The story of Kharcho
Kharcho is one of the best-known soups of Georgian cooking. Its full Georgian name means kharcho of beef, and that says it all: it is first of all a meat soup, with rice, walnuts, garlic and the sourness of plums. From Georgia it travelled across the Soviet Union and became a familiar soup in homes and restaurants from Russia to Central Asia.
Georgian Jews brought it to Israel with the great wave of immigration in the 1970s and the waves that followed. The large communities in Ashdod, Lod, Bat Yam and Holon keep Georgian cooking alive at home, and with kharcho come tkemali, the sour plum sauce, and khmeli suneli, the Georgian spice blend. In Israel green tkemali can be made at home from the sour green plums that appear in the markets in spring.
What makes Kharcho itself
Kharcho sits between a soup and a stew. The beef cooks slowly until tender, the rice gives body, and ground walnuts turn the broth rich and pale without a drop of milk. The sourness of the plums cuts through the fat of the meat, fresh garlic and coriander go in at the end, and khmeli suneli gives a deep aroma, a little nutty and a little floral. A good kharcho is moderately hot, tangy and very fragrant.
