Kharcho soup: classic recipe, ingredients, cooking secrets

January 5, 2019
First meal
Olga Myrzak

An incredibly tasty, satisfying and aromatic first course, all this is kharcho soup. This dish is the pride of Georgian cuisine. It is prepared for family, loved ones and friends, it is treated to dear guests, and in national restaurants it is always on the menu. If you decide to explore Georgian cuisine, start with kharcho.

Required Components

There are a huge number of variations in the preparation of this dish. New spices and products appeared in it. But the recipe for real kharcho soup has mandatory ingredients that simply must be present in the soup:

Beef meat - in Georgian “kharcho soup” means “beef meat in broth”. But many people use pork, chicken and lamb. Although in the classic recipe, kharcho is prepared from meaty beef brisket on the bone, which produces a strong, rich broth.
Tkemali and tklapi sauce. Classic beef kharcho should not contain tomato paste. Instead they put tklapi - dried cherry plum paste of the Tkemali variety. But there is an alternative - tkemali sauce. It is much easier to buy it in stores. Just when choosing a sauce, make sure that cherry plum is the main component. If you don’t find either one or the other, feel free to replace these components with pomegranate juice. Below is a photo of tklapi.

What kind of rice is needed for kharcho soup? The round-grain, starchy variety of this cereal is best suited. In the classic kharcho recipe, this is the kind of rice that is used.
Another essential ingredient is walnuts. They are the ones who add zest to the soup and not only it. After all, Georgians love to add them to various dishes.
Seasonings for kharcho soup. Khmeli-suneli or, in Russian, “dry mixture” are added to this soup. It contains a bouquet of herbs and spices that are so necessary for cooking. Finding the original seasoning is quite difficult, so you can take them separately: cardamom, cumin, coriander, fenugreek, saffron, basil, cilantro and hot pepper.

Cooking kharcho soup correctly: preparing the meat

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

Classic beef kharcho

In order to prepare this soup, you need the following set of products:

Beef meat on the bone - 400 grams.
Tklapi - palm-sized leaf or tkemali sauce - three tablespoons.
Rice - four tablespoons.
Garlic - one head.
Walnuts - half a glass.
Khmeli-suneli - one teaspoon.
Coriander and parsley - one large bunch each.

The algorithm for preparing kharcho according to the classic recipe is as follows:

We wash the meat, place it in a saucepan, fill it with two liters of water and set it to cook. When everything boils, leave the heat on low and cook for two hours, skimming off the foam.
When the meat is ready, separate it from the bones and put it back into the broth.
Wash the rice and put it in the broth. Also take a third of the greenery and tie the bunches with thread.
The rice is cooked for about a quarter of an hour, during which time you need to crush the nuts and fry them without oil in a frying pan, stirring constantly so that they do not burn.
Chop the garlic and chop the herbs.
Now add tklapi or tkemali, a third of chopped herbs, walnuts, garlic and suneli hops to the boiling broth.
Turn off the heat and let the soup brew for about 15 minutes. Pour classic beef kharcho into plates. Sprinkle with the remaining herbs and invite everyone to the table.

Which rice is better for kharcho?

Any housewife who has not encountered preparing Georgian dishes will ask what kind of rice should be for kharcho. That's the right decision. Only following all the rules will allow you to get a delicious soup. Let's find out what kind of rice is put in kharcho.

How much rice should I put in kharcho? Traditionally, two handfuls of cereal are added. Moreover, it should be starchy, which means you can do without numerous rinses. It remains to find out what kind of rice is needed for the kharcho soup, so that the soup turns out rich and thick.

Recommendations on how to cook and what kind of rice to use for kharcho:

It is advisable to use round and oval varieties of rice. Use the one you like best. There are no clear criteria.
Before cooking begins, the rice is sorted. This allows you to get rid of possible debris and broken grains.
The next step is a one-time rinse. The washed rice is soaked for 20 minutes.
Washed rice that has been infused can be used for cooking.

Please note that soup is usually prepared in a two-liter saucepan. For 2 liters of water use 200 grams of rice. If you plan to make soup for a large family, then the amount of cereal increases proportionally. It’s easy to calculate how much rice is in a 3-liter kharcho. 300 grams is enough. And for a 5 liter pan, prepare about 0.5 kilograms of long or round rice.

The first step is to cook the broth for at least two hours for beef (a little less if using pork or chicken). Moreover, the foam is removed in a timely manner. Fried onions and favorite spices are also added. Only after this rice is added to the meat broth. The algorithm cannot be violated.

What kind of rice is best to use for kharcho?

Making kharcho soup at home with rice usually requires adding chopped walnuts along with the rice. Moreover, three tablespoons of crushed kernels is enough. They are responsible not for satiety, but for zest.

The last step is adding tkemali sauce or tomato paste. It is important for many to know how long to cook rice in kharcho. It needs to be brought to readiness. After this, turn off the fire and leave the soup for another 10 minutes. At this stage, add finely chopped herbs and garlic. After infusion, the dish is ready to eat.

Step-by-step recipe for kharcho soup

The following version of the dish is common in western Georgia. It can be served as a thick soup or as a main course. There is no tklapi required here, which makes preparation easier. Plus, this kharcho soup is spicy and will appeal to lovers of piquancy. An interesting feature is the absence of rice.

So, what is needed for kharcho soup:

Beef pulp - one kilogram.
Tomatoes in their own juice - 400 grams.
Onions - seven heads.
Walnuts - 80 grams.
Dry red wine - 150 milliliters.
Tomato juice - five tablespoons.
Butter - 30 grams.
Adjika - three tablespoons.
Parsley - one bunch.
Pepper mixture - one tablespoon.
Khmeli-suneli - two teaspoons.
Saffron - one tablespoon.
Coriander beans - 10 pieces.
Salt - to your taste.
Vegetable oil - for frying.

Prepare the soup like this:

Cut the meat into cubes, pepper, coat with vegetable oil, leave for 15 minutes, and then fry.
Finely chop the onion and fry in a mixture of butter and vegetable oils until golden brown. Now add salt, pepper and pour in the wine.
We add the fried meat to the wine, add a little salt and cook until the alcohol evaporates.
Grind the tomatoes and add to the meat along with tomato juice. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Crush and chop the coriander and nuts, finely chop the parsley.
We add saffron, half of the parsley, adjika, coriander, suneli hops and nuts to the meat. Let it simmer for five minutes and turn it off. Add the remaining herbs and let it brew for a quarter of an hour.

Red bean soup

The following step-by-step recipe for kharcho soup contains an ingredient such as red beans. The soup turns out very nourishing and tasty.

We need:

Beans - 170 grams.
Beef brisket - 350 grams.
Onions and carrots - one piece each.
Large fleshy tomatoes - four pieces.
Walnuts - 40 grams.
Garlic - four cloves.
Khmeli-suneli - one teaspoon.
Tkemali - three tablespoons.
Salt, ground black pepper - to your taste.
Bay leaves - three pieces.
Vegetable oil - for frying.
Parsley - one bunch.

Cooking method:

Fill the beans with water and leave to swell overnight.
Rinse the meat and cook over low heat along with the bay leaf for two hours. Don't forget to skim off the foam.
Cut the onion and carrots into cubes and fry until golden brown, finely chop the garlic, chop the nuts, blanch the tomatoes and grind them into puree.
Separate the meat from the bones, cut it and return it to the broth.
Rinse the beans and place them in the meat. Also add nuts, tkemali sauce, roasted tomatoes, garlic to the broth and simmer for 30 minutes. Salt and add seasoning.
Turn off the soup, add chopped herbs and let simmer, covered, for about 20-30 minutes.

The best choice of rice for the national Georgian dish

Kharcho is a Georgian soup that has a spicy, distinctive taste. There are no difficulties in preparing it. But there are specifics that must be observed. They can be traced at every stage of cooking. First you need to choose the right ingredients.

Features of the choice of ingredients:

Meat. The classic recipe uses beef. It must be with a bone and fatter. These are the main requirements for meat.
Tkemali. Without this it is impossible to cook kharcho. Moreover, we are not talking about the sauce, but about plums. They can be used either fresh or dried. The latter tend to be stored for a long time, so you can purchase the ingredient in advance. Just 2 pieces of this ingredient are enough to give the dish its signature taste.
Rice. Starchy varieties should be chosen. The steamed or crushed version will only spoil the soup.

To make a delicious kharcho, you will need to take crushed nuts. They are cleaned and crushed with a rolling pin until a characteristic nutty aroma appears. For a richer flavor, they can be fried. Then all the nutty flavor will be revealed in the soup.

The main part of kharcho soup is spices. Their variety is quite wide. If bay leaf and black pepper are available in every home, then other spices will have to be purchased separately. These include cumin, coriander, and cardamom. You will need to take a legume with a specific smell - fenugreek. You also need to buy basil, cilantro, hot peppers and saffron. All spices are freely available.

It is the right combination of all ingredients that will make the soup aromatic and unique. You will need to know exactly how much seasoning to add so that the taste is not too spicy or too bland.

The traditional recipe requires two handfuls of rice. This volume is needed to provide the necessary consistency. The product itself must contain a large amount of starch to make the soup thick and rich.

Kharcho with tomato paste

It is better to take the classic kharcho recipe as a basis and adapt it to those products that are accessible and familiar to us.

So we need:

Rice, walnuts, pomegranate juice - half a glass of each product.
Beef - one kilogram.
Tomato paste and flour - one tablespoon each.
Carrots - two pieces.
Onions - three heads.
Garlic - five cloves.
Coriander, basil, parsley - one bunch each.
Parsley root and hot pepper - one each.
Salt, hops-suneli - to your taste.
Bay leaves - four pieces.
Peppercorns - 10 pieces.

Cooking method:

Pour two liters of water over the meat, add a bay leaf and cook over low heat for about two hours, skimming off the foam.
Cut the carrots into cubes, grate the parsley root, cut the onion into half rings and fry it in vegetable oil. Then add flour diluted with a spoon of water. Simmer for a couple of minutes.
The meat must be separated from the bone, cut into portions, and placed in the broth. Also add carrots and cook for 10 minutes. Then send in the pre-washed rice.
While the rice is cooking, grind the nuts in a blender along with the pepper.
Finely chop the cilantro, garlic and basil. Cut the hot pepper into slices. If you want a spicier soup, do not remove the seeds.
After the rice has boiled for 10 minutes from the moment of boiling, add fried onions, parsley root, nuts and pepper and tomato paste to the total mixture. Cook for five minutes.
Now add pomegranate juice, salt and suneli hops. Simmer for another five minutes and add hot pepper, garlic, and herbs to the almost finished soup. Cook for a couple more minutes over low heat.
Turn off the soup and let it brew for a quarter of an hour under the lid.

How to cook kharcho soup at home

If you have the right ingredients on hand, you can prepare real kharcho soup at home. Cooking time is approximately 2 hours 30 minutes. To prepare a classic version of homemade kharcho soup you need to take:

500 g beef on the bones;
2 pcs onions;
6 tbsp. l. round rice;
100 g walnuts;
250 g tomato sauce;
30 g each of tkemali and adjika;
3 cloves of garlic;
20 mg vegetable oil;
10 g each of suneli hops and paprika;
herbs, salt, peppercorns and bay leaf to taste.

Cooking sequence:

The beef with the bone is thoroughly washed, divided into pieces, placed in a saucepan and filled with 3 liters of water.
The meat is cooked over medium heat. The resulting foam is removed with a slotted spoon, then the heat is reduced, salt is added (it is recommended to add a small amount of salt, since adjika can be salty) and continue to cook under a closed lid until fully cooked, about 2 hours.
The onion is peeled, washed, cut into cubes, sauteed in a frying pan in vegetable oil until transparent.
Add tomato sauce, adjika, plum sauce (tkemali) to the onion and mix. The resulting composition is simmered over low heat for 10 minutes.
The finished meat is removed from the broth. Add roast and spices to the strained broth, check the soup for salt, and add salt if necessary.
It is recommended to soak the rice in cold water for 15 minutes before adding it to the soup. Rice can also be added unsoaked by rinsing it several times in cold water.
The beef is separated from the bones; if a large piece of meat was used, it is divided into small portions and placed back into the soup.
Walnuts are fried in a dry frying pan, then crushed in a mortar.
The greens are washed, drained in a colander to allow excess water to drain, then finely chopped and mixed with chopped garlic.
Add nuts and a mixture of herbs and garlic to the soup, bring to a boil and turn off the heat. The kharcho is left to stand so that the flavors mix well.

Classic kharcho soup can be served with Georgian bread (shotis-puri). This is a hearty dish that can be served on a holiday table, especially when lovers of distinct tastes and spicy foods gather at the table.

Lamb soup: recipe

How to cook lamb kharcho soup? Simply and easily. You just need to buy the right ingredients and follow the recipe exactly.

Young lamb meat - half a kilogram.
Rice and walnuts - 100 grams each.
Bell pepper and carrots - one piece each.
Onions - three pieces.
Tkemali sauce and tomato paste - 60 grams each.
Coriander and parsley - one medium bunch each.
Salt, ground red pepper, suneli hops - to your taste.

Step-by-step preparation steps:

Trim the fat and veins from the meat and cut into portions. Do not throw away fat.
Pour water over the meat and put on fire. When the water boils, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about an hour, skimming off the foam.
Finely chop the onion and bell pepper, grate the carrots on a coarse grater.
Melt the fat in a frying pan and place the onions and carrots there, add a little salt and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Now add bell pepper, tkemali, tomato paste, simmer for a few more minutes and remove from heat.
Chop the greens and chop the nuts.
After an hour, remove the meat from the pan and strain the broth.
Return the meat to the pan and pour in the strained broth. We also throw rice in there.
After 10 minutes, add the roast to the soup.
After about five minutes, add salt, seasonings, nuts, cilantro and parsley to the mixture. Cook for another 10 minutes.
After finishing cooking, turn off the heat and let it brew for a quarter of an hour.

Kharcho soup with butter

The soup according to this recipe can be prepared with chicken meat.

Ingredients:

Pork – 1 kg
Rice – ½ cup
Garlic – 1 head
Butter – 50 g
Onion – 1 pc.
Carrots – 1 pc.
Tomato paste – 2 tablespoons
Greenery
Salt

Preparation:

Pour water over the meat and put on fire, do not forget to skim off the foam. Rinse the rice well and add to the meat, boil for about 15 minutes and add salt to the soup.
Cut the carrots into strips, dice the onion, cut the garlic into small pieces. Heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the prepared vegetables in it.
At the end add tomato paste, mix well and add garlic. Simmer this dressing for 7 minutes over low heat. Then add the roast to the soup.
Chop the herbs and a few cloves of garlic. Add these greens with garlic before serving.

Prune soup

You will need the following ingredients:

Lamb - 500 grams.
Prunes - 200 grams.
Rice and tomato paste - 100 grams each.
Garlic - four cloves.
Onions - two heads.
Salt, tkemali, adjika, cilantro, khmeli-suneli - to your taste.

Cooking method:

Cut the meat, add water and cook for an hour, skimming off the foam.
Rinse the prunes and chop finely. Send it to the meat half an hour after the broth boils.
After an hour, add rice, finely chopped onion and tomato paste heated in a frying pan.
After 15 minutes, salt the soup, add seasonings, tkemali and garlic passed through a press. Simmer for a couple of minutes and turn off the heat.

Kharcho with vinegar and tomatoes

Ingredients:

Lamb on the bone - one kilogram.
Rice - 100 grams.
Fresh tomatoes - six pieces.
Carrots and onions - one each.
Cilantro - medium bunch.
Garlic - a whole head.
Apple cider vinegar - one teaspoon.
Ground red and black pepper, salt, coriander, suneli hops to your taste.
Ghee butter - two tablespoons.

Cooking method:

Cut onions and carrots into rings.
Finely chop the cilantro and garlic.
Make a puree from the tomatoes.
Cut the meat into small pieces and fry in oil in a deep pan for about 10 minutes until lightly browned.
Next, pour vinegar over the lamb, add vegetables and all the spices, and stir. Simmer for a couple of minutes.
Now fill the mixture with tomato puree and add half the greens. Bring everything to a boil.
Fill everything with two liters of water, put the heat on low and cook for an hour from the moment it boils.
About 10 minutes before cooking, add well-washed rice.
At the end of cooking, add the garlic and the remaining half of the cilantro. Turn off the heat and leave the soup covered for a quarter of an hour.

Proportions of water and rice

The main feature of kharcho soup is its taste. It is moderately spicy with sour notes. The dish itself is quite aromatic due to the abundance of spices. Tomatoes are always used in kharcho. The rice should be ready, but not overcooked.

You can get properly prepared kharcho soup only if you follow all the proportions. Only the correct ratio will make it possible to obtain a quality dish.

The initial stage of preparing kharcho resembles ordinary rice soup. But it is quite thick, with a lot of meat and rice, which is not typical for a regular stew. Typically, 100 g of rice is used for 0.5 liters of water. In some places the kharcho will resemble kulyash. You can add certain spices to the broth almost immediately.

Seasonings that can be immediately added to the soup:

Bay leaf;
Ground black pepper;
Hot red pepper – you can use it either ground or not.

The signature taste of kharcho is ensured by frying. For this you can use olive, sunflower and butter. You need to fry the tomato paste with the addition of broth and spices. The main thing is that all seasonings are spicy.

It is better to first remove the meat, cut it into pieces and place it on a plate. Thanks to this, its color will be preserved and it will look better on a plate. Herbs and sour cream can serve as an addition to kharcho. The ingredients are placed in a bowl as a decorative component. You can also add olives.

To prepare traditional Georgian soup, you need starchy rice. It should be placed in a dish based on the amount of water. The rice can be long or round, but it doesn’t matter which one you take here. But still, the last option is determined to be the best. The main thing is that it is well boiled. The average cooking time for rice is 20 minutes. These tips will help you cook delicious kharcho.

Pork and potato kharcho

If you don't like beef and lamb, you can make soup with pork. We will need:

Pork on the bone - 350 grams.
Tomato paste - 60 grams.
Potatoes - five pieces.
Onions and carrots - one piece each.
Garlic - four cloves.
Salt, black pepper, suneli hops, dried basil - to your taste.

Let's prepare it like this:

Soak the meat in water for half an hour, then place it in a saucepan and pour two liters of boiling water. Cook for 15 minutes.
Cut the potatoes into strips and add to the broth, let them simmer for 15 minutes.
Finely chop the carrots and onions, pour in tomato paste and simmer for 10 minutes in a frying pan. After this, add to the soup.
After 10 minutes, add spices, salt, grated garlic and cook for another seven minutes. Kharcho is ready!

About classic kharcho

Additionally, for real Georgian kharcho soup you will need: Cilantro - a few sprigs Tkemali - 5 tablespoons Walnut kernels - half a glass Onions - 1 more head Carrots are not used for cooking classic kharcho

1. Thaw the beef, if it is frozen, wash it and place it in a saucepan. 2. Pour 2 liters of water over the beef, add salt and pepper, and cook for 2 hours. 3. Remove the cooked beef from the pan, separate from the bone and cut into cubes; return to the kharcho pan with boiling broth. 4. Cut the onion into half rings along the onion. 5. Cut the carrots into cubes with a side of 1 centimeter or into circles half a centimeter thick. 6. Place tkemali, carrots and onions into the broth. 7. Cook the soup for half an hour. 8. Prepare walnut dressing: place walnut kernels in a heated dry frying pan and fry for 5 minutes over medium heat with constant stirring. Next, grind the nuts (you can use a garlic press), add chopped garlic to them. 9. Place rice in the kharcho, after 10 minutes add walnut dressing. 10. Cook the kharcho for another 15 minutes. 11. Add 1 tablespoon of khmeli-suneli, put 1 bay leaf, add salt and pepper to the soup, stir. 12. Cover the soup with a lid and let sit for 10 minutes.

Serve the soup with lavash or other Georgian bread.

Chicken soup

Products:

Chicken - 300 grams.
Onions - three heads.
Carrots - three pieces.
Rice - 100 grams.
Cinnamon - a quarter teaspoon.
Salt, hops-suneli - to taste.

Prepare this way:

Let the meat cook and after 20 minutes remove it, cut it into small pieces and return it to the broth.
Grind the onions and carrots into a puree and mix with tomato paste.
Rinse the rice well and add to the meat.
After 15 minutes, add vegetables, salt, hops and suneli to the meat, cook for another 5-7 minutes.
Turn off the stove and leave the soup to steep for a quarter of an hour.

How to cook and when to add rice to first courses?

Before adding rice to broth or semi-finished soup, it must be rinsed . This is done to remove starch and dust from the surface of the grains, which should not get into the first one. Otherwise, the dish will turn out cloudy and a little viscous, which is only acceptable in some cases (for example, Kharcho).

Usually the cereal is boiled for 10-15 minutes. This is when we are talking about salted water. However, in broth, especially strong broth, or milk, grains behave differently. Therefore, rice must be added 15-25 minutes before the end of the process so that it has time to become soft, but not overcooked. The time will directly depend on the variety and desired grain structure.

Potatoes, zucchini, green peas, herbs, sweet peppers, boiled eggs and seafood go best with rice. As for meat, the ideal taste can be achieved by boiling the cereal in chicken or beef broth.

Adviсe

To make the kharcho tasty, take note:

Instead of tkemali and tklapi, use pomegranate juice.
Use young meat.
If you come across old meat, soak it for half an hour in vodka or water with vinegar.
Add garlic at the end of cooking so that it does not lose its flavor.
If the broth is cloudy, simply strain it.
If you don’t really like the smell of lamb, add a little lemon juice at the end of cooking and boil the soup for about five minutes.
Be sure to let the kharcho brew under the lid for about 15 minutes so that all the ingredients reveal their flavor.

By following these easy and simple tips, you will get delicious and aromatic kharcho.

How long to cook rice in kharcho soup

When it is clear what the rice for kharcho should be, you need to find out exactly how long to cook the cereal. Of course, it all depends on the ingredients chosen, including the type of meat. If you are interested in the classic recipe with beef, then the total cooking time for the dish is 2-2.5 hours. The actual cooking of rice should not take more than half an hour.

Many are sure that it is necessary to boil the rice separately and then add it ready-made to the already turned off soup. You can choose the appropriate option for how to cook kharcho with rice and garlic to achieve the ideal taste for yourself.