Soup "Kharcho" is a national dish of Georgian cuisine, which is distinguished by its special thickness and spicy, pungent taste. The classic kharcho is made from beef, but many variations of this dish allow the use of pork and other types of meat.
History and description of the dish
The classic kharcho recipe uses exclusively beef meat. Even translated from the Georgian language, the name of this dish sounds like "beef soup". In addition, for many decades, it has used the real Georgian sauce "tkemali" - a sour plum-based sauce.
However, in the modern world, many housewives prefer to buy simpler and less expensive products, so dozens of variations have appeared with replacements of the above-named ingredients for ordinary tomato paste and pork. Nevertheless, even with the most ordinary products, this dish has an interesting and pleasant taste, and all thanks to their successful combination. The sourness of tomato paste and tomatoes, combined with the pungency of garlic and the spiciness of Georgian spices, create an amazing taste sensation.
This article provides a step-by-step description of one of the simplest Kharcho recipes, so that you can easily prepare a delicious first course by following the steps and following some tricks. For clarity and simplicity, each stage is accompanied by a photograph.
Ingredients
To prepare this version of delicious Georgian soup, you will need the following products:
- Pork meat (it is better to take boneless pulp) - 500 grams;
- Tomatoes - 2 pieces;
- Golden onions - 2 pieces;
- Rice - 100 grams;
- Garlic - 2-3 large cloves;
- Tomato paste - 1 tablespoon;
- Fresh cilantro greens - to taste;
- Seasoning "Khmeli-suneli" - 1 teaspoon;
- Salt, pepper, herbs - to taste.
Step by step recipe
1. First of all, prepare all the food, measure out the required amount of rice and spices. Any rice can be taken, both with long and round grains. It will take about 100 grams, a little less than half a glass.
2. Rinse the pork thoroughly, place it in a large 3-liter saucepan and pour 2.5 liters of cold water over it. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, reduce the power a little and cook the pork for at least 1.5-2 hours until it is fully cooked and the broth is rich. Do not forget to constantly remove the resulting foam from the broth so that it remains clean and transparent. Remember that you should never add salt to the broth at this stage! Soups are salted and seasoned at the very end, when all the ingredients are ready, otherwise the meat can become tough and very dry, which will greatly spoil the impression of a hot first course.
3. Peel the onions, rinse them thoroughly under cold water and cut into small cubes. To prevent the onion from causing watery eyes, rinse with cold water and a knife, and for the best effect, the onion itself can be removed before cutting into the freezer for a few minutes. This recipe uses two medium-sized onion heads, but if it is very large, you can use one large onion.
4. Wash the tomatoes under cold water. Then, the peel should be removed from them, for this, make shallow cuts on each tomato with a sharp knife, as shown in the photo below, then put the vegetables in the sink, scald them with boiling water and immediately pour cold (or better - ice, from the refrigerator) water over them.
5. After the actions taken, the peel is easily and quickly removed from the tomatoes. Peel it off, and then use a serrated knife to remove the core from the tomato. Cut the peeled tomatoes into small cubes.
6. Next, you need to chop the garlic. Do it in any way you are familiar with: you can pass it through a garlic press, grate it on a fine grater, or cut it by hand into very small cubes. Fans of a spicier taste can increase the number of cloves, because real kharcho should be spicy and pungent.2-3 cloves give an average, optimal amount of pungency in the broth so that it is felt, but does not burn the tongue.
7. Rinse the rice thoroughly under plenty of cold water. At first, it will be cloudy, with a white tint, because starch will be washed off the surface of the rice grains. Repeat the procedure until the water after the rice is perfectly clear, otherwise the starch can ruin the appearance of the finished dish. When the meat is done, it will need to be removed from the broth to cool slightly and ready to be sliced.
8. After that, pour the washed rice into the broth and start frying the vegetables. Heat a small amount of vegetable oil in a skillet and fry the chopped onion in it until light golden brown.
9. When the onion has acquired the desired color and delicious sweetish aroma, add chopped tomatoes, minced garlic and 1 tablespoon of tomato paste to it. Stir and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes.
10. At this time, slice the slightly cooled pork meat. Choose the size of the pieces based on your taste preferences. In some families, soups are served alongside large portions of meat inside the broth. A more classic option involves grinding into small cubes.
11. Pour fried vegetables, chopped meat, Khmeli-suneli seasoning, salt and pepper to taste into the broth with ready-made rice.
12. After this step, you can add a bunch of fresh cilantro to the soup, but many cooks prefer to add fresh herbs to the soup just before serving so that it does not darken. Pour portions into bowls, season with herbs. Homemade Georgian kharcho soup with pork is ready.
