About Food – Megrelian Kharsho
Kharsho (Georgian: ხარშო), also known as Kharcho, is a traditional Georgian dish, usually made with beef or chicken but can also be made with other meats. It can be made with walnuts and with or without rice. In this recipe we show how to make Megrelian Kharsho, which is hot and spicy and also uses tomatoes or tomato puree.
Ingredients: 1 kilo of lean beef, 2 medium sized onions, 250 grams of walnuts, 3-4 cloves of garlic, 1 medium sized tomato, 1 tbs of tomato puree, 1-2 bay leaves, 1 heaped tbs of hot red pepper, 3 tbs of oil, salt (amount dependent upon personal preference). kharsho spices: 1 tsp of blue fenugreek, 1 tsp of dried marigold and 1 tsp of dried coriander.
Preparation: Cut the beef into medium sized pieces and add, together with 1-2 bay leaves to a deep pot.
Add 1 liter of water.
Partly cover and cook for 1 hour on a low to medium heat.
Whilst the beef is cooking, chop the onions and add to a pan with 3 tbs of oil. Fry for 3-4 minutes on a medium heat, stirring frequently.
Skin the tomato and chop. Add the chopped tomato to the fried onions, together with 1 tbs of tomato puree. Fry for a further 2-3 minutes, continually mixing and squashing with a wooden spoon. Turn off the heat.
Add the fried tomato/onion mixture to the beef and continue boiling on a low heat.
Grind the walnuts and garlic.
Re-grind the walnuts and garlic. We used a meat grinder.
Prepare the kharsho spices: add 1 tsp of blue fenugreek, 1 tsp of dried marigold and 1 tsp of dried coriander to a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
Add the mixed Kharsho spices, together with 1 heaped tbs of hot red pepper and salt to the walnut/garlic mixture.
Mix thoroughly.
Once the beef has cooked, remove 100 ml of the water used to boil the beef and gradually add it to the spice/nut mixture, mixing as the water is added. Keep adding and mixing until the mixture has a smooth consistency, like in the picture below.
Add the mixture to the boiled beef. Stir and turn off the heat.
Serving: Serve hot. In Samegrelo region, Megrelian Kharsho would be eaten with gomi, elarji or mchadi.
Enjoy your Megrelian Kharsho!
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This looks amazing! I have a question, though: what happens to the rest of the water after you’ve cooked the beef and used 100ml for the sauce? Do you throw it away or do you add the sauce to it and the beef?
Add the sauce to the boiled beef and the water remaining in the pot.
I have found your blog and the information, photographs and recipes you provide to be very interesting. I recently returned from my first trip to Georgia and enjoyed it very much. I have been trying to recreate many of the foods I had for my family and friends. I wonder if it would be possible for you to including in your postings the ingredients and instructions for your recipes as a block, along with the way they are now presented integrated with your outstanding photos of the steps in making the dishes? That way it would be possible to cut-and-paste them without the photos.