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Classic Kharcho soup with rice

Classic Kharcho Soup with Rice

Make this famous soup quickly and easily! This recipe gives you a classic kharcho with beef and rice — a delicious, rich, hearty Georgian soup. You can adjust how thick it is by adding water, and you can make it with different kinds of meat.

Maria

Recipe author

Watch the video

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Water

2.5

Beef (bone-in)

400

Tomatoes

Garlic

Onion

Celery stalk

Rice

Fresh herbs (I use dill)

Allspice

Basil (dried)

0.5

Paprika

0.5

Khmeli-suneli

0.5

Chili pepper (a small piece)

Salt

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 43 % 3 g

Fats 14 % 1 g

Carbohydrates 43 % 3 g

32 kcal

GI: 33 / 67 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

How do you make kharcho soup? Measure out the ingredients you need. My meat is bone-in, but you can use a boneless cut. My rice is white and short-grain. The blend of spices is very important for this dish — use all of them.
Step 2:

Trim the meat of anything you don't need, rinse it under running water, and pat off the excess moisture. If necessary, cut the meat off the bone, as I did. You can cut it into medium-sized portions.
Step 3:

Put the meat, bone and all, into a pot (I'm using a pressure cooker). Add the whole peeled onion, the celery stalk, the allspice, and salt. Pour in the water and bring it to a boil on the stove, skimming off the foam from time to time. Cook over low heat for 1.5 hours (if you have a pressure cooker, cook for 50 minutes).
Step 4:

Strain the finished broth so it stays clean and clear.
Step 5:

Fry the cooked meat in a skillet in vegetable oil for 5 minutes, then pour 3 tablespoons of the broth into the skillet, cover it with a lid, and simmer for 10 minutes over low heat.
Step 6:

Pour boiling water over the tomatoes and slip off their skins. Cut the tomato flesh into cubes and add it to the meat. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
Step 7:

Peel the garlic and put it through a press.
Step 8:

Add the fried meat and vegetables to the pot of broth. Put the pot on the stove and bring its contents to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes.
Step 9:

Rinse the rice well and drain off the excess water. Add the rice to the broth. Cook the soup for 10 minutes.
Step 10:

Add the spices and garlic to the soup. Cook for another 3 minutes and take it off the heat. Let the soup rest, covered, for about 10 minutes. While the soup rests, wash and chop the fresh herbs (dill, parsley, cilantro). Add the fresh herbs to the pot, or better yet sprinkle them over each bowl right before serving. It adds a note of freshness. Enjoy!

Instead of celery stalks, you can use celery root or parsley root. Instead of fresh tomatoes, you can use canned tomatoes in their own juice.
For cooking it's best to use neutral-tasting filtered or bottled water. If you use tap water, keep in mind it can give the dish an unpleasant characteristic aftertaste.
You can reduce or increase the amount of water given in the recipe as you wish, depending on whether you want a thicker or thinner soup.
You can swap the beef for any other kind of meat you prefer. But keep in mind that the cooking time, as well as the flavor and calorie count of the dish, will change. Pork and lamb are usually fattier than beef, while chicken fillet or turkey is leaner. And the cooking time depends not just on the type of meat but also on which part of the carcass you use and how old or young the meat is.
Believe it or not, until today I'd never made kharcho. I've cooked all kinds of soups, but I'd just never gotten around to this one — and I've eaten it maybe twice in my whole life. Well, it's never too late to make up for lost time. I loved the soup. Its aroma is magnificent — with a distinct scent of ripe tomatoes and fried meat.