KharchoGeorgian beef and rice soup

• 1 kg2.2 lb beef brisket or shank on the bone, a fatty cut gives the best broth
• 2.5 l10½ cups cold water
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fat skimmed from the broth, or butter
• 100 g½ cup rice, rinsed
• 100 g3.5 oz tklapi (sour cherry-plum leather), or 5–6 tbsp sour tkemali sauce; see notes
• 100 g1 cup shelled walnuts
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp khmeli suneli (Georgian spice mix)
• 1 tsp ground coriander seed
• ½ tsp utskho suneli (ground blue fenugreek)
• 1 dried red chilli, crumbled, or ½–1 tsp ground hot red pepper
• 1 bunch (about 40 g)1 bunch (about ¾ cup chopped) fresh coriander (kindzi), chopped
• small handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• salt, to taste
• Georgian bread (shotis puri) or lavash, to serve

Method

1. 1

   1. Put the beef in a large pot with the cold water, bring to the boil and skim off the foam.

2. 2

   2. Add the bay leaves, cover and simmer very gently for 1½–2 hours, until the meat is tender. Skim 2 tbsp of fat from the surface for the onions.

3. 3

   3. Lift out the beef, cut it into bite-size pieces, discard the bones and strain the broth; you need about 2 l (8½ cups).

4. 4

   4. Tear the tklapi into pieces, cover with 250 ml (1 cup) of hot broth and leave for 20 minutes, then mash and rub it through a sieve into a sour purée.

5. 5

   5. Cook the onions in the fat in a frying pan over medium-low heat for 8–10 minutes, until soft and golden.

6. 6

   6. Bring the broth back to the boil, add the beef, the onions and the rice and simmer for 10 minutes.

7. 7

   7. Meanwhile, pound or blend the walnuts and garlic with a pinch of salt, the khmeli suneli, ground coriander and utskho suneli, adding a little broth, into a loose paste.

8. 8

   8. Stir the tklapi purée and the chilli into the soup and simmer for 5 minutes.

9. 9

   9. Stir in the walnut paste and simmer gently for 5 minutes more, until the rice is just tender; do not let it boil hard.

10. 10

    10. Add the coriander and parsley, season with salt, cover and take the pot off the heat for 10 minutes so the flavours settle. The soup should be sour, spicy and thick with rice.

11. 11

    11. Serve hot with bread.