Excursion to Georgian cuisine
Like any popular national dish,kharcho has penetrated into the cuisines of many nations, mixed with the traditions of Russian and Ukrainian cuisine, and has become related to sauces on the French menu, because every housewife who approaches the cooking process creatively adds many of her own additions to the dish, so much so that the classic kharcho has changed beyond recognition. Sometimes even the name itself is confusing: “kharcho” - is it he or it? What kind of meat is it made from and is potato one of the required ingredients? All these questions can be answered only by delving a little deeper into the intricacies of Georgian national cuisine. Since “dzerokhis khortsi kharshot” literally means “beef for soup” or “beef soup”, it would be more correct to classify it as masculine (soup - he) and cook it from beef. Although it is not beef tenderloin that is taken, but brisket or knuckle, which gives the soup the appropriate broth. The word "kharcho" in Georgian is pronounced as "harsho" and is derived from the verb "harshva" - to cook. It is impossible to determine when kharcho soup began to be prepared in Georgia, because, despite the small area of this state, even in each region there is its own recipe for kharcho: kharcho in Georgian, kharcho in Megrelian, not to mention each individual house. Megrelia is one of the large historical and ethnographic regions of the western part of Georgia with the main city of Zugdidi. It must be said that the cuisine of the west and east of Georgia differ significantly from each other in their cooking traditions. It is western Georgia (Abkhazia in particular) that is recognized as the ancestor of hot Georgian sauces, since it was under the influence of Turkey for a long time. Although, most likely, the spices used are not so much hot as aromatic. Spicy is not typical of Georgian cuisine, it occurs only in dishes of certain mountainous regions. But as for the types of meat, poultry recipes are more popular in the West. The traditions of Georgian national cuisine do not limit the population in the choice of meat, which is typical for Muslims. Beef (kharcho), pork (muzhuzhi), lamb (chanakhi), chicken (chokhokhbili) - all are used equally. Georgian cuisine is poor in soups, and with the exception of several types of kharcho and such varieties as khashi, chikhirtma, shechamady and tataryakhni, there is nothing more to name. All of them are distinguished by a thick consistency, few components, but a very rich and dense broth. The density is achieved not by vegetables, but by adding an egg component mixed with the sour base of the Georgian sauce. It must be said that a piquant sourness is characteristic of almost all Georgian soups, and kharcho is no exception. Georgian soup should be cooked sour, sour-fat or sour-egg. Nuts play a big role in Georgian cuisine, so it is not surprising that real kharcho implies the obligatory use of walnuts. They are also included in most national sauces, without which the Georgian table is simply unthinkable.
The classic soup-harcho recipe
All the above mentioned subtleties will helpcook the soup according to the rules of national Georgian cuisine. To cook kharcho soup correctly, you will need 1 kg of beef brisket per 2.5 liters of water. Replacing it with another type of meat, if you intend to cook real kharcho, is unacceptable. The meat should be poured with cold water, brought to a boil and cooked over moderate heat for about 2 hours, even if it is cut into portions. It should be said that meat for kharcho should not be boiled, but stewed with a small amount of liquid, and the rest of the water should be added later. When the delicious aroma of beef signals readiness, you can send onions fried in vegetable oil (3-4 heads). It is customary to add a little rice flour to the onion, which makes real kharcho thicker. The next mandatory component, which is included in real Georgian soup - is rice (half a glass), but in no case steamed or crushed. It is washed several times and put into the pan after the meat is ready and taken out of the broth. Rice needs 15-20 minutes. Therefore, about 5 minutes before the rice is ready, walnuts (1 cup) are put into the broth. They need to be prepared in advance, because they need to be ground. This can be done with a coffee grinder (not very finely), a mortar or a regular rolling pin, which is used to knead the nut slices by rolling. Today, many housewives successfully use a blender for this purpose. It must be said that the meat is taken out to make it easier to strain the broth, but if you cook without straining, then it is not necessary to take it out, especially if it is already cut into pieces. Some of the spices are added along with the rice, and some are left for last. For the first batch, you will need: onions, parsley root, cilantro seeds, bay leaf and black pepper. Lastly, add tklapi - a pastila made from sour tkemali plums or cherry plums. A piece measuring 3*20 cm will be enough. It is crushed and poured with a small amount of broth or boiling water in advance to dissolve. It is better not to wait for it to dissolve on its own until smooth, but after some time, when the pastila softens, rub it through a sieve. For the second addition of spices, you need to prepare leaf parsley, cinnamon, saffron, red pepper and hops-suneli. All this is added to the kharcho soup along with tklapi and cooked for about 5 minutes. This is not the end of the "witchcraft" with spices. After the soup is removed from the heat, add cilantro, basil and chopped garlic. The recipe also requires simmering the dish for 10-20 minutes. Now the simplest traditional kharcho soup is ready to eat.
What to do if there is no clay
It is clear that the question immediately arises: where is it?get hold of tklapi if this ingredient is not sold outside of Georgia. Of course, anyone who has recently been on holiday in those parts can bring such a valuable trophy with them. Pastila rolled into a tube can be stored for quite a long time, unless you eat it as an independent dish. For those who are very sensitive to the classic recipe and want to cook the soup correctly, we can recommend a simple recipe for natural Georgian sauce "tkemali" from cherry plum or dogwood, although these fruits are also rare in Russia. You need to start preparing the sauce while the beef is boiling. For this, you will need 1 kg of green cherry plum. It should be cooked over low heat in a container with a thick bottom until softened, adding ¼ cup of water to the fruit. The finished fruit is thrown into a colander or sieve, thereby getting rid of excess juice, although it should not be thrown away. The softened cherry plum is thoroughly rubbed through a sieve until it becomes puree and cooked a little more until it becomes thick sour cream. The tkemali recipe contains many more ingredients. These are garlic (1 head), dried dill (2 tablespoons), coriander (3 teaspoons), red pepper (1.5 teaspoons), dried mint (2 teaspoons). All of this must be mixed in one container with chopped garlic and crushed in a mortar, then added to the cherry plum sauce. The recipe does not contain salt, but if you plan to store the sauce for a long time, you can add a teaspoon to this amount. To prepare kharcho, you will need 5-6 tablespoons of tkemali sauce added to sautéed onions. This amount can easily replace tklapi in broth without compromising the taste. You can also look for ready-made tkemali sauce on sale - this will be the simplest option. In the absence of "tkemali", it is not forbidden to cook using a large number of tomatoes, which are peeled and simmered together with fried onions for 5-7 minutes. A successful recipe with a sourness, which is given by pomegranate juice or lemon, can also be found in culinary advice. Of course, this is no longer a classic, but still very close to Georgian traditions. Adding pomegranate juice does not mean that you should refuse to add tomatoes, they are also present in the soup. Just pour in half a glass of juice along with the second spice dressing. You can also add quarters of lemon or a few drops of its juice.
Soup-harcho outside Georgian traditions
Not everyone treats it with deep reverenceto the original recipes and is guided by the principle - and so very tasty. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are kharcho recipes in the Ukrainian or vegetarian style, as well as "Georgian" kharcho with fish. For the Ukrainian version, pork ribs, potatoes, carrots and regular shashlik tomato sauce are acceptable, although kharcho connoisseurs will call it simply rice soup. Traditional Georgian cuisine is meat in various variations, but vegetarian cuisine is not at all alien to this people, which is expressed mainly in the variety of salads, fresh fruits. And why not cook vegetarian kharcho soup? For this, the classic recipe with limited frying, spiciness and meat is quite suitable. In this case, you should start cooking by frying onions and tomatoes or tkemali sauce in butter. Then boil the contents of the frying in water with the addition of rice and spices. You will get quite a tasty, rich soup. For lovers of exclusivity, we can advise you to cook this soup with the addition of prunes, which, in fact, corresponds to the idea of sweet and sour sauce. The recipe contains all the ingredients that a real kharcho does. Prunes are added to the soup at the same time as nuts. An interesting recipe is one where the sour base is represented by tomatoes with the addition of dry wine, which will require only 1 tablespoon. It is correct to add it even before putting in the rice. With the advent of multicookers in everyday life, you can increasingly find recipes intended for cooking dishes with their participation. Cooking kharcho in a multicooker is easy. First, fry one meat in the baking mode, and then together with onions and tomatoes. This procedure will take about 40 minutes. Then add all the other ingredients and cook in the "stewing" mode. After the signal of readiness, add greens and leave for a few more minutes in the heating mode. This way, kharcho will turn out like real kharcho.
Councils of nutritionists and cooks
Georgian cuisine is undoubtedly rich inspices, but experienced cooks recommend learning to observe the measure in their use, so that the soup is not spicy, but aromatic and spicy. This effect can only be achieved through experience, or by following specific advice. For example, cilantro is quite specific, and not everyone perceives its excess in the form of ground seeds with delight, and even more so the aroma of its greenery. Therefore, you need to be especially careful when cooking for the first time using this spicy herb. It is important to follow the sequence of laying all the components, and you can experiment with their quantity. Nutritionists do not advise those who suffer from diseases of the digestive system and kidneys to abuse the use of kharcho soup. We must give credit to this dish in that it is quite healthy due to herbs and nuts, and even those who want to lose weight can enjoy it with pleasure, since hot spices speed up metabolic processes. If you add celery to other greens, it will also promote fat burning. And the moderate spiciness and dizzying aroma will do their job in the fight against the onset of a cold.
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