturally, it would be logical to serve Georgian flatbread - matnakash, or narrow lavash, put a gravy boat with your favorite adjika, and add the freshest chopped greens to the plate. But if you wish, you can add a slice of lemon. This will give the dish some piquancy - an option for those who like sourness.

When you inhale the spicy smell, enjoy the beautiful taste, the realization comes that your time was not wasted and this can be repeated more than once!

Soup; Kharcho; - a classic recipe for making at home

Soup "Kharcho" - a classic recipe made at home

Ingredients

Classic recipe

Video recipe

Other common recipes

How to choose the right products

Conclusion

Kharcho - classic recipe

Choose where to save the recipe:

Would you like to keep this recipe for yourself? Select where:

How to cook kharcho according to a traditional recipe

Kharcho according to a traditional recipe. 5 best step-by-step recipes

Kharcho according to a traditional recipe with chicken and potatoes

Ingredients:

Manufacturing method:

Recipe for making pork kharcho soup with walnuts

Ingredients:

Manufacturing method:

Savory beef kharcho

Ingredients:

Manufacturing method:

How to properly cook kharcho with lamb in a slow cooker

Ingredients:

Manufacturing method:

Georgian kharcho with tkemali (video)

Classic soup-kharcho

So, classic kharcho - step-by-step recipe with photos

Ingredients

We choose the right meat for kharcho

Cooking a rich, fragrant broth with lamb

Recipe for properly sautéing vegetables

At what point do you add salt?

Add rice

Add garlic and herbs

What to serve with kharcho soup

Would you like to keep this recipe for yourself?
Select where: