A thick, richly spiced beef soup with rice, ground walnuts, sour plum leather, and a lavish amount of garlic and fresh herbs — deeply warming and complex.
Ingredients
500g beef chuck, cubed
100g walnuts, ground
100g short-grain rice
2 large onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
30g dried sour plum leather (tklapi)
1 tsp blue fenugreek
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp dried marigold
Large bunch cilantro, chopped
2 bay leaves
Salt and black pepper
1 hot pepper
Instructions
1Place beef cubes in a large pot, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, skim the foam, add bay leaves, and simmer for one hour.
2Soak the dried plum leather in warm water until it dissolves into a smooth sour paste, then set aside for adding later.
3Saute diced onions in a separate pan until golden, add tomato paste, and cook two minutes before adding to the beef broth.
4Add rice and ground walnuts to the soup, stir well, and continue simmering for twenty minutes until the rice is fully cooked.
5Stir in the dissolved plum leather, garlic, all ground spices, hot pepper, and most of the cilantro, cooking five more minutes.
6Serve in deep bowls with remaining fresh cilantro on top, alongside crusty bread to dip into the thick, fragrant broth.
Did You Know?
Kharcho is one of the few Georgian soups that is meant to be thick enough to almost stand a spoon in — anything thinner is not considered authentic.