Kharcho With Walnuts And Tkemali

With the end of the walnut season, some of them migrated from the garden to my home. Usually they would have a long lay somewhere in the fridge, but this time I decided to use them. Georgian cuisine came to mind immediately. In their dishes this nut is very popular, so there is a plenty of recipes to choose from. Kharcho was chosen actually because I’ve found half a jar of tkemali in the fridge for a wonder. There are many ways of preparing this wonderful Georgian soup. It’s usually made using beef broth with rice and some acidifier. A classic acidifier is tklapi but tkemali or tomato paste is also permissible. Actually as I realized I was cooking close enough to the classics. I’ve never tried it before, but it turned out to be quite tasty.

  • SERVES: 8 Servings
  • PREP: 20 mins
  • COOK: 25 mins
  • READY IN: 3 hrs 0 min

Ingredients

  • 3 liters water
  • 1 kilogram beef (I took the shank)
  • 100 grams rice
  • 100 grams walnuts
  • 3 medium onions
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 100 grams tkemali sauce
  • 100 grams butter
  • half bunch parsley
  • a bit dill
  • a bit coriander
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp khmeli-suneli
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1/2 tsp chili
  • 15 black peppercorns
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Into the cold water put the washed meat, bring to a boil, skim, and cook for 1.5 hours.
  2. After an hour of cooking add the stems of parsley and salt. Drain cooked broth and cut the meat into small pieces.
  3. While the broth is cooked, finely chop the onion and fry it in butter until tender over a low fire. Wash rice, finely grind the nuts in a mortar or blender. Nuts should not be powdered.
  4. After straining the broth bring it again to boiling, put the meat in it, add rice and cook for 10 minutes. Then add the onions, bay leaf and crushed peppercorns. If there is a pepper mill, you can just pepper using it.
  5. After another 5 minutes of cooking add chopped nuts. After another 5 minutes, add all the spices: basil, turmeric, paprika, chili, cinnamon, and parsley leaves. Also pour tkemali.
  6. Cook for another 5 minutes and turn off the fire. Squeeze the garlic to the pan and put the dill and coriander. Close the pan with a top and leave for 30 minutes.