Kharcho soup

A rich broth

1. Kharcho is not quick to make. It even takes a long time if you put your heart into it. Don’t rush.

2. For kharcho, take a piece of beef with a marrow bone: it has enough fat, and the broth comes out richer.

   There’s a lot of debate about the cut of beef. Fatty brisket is usually recommended. Once a friend from the Caucasus let slip that brisket is better for khashlama, while for kharcho you should take a piece on the bone. I checked, and he was right. Notably, young veal is much worse here than mature beef.

   

3. In a large pot, bring 1.5 liters of water to a boil and cook the beef in it as a whole piece at a gentle simmer. Cook it for a long time, a couple of hours at least. The broth should be rich and “strong.”

   

4. Take the beef out of the broth, remove all the bones and cut the meat into pieces: big or small, it doesn’t matter. But I recommend cutting it into fairly large, portion-sized pieces.

5. Return the cut beef to the boiling broth.

   

Tkemali and vegetables

1. Peel the carrot and onions. Dice the carrot. In the Caucasus, carrots are not added to kharcho, so the carrot is up to you.

2. Slice the onions into thin strips, not the usual way but lengthwise along the onion. This keeps the fibers intact, and the onion won’t turn to mush while cooking.

   

3. Add tkemali to the boiling broth: this is the most important moment of the whole process. For two liters of soup, I recommend 2 heaping tablespoons of tkemali puree. Or cut up 100 grams of fresh cherry plums, pits removed. Or add a soaked 10×10 cm piece of tklapi. If you didn’t make tkemali or have already eaten it all, well, what can you do: add tomato paste.

   Speaking for myself, I add tkemali and just a little (1 tsp) tomato paste, purely for color: I like red kharcho. The broth should be noticeably sour. You can adjust the acidity later with pomegranate juice.

4. Let the broth come to a boil, and after 5 minutes add the diced carrot. Cook the carrot for exactly 10 minutes.

   

5. Add the sliced onions, bring to a boil and simmer, covered, over low heat for half an hour.

   

Walnut dressing

1. While the broth and vegetables are cooking, make the walnut dressing.

2. Sort through half a cup of walnut (50 g) kernels, carefully picking out any bits of shell and membrane.

3. Lightly toast the walnuts in a dry skillet until they smell pleasant; I recommend it.

4. Grind the walnuts in a mortar until smooth and you see traces of walnut oil.

   

5. Peel the garlic and crush it in the mortar, together with the walnuts if you like. It doesn’t really matter. Strictly speaking, you can simply grate the garlic.

   

Rice, spices and herbs

1. After the half hour, add the rice to the soup. Use long-grain rice. The rice should cook for exactly 10 minutes.

   Long ago, when I was little, my father added rice to the soup, and it cooked into the shape of the letter “X.” Ever since, I’ve had a firm association: soup with X letters is kharcho.

   

2. Only then add the walnut and garlic dressing and cook the soup for another 15 minutes. In that time the rice will be done. By the way, turn the range hood on full power, or the smell will draw everyone in the house and even the neighbors into the kitchen, and they’ll keep getting in your way.

   

   Have you noticed that we haven’t added any salt or spices yet? Only after the walnuts and garlic have cooked for 15 minutes do we start adding the spices.

3. Add khmeli-suneli, 1 tsp, and on top 1 scant tsp of coarsely ground coriander seeds. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

   

   Spices in this Georgian soup are the subject of much debate. Usually you need plenty of coriander: the seeds are coarsely crushed. You also need pepper, Imeretian saffron, bay leaf and coarsely ground hot pepper. Most cooks add the Caucasian spice blend khmeli-suneli, literally “dry spice.” It isn’t hot, but it is incredibly aromatic and spicy, slightly bitter. The blend varies a lot, but it usually contains dried herbs (basil, dill, mint, hyssop, marjoram, savory), hot red pepper, coriander, bay leaf and fenugreek. The “full” version is very complex; shortened versions are used more often.

   

4. Taste the soup for heat and make it hotter only to your liking by adding hot red pepper. Best of all, not powder but a hot pepper pod crushed in a mortar together with the seeds: a coarse grind.

5. After adding the spices, simmer for exactly 5 minutes over low heat, preferably stirring. Don’t turn the heat up: the soup is already quite thick and can easily burn.

6. Finely chop the bunch of mixed herbs: cilantro, dill, mint (if you have it), parsley. Let me put it this way: more herbs is better and tastier.

7. Add the herbs to the soup and let it simmer for another 2 minutes.

   

8. Let the kharcho stand off the heat for at least another 5 minutes. Only then is it ready.

   

9. Ladle the soup into bowls; everyone can add more heat and herbs to taste. Be sure to serve freshly baked lavash, and plenty of it. Or, much tastier, thin shotis puri, a crescent-shaped Georgian bread.