How to cook pork kharcho soup
How to cook pork kharcho soup?
Kharcho soup is a fairly popular hot soup. To make this roast dish, pork or beef, tomatoes and rice are used.
The traditional variation of the soup is made specifically from beef. This meat has a fairly neutral taste and produces a thick and fragrant broth. But there is another quite popular version of Georgian soup. In Georgia, kharcho soup is made from pork pulp. Rice is also added to this dish and the finished dish is seasoned with walnuts. The smell of this dish is extraordinary!
To properly prepare pork kharcho soup, you need to use a fairly large amount of spices, various fresh herbs and sour tkemali sauce, which will give the soup a piquant flavor. By the way, tkemali sauce is a common dressing for Georgian dishes.
Next, we will carefully describe the recipe for how to prepare pork kharcho soup at home.
Ingredients for making kharcho soup
The recipe below can be used without configuration or you can add options at your own discretion. It should be noted that this hot dish implies a huge number of options. Therefore, there is no single universal recipe for how to properly cook pork kharcho. Below is one version of this tasty and fragrant soup. It is very popular in Georgia and the rest of the Caucasus countries.
To make a Georgian version of pork soup for 12 servings, you need to take the following products:
- 500 grams of pork fillet.
- 100 50 grams of short grain rice.
- Onions - two pieces.
- Tomato - three pieces. Also, when making soup, you need to use one tablespoon of tomato paste.
- 100 grams of finely ground walnuts.
- Four cloves of garlic.
- One tablespoon of khmeli-suneli seasoning.
- Pepper. It is better to use dark peppers and little reddish ones. This will give the dish some spice and zest. It would be better to grind it immediately before use.
- Salt about one tablespoon.
- Oil for frying. You can eat vegetable, olive. Some recipes contain advice to fry meat and onions in butter.
- Greens to taste. They eat cilantro - a classic green of the Caucasus states. Also parsley, young leeks.
- 5 l. water.
Georgian pork kharcho soup: the best recipe
Cooking kharcho soup in Georgian is quite simple. Half a kilogram of pork fillet, tomatoes, rice and vegetables will come in handy. This hot dish is also very popular because it is very accessible to anyone. Prepare according to the following steps:
- The meat must be thoroughly washed. It is better to do this under running water, but filtered water will do.
- Next, the pork should be dried. For this you will need paper towels.
- Then you should cut the fresh meat into medium-sized pieces. Pieces measuring three and a half centimeters will be perfect.
- Place the finished pieces of meat into a saucepan with a thick bottom.
- You will need to pour vegetable oil into the pan.
- You should also finely chop the onion. Place the finely chopped onions in the pan with the pork in advance. In order for the onion to lose its corresponding bitterness, it must be doused with boiling water in advance. Next, the onion should be blanched. This needs to be done in at least 2 minutes. This manufacturing method will free this vegetable from its corresponding aroma. Onions should be added to the soup so that it gives the dish a subtle taste and smell.
- After this you need to stew the pork with onions. Carefully mix the pork, making sure that the meat does not burn. Then the meat needs to be fried for approximately seven to ten minutes. Then simmer with onions until the pieces of meat are lightly fried and have a golden crust. On average, this procedure lasts about 30 minutes.
- Then 5 liters are poured into the fried pork with onions. water.
- After this, the soup is brought to a boil. The kharcho is actually ready!
- Then you need to specifically wait until the water in the pan boils and add rice to it. Rice should be thoroughly washed in advance until the water in which the cereal is washed is completely clear. You can finish rinsing the cereal after the rice itself acquires a pearl color and the water is clear in color. Some people prefer to add other cereals instead of rice, for example millet. Naturally, this is a matter of the cook’s taste preferences. But in the traditional version of kharcho, specifically short-grain or long-grain rice is used.
- As soon as the water boils, you need to let the soup cook along with the pork, onions, and rice. And you yourself need to prepare the frying for the soup in a frying pan in advance.
- To make frying, you should take a thick-walled frying pan. Specifically, pour sunflower or olive oil into the frying pan. Then the oil should be carefully heated until the appropriate smoke and aroma appears.
- At this point, the freshest tomatoes are blanched separately. To do this, they are doused with boiling water. Then the softened skin is removed from the tomatoes. After the skin is removed from the tomato, the tomatoes need to be finely chopped and fried in hot vegetable oil in a frying pan. You should fry the vegetables until the excess moisture has evaporated and the tomatoes are covered with a proper crust.
- You need to add sour sauce to tomatoes fried in a frying pan - Tkemali sauce is perfect. But if you don’t have such a sauce, you can use regular tomato paste. It will also give the kharcho soup the necessary sourness. The Georgian sauce will also color the broth bright orange.
You can also add the classic Georgian seasoning - cumin - to the roast. It will give the roast some color and an unusual smell. Zira is considered a classic seasoning, which is added to most dishes of Caucasian and Georgian cuisine. You can also add it to kharcho soup. For 5 l. It is recommended to consume no more than 10 grams of dried cumin in water.
Advice! You can also add a few drops of pomegranate or lemon juice to the frying for Georgian soup, the main thing is not to overdo it. Otherwise, the broth will turn out to be too sour and will lose its unique taste.
While the tomatoes are roasting, you need to prepare the walnut kernels. To do this, they should be finely chopped using one of the following methods: grind with a blender or finely chop with a knife. The method used to grind walnuts depends on the abilities and preferences of the cook. Walnuts can be crushed in a mortar or passed through a meat grinder. The crushed kernels should be placed in a small glass container. Then add khmeli-suneli seasoning to them. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
After the pork and rice or other grains are completely ready - this is approximately thirty to forty minutes - you need to add frying to the soup. Also walnuts with hops-suneli seasoning. The soup should be thoroughly mixed. Salt and add ground pepper to taste.
Also, in addition to dark pepper, you can use reddish hot ground pepper, which will add piquancy to the dish and add some spiciness to it. The main thing is not to overdo it! Then Georgian pork kharcho with rice should be brought to a boil. After the soup has completely boiled and cooked, remove it from the stove.
To make kharcho soup at home, you will need products that are accessible to anyone! When serving a hot dish, you should decorate it with various greens. To do this, cilantro, parsley and other greens need to be carefully washed and dried. Then you should finely chop the greens with a knife. Chopped greens must be sprinkled on top. Additionally, you can serve sour cream or fresh cream with Georgian pork kharcho.
The freshest chopped garlic also goes well with kharcho soup. To do this, finely chop a clove of garlic or pass it through a garlic press.
After the hot dish has been infused for several hours, it becomes truly tasty! To do this, the finished dish must be covered with a tight lid. If necessary, you can wrap it with a towel on top.
In this way, a kind of heat bath will be created. Only then is it recommended to consume it as food. The soup should steep for at least half an hour. After this time, the kharcho soup should be poured into plates and served. Bon appetit!
In conclusion, it must be emphasized that there is no single recipe for how to properly cook kharcho with pork. This is a fairly versatile soup. It can be prepared in completely different ways. It all depends on the taste preferences of the cook. Above, only one of the options was described for how to cook pork kharcho at home.
Hearty pork kharcho soup
Pork kharcho soup turns out to be very tasty, rich and even similar to a traditional dish.
- Total cooking time – 2 hours 0 minutes
- Active cooking time – 0 hours 20 minutes
- Cost – average cost
- Calorie content per 100 g – 209 kcal
- Number of servings – 5 servings
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How to cook Hearty pork kharcho soup
Ingredients:
- Pork – 500 g
- Rice – 100 g
- Onions – 220 g
- Garlic – 4 teeth.
- Tomato paste – 2 tbsp.
- Cilantro – 2 tbsp.
- Vegetable oil – 2 tbsp.
- Salt - to taste and seasoning
- Chili pepper - to taste
- Water – 2 l
Manufacturing:
About seasonings. I take suneli hops and ground coriander.
If you have Narsharab, be sure to add a spoon.
Chopped walnuts are also welcome. It’s just that my kids ask me not to add them.
About the pork: I always go for the meaty pork belly on the ribs. The meat is far from lean, so the soup turns out rich, and this is exactly what is needed.
Cilantro is a must for me in this soup. I never replace it with anything. I have fresh frozen. You can also add chopped parsley.
When cooking meat, you can add bay leaf.
Let the meat cook. After boiling, skim off the foam.
Cook for about an hour, then remove, cool slightly and cut into small pieces.
Fry diced onions in vegetable oil.
Add tomato paste (or tomato sauce) and fry everything together for another two minutes.
Add salt, rice, chopped meat to the meat broth and simmer for about fifteen minutes. Afterwards comes the onion and tomato frying. It also comes with seasonings such as suneli hops, chili pepper and coriander.
Cook over low heat for another 10 minutes.
Finally, add chopped garlic (I pass it through a press) and cilantro. If there is narsharab, add a tablespoon to the soup.
After this, mix, taste everything and add any of the suggested seasonings as desired.
Turn off the heat, close the lid and let the soup sit for another 10 minutes.
After the soup sits, all the flavors become related, be sure to try it again. It is necessary - edit, no - everyone to the table!
Kharcho soup - a savory recipe of pork with rice and tomato paste
From the outside (if viewed from afar), this dish may resemble borscht. Reddish color, colorful islands of greenery, tomato smell... But from the first spoon it becomes clear that this is a completely different soup: rich, unexpectedly nutty, with rice, and also without potatoes.
Kharcho is a thick, satisfying dish, but does not weigh down the stomach. It was made in Georgia. But for almost all people “originally from the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also the Soviet Union - a state that existed from 1922 to 1991 in Europe and Asia), ” this is one of the most beloved table soups. Once upon a time, it was often served in student canteens. At the moment, you can order it in Georgian restaurants... Or cook it at home, especially since it is not difficult.
By the way! Kharcho is prepared not only from pork, but also from veal, lamb, and chicken. Smoked ribs are also suitable. If desired, you can add potatoes, cilantro and parsley roots, and a reddish pepper pod to the soup. And, to give it a few more zest, pour a couple of tablespoons of dry snow-white wine or a huge spoon of adjika into the roast (tkemali is also suitable).
Recipe for pork kharcho soup with rice at home
Ingredients:
- About 900 ml water
- 300 g pork (you can take a piece with a bone)
- 1.5 or 2 onions (it all depends on the size)
- 2 carrots
- 1.5 small spoons of tomato paste
- 1-3 tomatoes
- 75 g rice (parboiled in the photo, but you can use regular rice)
- 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
- 1.5 teaspoons of khmeli-suneli (you can also take an additional spoon of utskho-suneli)
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 1 to 2 teaspoons salt
- a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil
- several sprigs of fresh cilantro (coriander)
Yield : about 6 servings, in other words plates.
Manufacturing:
Fill the meat with water. Add onion (a little), carrot (you can not have a whole root, but just a piece)
Boil the meat until done. This will take about an hour. After this, take the meat out onto a plate, allowing it to cool, and strain the broth. Boiled vegetables can be thrown away
Fry onions and carrots in oil
Add tomato paste and a few tablespoons of broth
After this, put the tomatoes, cut into small cubes, into the frying pan.
Simmer vegetables until soft. Now the frying is ready
We wash the rice. Separate the meat from the bones and cut into small pieces
Squeeze out the garlic. Chop the nuts with a knife or grind them in a mortar. In the first case, they will turn out to be large pieces and will be felt in the soup (chopped nuts are specifically shown in the photo). Secondly, they will better “merge” into the kharcho almost unnoticed, making its taste even more intense.
Mix all the ingredients and place the pan on the stove. Cook until the rice is ready.
Finely chop the cilantro, or add a pinch of the greens given to us into each plate when serving, or immediately pour it all into the pan 2-3 minutes before it’s ready, allowing the greens to boil in the pan.
The dish can also be served with Russian herbs (fresh parsley, dill). But specifically, dried cilantro, or even better, fresh cilantro, will give the soup those unforgettable notes of “restaurant”, “foreign”, in a word - Georgian cuisine.
Video recipe for savory Georgian kharcho soup
Be sure to prepare this amazing soup - it will allow your family not only to get gourmet pleasure, but also to touch the age-old traditions of delightful, friendly Georgia. At the same time, you can cook kharcho for future use - for a certain number of days. Letting it sit in the refrigerator will make it even tastier.
Pork kharcho soup: step-by-step recipe
Kharcho soup is a common Georgian dish, the name of which translates as “beef soup.” But the use of other types of meat is also allowed. So, the recipe for pork kharcho soup with rice is in no way inferior to the recipe using beef. On the contrary, the dish becomes most savory and fragrant during the cooking process, and it is also economical, because pork is cheaper than beef.
Before following the traditional recipe for kharcho with pork rice, it is important to make sure that this dish will appeal to guests and household members. The main richness of Georgian state cuisine is characterized by a spicy, slightly spicy taste due to the addition of a huge amount of spices. If you like such recipes, you can safely start making soup.
Ingredients needed
The base of traditional kharcho is properly selected meat. It does not have to be stale or frozen. When choosing pork in a store, you must follow several rules:
- Choose tender pink meat. Very black pork is already ancient, and pale pork is not filling enough, it will be difficult to cook a rich broth from it. The cut meats are in eye-catching red or pink colors and are artificially colored.
- Pay attention to the thickness of the selected meat. It doesn't have to be very flexible. After pressing, fresh meat quickly restores its shape, unlike old meat, which may have already expired.
- Do not take meat ingredients with a strong pork smell (animal smell). This smell will be difficult to remove during washing and even after heat treatment. “Smelling” meat will spoil the kharcho, giving it a nasty smell.
- Carefully inspect whether water is escaping from the meat. There should not be a lot of water in the cut areas. If it occurs, it means that the selling company has artificially added weight to the product using ice.
Advice: You should obtain meat products for kharcho from proven manufacturers. It is best to contact stores immediately after the delivery of fresh products, which usually occurs on weekday mornings.
For kharcho soup for 7-8 servings, it is enough to purchase 500 grams of pork. It doesn’t matter which part is suitable, as long as it doesn’t have a lot of fat. You can use ribs to make soup on the bone, but more often you get cuts that can be conveniently divided into a huge number of cubes.
- tomato paste - 4 tablespoons;
- 2 liters of water;
- long grain rice – 120 g;
- walnuts – 70 gr;
- onions – 4 pieces;
- unrefined sunflower oil – 4 tablespoons;
- dark pepper in the form of peas - about 10 pieces;
- reddish hot ground pepper - 0.5 tsp;
- hops-suneli – 2 teaspoons;
- fresh parsley - a bunch;
- cilantro - a bunch;
- dried garlic in powder form;
- crushed cinnamon – 1 pinch;
- bay leaf - from 1 to 3 pieces to taste;
- corn flour - 1 tablespoon.
Some people cook kharcho with potatoes. But the unique recipe does not involve the use of potatoes.
Tomato paste can be purchased in a small jar, weighing about 70 grams. If you don't like this product, replace it with canned tomatoes in your juice. To give the kharcho a rich orange color, 3-4 crushed tomatoes will be useful.
Garlic can be consumed in the form of not only powder, but also granules. You should not put the freshest cloves in the soup, because they will greatly change the taste of the dish. Garlic granules should only set off the rest of the seasonings.
If corn flour is difficult to find in stores, corn grits can be used. It must be ground in a blender and sifted before adding to the dish.
It is not allowed to overuse bay leaves, because this seasoning can give the soup a specific smell. If the leaves are large, adding 1 piece is enough.
70 grams of walnuts is approximately equal to 8 shelled nuts.
The unique homemade recipe includes tkemali paste (made from dried plum fruits) and dogwood. But over time, the step-by-step recipe changed, and the criterion reached the Russians in a different form. Because tkemali and dogwood fruits are difficult to obtain, they were excluded from the list of ingredients. Instead of plum paste, tomatoes are used in Russian recipes. If you can find a unique sauce, just add 2 tablespoons to the broth 10 minutes before removing.
To prepare aromatic pork kharcho, it is important to follow the step-by-step recipe with photos and videos, and not just select the right ingredients. The manufacturing method is presented below.
Unique recipe with photo
Before creating the dish, it will be useful to prepare a frying pan, a saucepan and strain the water in advance. For convenience, you can use a brush to distribute the oil. To finely chop onions, you will need a board and a well-sharpened knife. A home mill is used to grind peppercorns. When these devices are ready, you can start creating the dish. By following the presented recipe step by step, you can make a hearty meat soup for the whole family. The dish is easy to prepare even for novice cooks.
- Pour 2 liters of water into the pan. Cut the thawed pork into cubes approximately 3 x 3 cm in size. Place them in cool water. Cook the meat for about 40-50 minutes over medium heat. During this period of time, the pieces of pork will cook and a broth will appear. If you want to create soup on the bone, it is enough to cook the meat for 30 minutes. You can add celery root to the water for flavor.
- When about 40 minutes have passed since you started cooking the pork, skim off the pork fat from the surface of the water. It is needed for sautéing onions. Wash the vegetable thoroughly, cut into half rings or small cubes and place in a frying pan greased with vegetable oil and pork fat.
- Wash the rice and add to the broth. Set the timer for 30 minutes: that’s exactly how long it takes to cook it.
- Add a tablespoon of cornmeal to the onions. Fry for about 2 minutes. When the onion reaches a golden color, add crushed dark pepper and walnut powder. You also need to add dried coriander and a bay leaf. After another half a minute, you can transfer the contents of the frying pan into the cooking broth.
- Prepare tomato paste, suneli hops, crushed reddish pepper and cinnamon. When, according to the timer, the rice has been cooking for 20 minutes, add the listed products to the pan.
- After another 5 minutes, add the garlic. Let the soup simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the stove and leave covered for 15 minutes.
The dish is ready. Salt, which is added to taste, can be poured into it already when serving.
Tip: If you want the pork to retain its juiciness, it is better to add salt to the broth approximately 30 minutes after you start cooking the meat.
The recipe for Georgian potato soup varies little. The usual step-by-step recipe with potatoes is presented in the video. It indicates that kharcho can be created with the addition of sausages.
Serving options
If you want to create the atmosphere of a real Georgian dinner, you should pour the soup into the deepest clay plates. They need to be warmed up in advance by putting them in the microwave for a minute. A few pieces of boiled pork are usually placed at the bottom of the plate, which is filled with broth.
The soup is topped with the freshest greens, cut into large pieces - cilantro and parsley. It is better to prepare an ordinary appetizer in the form of finely chopped onions, doused with wine vinegar and matsoni drink. Onions soaked in these seasonings are placed in the soup, and the freshest Georgian lavash is dipped in the remains of matsoni and wine vinegar.
Fact: Bread and other snacks are not served along with regular kharcho.
In addition to the fact that properly prepared kharcho is very tasty and simple, Georgians believe that it prolongs life and provides the body with essential vitamins (a group of low-molecular organic compounds of relatively simple structure and varied chemical nature) . The dish can be eaten as a main dish, because it perfectly fills you up for several hours in advance. The soup is often cooked on the go: it tastes especially delicious in a metal cauldron.