Shurpa is a very popular dish in Uzbekistan. It is prepared both at home and in all cafes and restaurants, be it large or small. And everywhere it is not just tasty, but very tasty! And it is no coincidence that at all major celebrations, for example weddings, this thick, rich soup is always served as the first dish.
This dish is loved because it is quite simple to prepare, but it turns out so tasty that you want to cook and eat it as often as possible. This soup is so nutritious and satisfying that once you’ve eaten only it at lunch, you won’t want to eat a second one. Therefore, we can safely say that it replaces both the first and the second.
When we lived in Uzbekistan, we prepared it not only as lunch, but also as a remedy. Yes, yes, don't be surprised! As soon as someone in the house started coughing, they immediately went to the market to buy lamb; all other ingredients were always available. And they cooked shurpa. It not only eliminated minor ailments, but invariably gave strength and good mood.
We cooked this rich soup mainly in two versions - with lamb and vegetables, and with lamb, vegetables and chickpeas. Sometimes lamb was not available to us, and then they cooked it from beef. In general, you can cook from it, but, of course, it cannot be compared with the same dish made from lamb.
It is lamb that gives the soup a unique taste and aroma that is difficult to describe in words. But today I will give you both recipes, and one more recipe - a variation on the first two. And if you cook at least one of them, you will understand what I’m talking about.
Uzbek shurpa from lamb and vegetables according to a classic recipe
We will need (for 5 servings):
- lamb (ribs and pulp) - 600 gr
- onion - 1 pc (300 g)
- carrots - 1 pc (200 g)
- tomato – 1 piece (150 g)
- bell pepper – 1 piece (100 g)
- potatoes - 2-3 pcs (300 g)
- turnip - 1 piece (optional) (200 g)
- hot pepper - to taste
- spices - cumin, ground coriander, basil, paprika - 1 teaspoon (or just a pinch)
- salt, ground black pepper - to taste
Preparation:
1. When buying lamb, try to purchase fresh, not weathered meat. Sometimes in the meat department you can see lamb ribs on display in the refrigerator that are so weathered that such meat will be of no use when cooked. Choose meat that is natural in color and appearance.
2. Wash the meat in cool water. Cut the ribs into portions, cut the flesh into pieces 6-8 cm in size. Place the meat in a cauldron or saucepan with a thick bottom and fill with cold water. Place on fire and bring to a boil. During boiling, do not forget to remove the foam.
There are different types of meat, some have a lot of dark foam, others have less. In the first case, as soon as the water boils, wait 3 minutes, then remove the meat and pour out the water. Rinse the pan from plaque on the walls and pour cold water again, add the meat and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam again, there will be quite a bit of it. And cook the meat as usual.
If you bought fresh lamb, and during cooking it does not form a lot of foam and it is not too dark, then let the meat simmer for 10 minutes (skim off the foam with a special spoon) and add a pinch of salt. Salt will draw the foam out of the meat faster and the broth will be light.
3. Cook the meat for 1 hour. Don't try to let it boil too hot. In this case, we can get a cloudy broth, and the water will quickly boil away, and we will have to add it. What it is not advisable to do! Try to calculate the amount of liquid at the very beginning, and do not add more water. But if it doesn’t work, then add only boiled hot water!
4. During this time, peel and cut the onion into very thin half rings. We peel the carrots and potatoes, and if they are not very large, leave them whole, or cut them into 2-4 parts.
Shurpa is distinguished by the fact that all the vegetables in it must be large. In this case, the taste is preserved in the vegetables themselves, which are additionally soaked in meat broth, and the broth itself is saturated with vegetable flavor!
5. When we lived in Uzbekistan, we bought turnips specifically for preparing a dish, it was called galangal there, and they added it, cutting it into small cubes 3-4 cm thick.
Already living in Russia I tried to add our turnips, it turned out well. But if there are no turnips, then nothing bad will happen without it. If I cook this dish, I don’t specifically run around looking for turnips. There is - I put it, if there is no - there is no, and there is no judgment!
6. Cut the bell pepper into 4-6 pieces into feathers or rings.
7. Cut out the stalk of the tomato and make a cross-shaped cut in the upper part.
8. How to add vegetables? After an hour of cooking the meat, add chopped onions and turnips, if you have them. Dip the whole tomato into the broth, after a couple of minutes we take it out and remove the skin. Then put it back into the broth, also whole.
Sometimes fat tail fat is added to shurpa. It gives that very useful infusion that relieves colds. If you are lucky enough to buy some fat tail fat with your lamb, store it in the freezer and add it little by little to meat dishes, even if you are cooking beef.
All the fat is boiled down, becomes invisible, and everything you cook with it will be incredibly tasty and healthy. If you have such luxury, then take a little, 30 grams, finely chop it, and add it to the broth along with the vegetables.
9. Cook vegetables and meat until the meat is completely cooked. It should easily separate from the bone.
10. Once this happens, add all the remaining vegetables, namely potatoes, carrots and bell peppers. And also add a small hot red pepper pod, or cut off just a piece. But you need to add at least a little for taste and aroma. Don't be afraid the taste of shurpa will not be bitter.
Just remember to remove it after cooking. Otherwise someone will get such luck!
When cooking broths with vegetables, do not completely close the lid of the pan. Also, do not allow the contents to boil too much. In this case, the taste of the vegetables is lost, and the broth becomes cloudy and not tasty!
Therefore, we reduce the heat to a minimum so that the contents only gurgle slightly. We cover with a lid, but leave an impressive gap.
11. Along with the second round of vegetables, add all the spices, you can take a pinch of each. You feel the aroma coming out - it’s cumin! Uzbek cuisine is unthinkable without it!
12. As soon as the broth with vegetables has boiled, add salt to taste. Don't add too much salt at once. It’s better to add a little more salt later than to let it become too salty.
13. Cook the soup now until the vegetables are fully cooked. Try not to overcook them! 5 minutes before it’s ready, don’t forget to add ground black pepper. As soon as they are cooked, turn off the heat immediately.
14. Now you can cover the lid completely and let it stand for 10-15 minutes so that it can rest and become even better saturated with flavor.
15. Serve it in a deep bowl with fresh herbs - dill, parsley and green onions. Chop it smaller and sprinkle the soup on top. The soup turns out thick.
Well, now all that’s left is to enjoy the taste! And take my word for it - it will be an unforgettable experience, right from the very first spoon! You won't even have to try to try it. Here, the aroma alone is ready to amaze you, and together with the taste, it’s beyond words to describe!
All that remains is to add that in the summer you can add fresh sour apples to this soup, and in the fall you can replace the potatoes with quince. Of course, quinces are now an expensive pleasure for us, but on this occasion, you can buy one quince. It's worth it! In addition, the soup without potatoes will be more dietary, light and aromatic.
The next recipe is no less popular in Uzbekistan than the first. And they cook it no less often than in the first version. And the main difference is this. that this version is being prepared with chickpeas.
Uzbek soup with vegetables and chickpeas
We will need (for 7 servings):
- lamb with bones - 800 g -1 kg (ribs or thigh)
- tail fat (if any) - 30-50 g
- chickpeas -200-250 gr
- onion - 500 gr
- carrots - 200 gr
- tomatoes – 250 gr
- bell pepper – 250 gr
- potatoes -300 gr
- cumin, coriander - 0.5 teaspoon each
- vegetable oil - 4 tbsp. spoons
- fresh herbs - for sprinkling
Preparation:
1. Chickpeas should be sorted out, washed thoroughly and soaked in warm water for at least 12 hours, or better yet for a day. The peas will increase in volume several times, so you need to take more water. So, if you take a glass of peas, then you need to take four glasses of water.
2. Cut the meat into portions of 7-8 pieces, it will turn out quite large.
3. Peel the onion and cut into very thin half rings.
4. Cut carrots and bell peppers into cubes. We will cut all the vegetables into 1x1 cm cubes so that they are the same size as peas
5. Make a cross-shaped cut on top of the tomatoes and pour boiling water over them for 2-3 minutes. Then drain the water and peel the tomato. Cut it into the same small cubes.
6. Heat the vegetable oil in a cauldron until it smokes blue and fry the meat over high heat until golden brown.
7. Add the onion and, without reducing the heat, fry it until soft.
8. When the onion is slightly browned, add the carrots and fry everything together for 5-6 minutes.
9. Now it’s the turn of tomatoes and bell peppers. Add them together and fry for 3-4 minutes. Then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes.
10. Rinse the peas in several waters or in a colander.
11. Pour the contents with two liters of cold water and add the washed peas. Add also fat tail fat, cut into small cubes, if you have it. Let's boil. After which the fire must be reduced to the lowest setting.
Do not close the lid completely, leave a large gap. The contents should not boil too much, otherwise the broth will be cloudy and the vegetables will not be tasty.
12. Cook for 1-1.5 hours until the peas are soft. Cook over low heat, but make sure there is a boil.
13. Cut the potatoes into 1x1 cm cubes and add to the broth. Salt to taste, don't forget to add spices. Cook for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are ready. 5 minutes before it’s ready, don’t forget to add pepper to taste. You can also add a bay leaf.
14. Then close the lid tightly and leave the rich soup to rest, absorb juices and gain strength.
15. Then pour it into deep plates, in Uzbekistan they are called spit. Sprinkle with chopped herbs and enjoy the taste.
And the taste of such shurpa is also very special - rich, rich, the soup turns out appetizing, satisfying and nutritious. With this you definitely won’t want any second course. It should be recalled that if you added fat tail fat, you will no longer find it in the soup. It was all boiled down into the broth, and filled it with taste and usefulness.
Uzbek-style shurpa with vegetables and chickpeas - recipe No. 2
Sometimes, for variety, I combine two previous recipes into one, and I get a new taste, and no less tasty shurpa. The advantage of this recipe is that the meat is not fried and it requires less oil to cook. That is, the recipe turns out to be both nutritious and satisfying, with a minimal amount of oil.
Of course, if you have fat tail fat, you should add a little of it. Let's not forget about its therapeutic and preventive effect.
We will need (for 5-6 servings):
- lamb meat on bones - 600 gr
- tail fat -30 g (if available)
- chickpeas - 200 g (about 1 cup)
- onion - 1 pc.
- carrots - 1 pc.
- tomato - 1 pc.
- bell pepper - 1 piece
- hot red pepper - pod (small)
- potatoes -2-3 pcs
- spices - cumin, coriander
- salt, pepper - to taste
- vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. spoons
Preparation:
1. Wash the peas and soak in plenty of warm water; if you take a glass of peas, then pour four glasses of water. Peas should be soaked for at least 12 hours, preferably 24 hours. During this time it will greatly increase in volume. Don't let this scare you. The soup should be such that a spoon can literally stand in it.
2. Rinse the lamb, add cold water and put on fire. As mentioned above, try to purchase fresh or chilled lamb. You won’t get a tasty shurpa from highly weathered and incomprehensibly frozen lamb.
Every fall we buy a whole lamb, fresh. We cut it into portions ourselves, and then boil and cook from it until spring. After all, it is known that real, or, or is best prepared from lamb.
And it’s very convenient for me to buy a whole lamb, firstly, I freeze it myself, and I know for sure that the meat I have frozen is the freshest. Secondly, I immediately prepare the minced meat, put the ribs in bags separately, and the pulp separately.
Many people believe that lamb meat has a specific smell and refuse to purchase it, much less cook it. Let me disagree with such people. If the meat is fresh or properly frozen, it does not have an unpleasant odor.
Sorry for going off topic, but choosing the right product is always the key to the success of the dish as a whole! Therefore, I think this information will be very useful to someone.
3. And so they set the meat to cook. Foam will appear, it must be removed. Once it boils, reduce heat and let simmer for 2-3 minutes. Then take out the meat, drain the water, rinse the pan from foamy deposits and pour water again, about 2.5 - 3 liters. Place the meat in the pan.
4. Put the pan back on the fire and bring to a boil over high heat. If foam appears, it will also need to be removed. Although there will be quite a bit of it, and the broth will already be light.
As soon as it boils, reduce the heat to low. Cook for an hour.
5. Shortly before this you need to prepare all the vegetables. Cut the onion into thin half rings or small cubes. In Uzbekistan, cutting onions in the form of half rings is usually always used.
6. Make a cross-shaped cut on the tomato, pour boiling water over it for 2-3 minutes, then drain the water. Remove the skin and cut the tomato into small cubes.
This time I have a lot of small tomatoes, remnants of the former luxury of the garden season. Therefore, I decided not to use greenhouse purchased tomatoes, but use my own small ones. Although they are small, they are our own, grown without any chemicals.
I don’t remove the skin from them, but simply cut them into 4 parts.
7. Place a small cauldron on the fire; you can also use a frying pan. Pour in vegetable oil, heat it a little and put the onion in it, lightly fry. There is no need to turn it brown; the onion should become rather translucent. And you don't need a lot of fire for this.
Fry everything together for 4-5 minutes. If you have tail fat, cut it into small cubes. And put the roast and fat into the meat broth. We also send the washed peas there.
9. Cook the meat until it begins to move freely from the bone. The peas should also be completely cooked.
But we are not removing the bones yet. We simply add carrots, potatoes and bell peppers, peeled and cut into fairly large pieces.
It is allowed to add vegetables either whole or cut into two parts, especially if they are young and not yet very large.
10. Add a pod of red hot pepper. I have small pods, although they are very sharp, and I put 2 of them. We have peppers growing on the windowsill. At first the bush grew in the garden, and then I transplanted it into a pot, and now I have enough fresh peppers for a long time. And you don’t have to run to the store every time.
Don't be afraid to add pepper, the soup won't be too spicy. The main thing is, don’t forget to remove it later. It will give all its taste and aroma to the broth and will no longer be needed.
11. Let’s also add spices; it will be enough to add one or two whispers of them. You can rub the cumin in your palms. The aroma will be simply magical. Coriander must be ground. You should also add salt now, but add pepper at the very end, 5 minutes before readiness.
12. If the meat was not on the ribs, like I had today, then we take it out and clean it from the bones. Cut it into pieces and put it back into the pan. We throw out the bones.
13. Cook vegetables over low heat and at a minimum boil. The lid can be closed, but at the same time leaving an impressive gap so that the steam can easily escape out.
14. Cook until the vegetables are fully cooked, but do not overcook them to preserve the taste. Pepper 5 minutes before complete readiness, you can also add bay leaf.
15. Turn off the heat and close the lid, let it brew for 15 minutes.
16. Then pour into deep cups, sprinkle with chopped herbs if desired and serve hot.
It must be said that all three recipes are incredibly tasty. And therefore, you will not go wrong if you choose any of them. There is no such thing as one recipe being tastier and another not – feel free to choose any!
Video on how to prepare shurpa at home
Recently, Uzbek cuisine has become increasingly popular. I can judge this from those comments. which I receive. People cook, different things, and write rave reviews. They are glad that they succeed and are also surprised by the taste of the prepared dishes.
Shurpa is no less tasty than all these listed dishes, and that’s why I decided to write this article. We also specially shot a video for her. So that everyone can see that there is nothing complicated in cooking.
This is our home recipe, according to which I have been preparing Uzbek soup since the times when we lived in Uzbekistan. And although I know several ways to prepare it. This is the recipe I love the most.
Its advantages are that there is not a drop of oil, vegetables and meat are not fried, and everything is cooked in its own juices in lamb meat broth. The soup turns out to be nutritious, appetizing and partly even medicinal.
If someone in our house has a cold, I cook this soup. And it helps, not to cure of course, but to relieve symptoms and alleviate the patient’s condition. Try it!!!
In conclusion, I would also like to say where you can buy chickpeas. Well, firstly, it is sold in any large supermarket, in packages of 450 - 500 grams. For example, you can buy these gorgeous large peas from Turkey. The only drawback is that it is not very cheap.
But if you cook chickpeas from peas not so often, then you can spend money on this occasion.
I cook quite often, I add chickpeas to pilaf, I often cook this dish, and recently I cooked a very tasty African one. Therefore, I buy peas at the market in the vegetable departments, where people from Central Asia sell. Even if they don’t have it on sale, I order 2-3 kg, and they bring it to me from the wholesale vegetable market. It turns out to be about two times cheaper than buying in a supermarket.
It's certainly not as big as in the store. But when soaked, it will increase in size by 2-3 times and will already be quite large.
So, there shouldn’t be any problems finding peas on sale. And all that remains is to take it and prepare the delicious shurpa.
Follow the recipe step by step and you will succeed. And don’t look at how much has been written. I just tried to describe all the nuances in great detail so that everything would definitely work out for you.
In fact, preparing everything is not easy, but very simple. It could be a long time! But don't let this bother you. While the shurpa is cooking, you can do a bunch of different things, or do what you want. You are doing other things, and meanwhile the delicious soup is slowly brewing for itself, gaining taste and aroma, as well as all its usefulness.
So, cook and eat for your health!
And if you liked the recipes, then take note of them, and also share them on social networks, social buttons. networks are located at the top and bottom of the article.
If you have questions or suggestions, or just want to say “Thank you!”, then write in the comments. I am always extremely pleased with this! Plus, I will know that the recipes were useful to you!
Without exaggeration, Shurpa can be considered a masterpiece of Central Asian, including Uzbek, cuisine. This soup is both an incredibly tasty, nutritious dish and a real medicine, which was recommended by the great Avicenna himself. The healing properties of shurpa are due to the presence of concentrated meat broth and a large number of vegetables, in particular onions, which are subjected to gentle heat treatment that preserves most of the vitamins. Shurpa is not a soup in the literal sense of the word, since after cooking it is divided into the first and second courses. Meat with potatoes and vegetables are laid out on a separate tray, and the soup is served in large bowls. This way, you can savor the taste of just cooked lamb (or beef) and wash it down with aromatic vegetable soup. But I won’t intrigue you anymore, I’ll go directly to the description of how to cook shurpa at home so that the meat is tasty and soft, and the soup is rich and aromatic.
Ingredients:
(5-6 servings)
- 1 kg. meat with bone (lamb or beef)
- 2 l. water
- 1 small onion for broth
- 1 small carrot for broth
- 4 medium carrots
- 1 kg. potatoes (5-6 pcs.)
- 4 tomatoes (medium)
- 2 bell peppers (medium)
- 2 pods of hot pepper
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 4 tbsp. l. tomato sauce
- 2 pcs. sweet onions
- bunch of cilantro or parsley
- 4-5 pcs. bay leaf
- 10 black peppercorns
- 1 tsp hops-suneli (or coriander + cumin)
- salt to taste
- To prepare shurpa, like any other soup, we first need clean, tasty, soft water. It is best to use spring water, but if it is not available, then you can use mineral water or, at worst, filtered water.
- The second very important ingredient is, of course, meat. The classic shurpa recipe uses lamb, but it is not always available (including price). Therefore, lamb can be successfully replaced with beef. For the soup you will need meat on the bone. It could be shank, brisket, ribs.
- For the amount of ingredients I have given, you should use a 4-5 liter cauldron or saucepan. All your food will fit in it, and nothing will leak out onto the stove.
- We begin working on shurpa by preparing meat broth. To do this, pour 2 liters into a saucepan. cold water, put the meat there and put it on the fire. It is very important that the meat is initially immersed in cold water and not in hot water. Only in this case will we get a broth as clear as a tear.
- Along with the meat, one peeled and washed carrot and one onion in the husk are placed in the pan. The bulb should also be thoroughly washed, trimmed off the part from which the roots grow, and cut in half. Carrots and onions will add flavor to the broth, and onion skins will also give it a beautiful golden color. Under no circumstances should you add salt to meat broth - this is the law of cooking! You will then salt the soup, but not the broth.
- We set the heat to maximum so that the water boils as quickly as possible. After the water boils, reduce the heat. Meat foam will begin to collect on the surface of the water. This is coagulated meat juice and blood residues. There is nothing wrong with the foam, it is quite edible, but since we are fighting for a beautiful clear soup, the foam should be completely caught with a slotted spoon and thrown away.
- After collecting the foam, cover the pan with a lid and cook the meat over low heat until cooked. Cooking time depends very much on the meat itself. For example, lamb will cook in about 30 minutes, veal in 45 minutes, stringy beef from an old animal will cook for at least 1 hour. Therefore, my advice to you is not to be lazy, take a piece of meat out of the pan and try it.
- After we are convinced that the meat is cooked or almost cooked, we remove the carrots and onions from the pan, and catch the onion skins, which, most likely, are already floating separately by this point. We throw all this away and start adding the vegetable component of shurpa and spices.
- Since carrots take longer to cook than other vegetables, we add them first. We clean the carrots, wash them, cut them into circles 0.5 centimeters thick and place them in a saucepan to keep company with the meat.
- After 5-7 minutes, it’s the turn of the potatoes. It is added second in order, as it cooks a little faster than carrots. We also peel the potatoes, wash them, cut them and put them in a saucepan. We must take into account that we will not eat potatoes in soup, but together with meat, so they should be cut into large pieces. Personally, I divide each tuber in half or, in extreme cases, into three parts.
- After the long-lasting vegetables, add black peppercorns, which we pre-press to make the soup more spicy and aromatic.
- At the same time as the black pepper, add the hot pepper pods. I will dwell on this ingredient in more detail, since if you put more pepper than necessary, you can ruin all your work and a bunch of expensive products. For shurpa, I try to buy green hot pepper, as it gives a very gentle bitterness and spiciness, it is almost impossible to overdo it. But if you use red hot peppers (especially dried ones), be sure not to break the pods! Moreover, inspect them carefully and do not use those that have cracks or wormholes. The bitterness from inside the pepper should not enter the pan.
- After about five minutes, put the sweet bell pepper, cut into large strips, into the pan. Peppers can be any color - red, green, yellow, and even slightly crushed or limp. The only indisputable requirement is that it must be fragrant.
- Add salt to taste, bay leaf and other spices. Add three large cloves of garlic. We do not cut the garlic, but only peel it. After cooking the shurpa, the cloves can be caught and thrown away or eaten if the family has a lover of boiled garlic.
- 5 minutes after adding the lettuce peppers, it’s the turn of the tomatoes. We wash them, remove the butts, cut them into large slices and put them in a saucepan.
- To sour the shurpa, tomatoes will be quite enough, but to give the soup a rich, thick, rich color, of course, not. That is why, along with the tomatoes, we add 4 tablespoons of tomato sauce or tomato juice to the pan. I draw your special attention to the sauce, not tomato paste! Taste the soup for salt and spices.
- Cook the soup for another 5 minutes, after which the final stage of preparing shurpa begins - adding the sweet onions. The onion is peeled, washed and cut into half rings. Sweet onions are cooked for only 3-4 minutes, after which the cauldron or pan with shurpa is removed from the heat.
- This completes the process of preparing shurpa. All we have to do is fish out pieces of meat and potatoes from the soup, arrange them beautifully on a dish or tray, and then pour the thick, vegetable-rich liquid into bowls or plates. The final chord is to sprinkle the shurpa with chopped cilantro. Of course, you can also use parsley, but still, real Central Asian food should be seasoned with cilantro.
- That's all, our home-cooked shurpa is ready. You can enjoy its unique taste, aroma and at the same time feel how your body is filled with strength and health. If you like Central Asian cuisine, I also recommend
Wash the beef brisket thoroughly and cut into 2-3 pieces.
Pour in 2.5 liters of purified water and cook.
When the water in the pan boils, carefully skim off all the foam. Add onion and carrots to the broth. Cover the pan with a lid and cook the meat broth over the lowest heat possible, avoiding a strong boil, so that the broth turns out clear. Cook until meat is done, about 1 hour or longer.
I suggest frying the whole red bell pepper or baking it, this will give our soup an additional flavor. If you don't like roasted peppers or don't want to bother with them, add raw peppers to the soup. To fry peppers in a frying pan: pour a little oil into the pan, place the peppers, greased with oil on all sides. Cover with a lid and place on low heat.
The pepper will begin to fry; it must be periodically turned on all sides, carefully so as not to pierce it.
When the peppers are fried, place them in a clean plastic bag and seal them. Leave until cool.
Then peel and seed the pepper. Peel the tomatoes as well.
When the broth is cooked, the meat becomes soft, remove it and separate it from the bones. Strain the broth, return the meat and chopped boiled carrots to the broth (the onion can be thrown out). Bring to a boil, add salt and potatoes.
Add spices to the soup. Cook until the potatoes are fully cooked.
Delicious and aromatic beef soup "Shurpa" is ready.
Bon appetit, make your loved ones happy!
Shurpa is understood as a rich broth of thick consistency with a decent number of vegetables. The dish is extremely popular, but not everyone knows how to cook lamb shurpa correctly. There are quite a lot of recipes, in particular over a fire in a cauldron or at home. Let's look at the most interesting variations in order.
Lamb shurpa: “classic”
Shurpa soup is traditionally prepared from lamb; the classic recipe assumes the amount of ingredients for a 3-liter pan.
- potatoes - 500-550 gr.
- carrots - 1 pc.
- garlic cloves - 4 pcs.
- onion - 1 pc.
- lamb on the bone - 0.7 kg.
- sweet pepper - 2 pcs.
- tomato paste - 40 gr.
- tomatoes - 3 pcs.
- water - 1.8 l.
- greens - in fact
- laurel - 3 pcs.
Before you cook shurpa, decide what you will use to fry the ingredients. A classic lamb dish is cooked in fat, but if you don’t have it, use vegetable oil.
1. Wash and dry the meat on the bone. The base is lamb leg or ribs, but some people use breast or neck. Use your discretion.
2. Take a cauldron or other thick-bottomed pan, but not enameled. Heat fat or vegetable oil in a fireproof container. Fry the pieces of meat over medium or high heat to get an appetizing crust and juiciness of the meat itself.
3. Pour filtered water into the container and reduce the power of the stove. Since shurpa must be cooked in clear lamb broth, do not add salt to the water. Salt is added at the final stage. It is important to get rid of the foam cap in a timely manner so that it does not spoil the appearance of the dish.
4. The duration of cooking young lamb is 30-40 minutes, but it all depends on the age of the animal. Check doneness with a fork. Then remove the meat from the broth, cool and remove from the bone (you don’t have to do this). Go ahead.
5. Wash and rinse the carrots, chop into medium-thick circles (5-6 cm). Send it to boil in the broth, add the potatoes chopped into 4 pieces. Chop the meat and return it to the broth after the carrots are cooked.
6. Chop the onion into 4-6 pieces and add to the soup. While all the ingredients are ready, peel the bell pepper and chop it coarsely. Rinse the tomatoes, remove the peel (you don’t have to do this), cut into cubes and add to the pan along with the pepper.
7. How to properly cook shurpa using a beautiful and rich lamb broth? It is enough to add tomato paste to give the soup a reddish tint. Also at this stage you can pepper, salt the dish, and add bay leaves.
8. Shurpa is a medicinal first course, so adding various spices will come in handy. Usually the soup is accompanied by cilantro, basil, coriander, and cumin.
9. Now peel and chop the garlic cloves with a knife, chop the green stuff. Since traditional lamb shurpa can be prepared in many different ways, some people add whole garlic cloves (at your discretion).
10. After adding the garlic and herbs, you need to boil the soup for literally another 6 minutes and you can turn it off. Before tasting, it is highly advisable to let the shurpa stand under a towel for half an hour or more.
Lamb shurpa over a fire in a cauldron
This recipe is designed for a large family, so all components are proportionally increased.
- carrots - 4 pcs.
- tomatoes - 5-6 pcs.
- new potatoes (for boiling whole) - 1-1.1 kg.
- lamb tenderloin - 1.6 kg.
- garlic cloves - 6 pcs.
- onions - 5 pcs.
- granulated sugar - 20 gr.
- tomato paste - 0.1 kg.
- parsley with dill - 0.5 bunches each
- spices (any) - to your taste
Since you can prepare delicious lamb shurpa not only at home, we offer you a variation on a fire in a cauldron. We hope the recipe is useful!
1. The lamb must be washed and chopped into moderately large slices. Then the oil or fat is heated in a cauldron over a fire, the meat is lowered into the container and fried until golden brown.
2. Before preparing lamb shurpa in this way, you need to wash and cut the vegetables into large pieces, then add them to the meat in the cauldron. The onions are chopped into rings, and the garlic cloves are sent whole.
3. Mix the ingredients without covering the fireproof container. After 5 minutes, pour in some clean water, add tomato paste and sugar.
4. Simmer lightly and wait until it boils. Remove the foam cap. Next, sprinkle with pepper, season with spices, and salt.
5. Note the time, the shurpa is boiled over the fire for 1 hour from the moment of boiling. A quarter of an hour before the end of simmering, add chopped herbs and let them simmer for another 10 minutes. The soup is ready!
Lamb shurpa with chickpeas
Since you can prepare delicious shurpa in various ways, it is worth considering them all. A lamb dish can turn out especially tasty if you add unusual ingredients to the recipe.
- lamb thigh - 0.8 kg.
- chickpeas - 0.2 kg.
- fat tail fat - 45 gr.
- onion - 0.5 kg.
- tomatoes - 240 gr.
- potatoes - 0.3 kg.
- ground coriander - 1 gr.
- carrots - 0.2 kg.
- sweet pepper - 260 gr.
- zira - 1 gr.
- greens - in fact
- vegetable oil - 140 ml.
With the right approach, cooking lamb shurpa is not that difficult. The cooking recipe is quite clear. So let's get started.
1. Sort out the chickpeas, rinse and soak in warm water. It is better to carry out the procedure a day before preparing the dish. In the allotted time, the chickpeas will increase several times. Therefore, water must be poured in large quantities (about 1 liter).
2. Wash and chop the meat into 8 portions. They will turn out quite large. Peel the onion and chop into half rings. Cut the bell pepper into thin slices and chop the carrots into small cubes.
3. Cut the tomatoes and pour boiling water over them. This procedure will easily help you get rid of the shell. Chop the tomatoes into cubes. Pour oil into a cauldron and heat. There should be bluish smoke. Send the meat to fry until golden.
4. Stir the onion into the lamb. Pass it until transparent. The fire power should be at maximum. Since you need to cook shurpa according to the classic lamb recipe, when the onion is browned, throw in the carrots. Fry the food for another 5 minutes.
5. After the allotted time, add sweet peppers and tomatoes to the main mass. Fry them for about 3 minutes. Set the burner power to the middle. Simmer the dish for 10-12 minutes. At the same time, rinse the chickpeas in a colander.
6. Pour 2 liters into the pan with the main ingredients. water and add peas. Chop the tail fat there (you don’t have to add it). Wait for it to boil. Now turn the burner down to low. Open the lid slightly and simmer the food. The broth should not boil.
7. Cook the dish for about 1.5 hours. The peas should be completely softened. A little bubbling is acceptable. At the same time, peel and cut the potatoes into cubes.
8. Add your favorite spices to the shurpa. Simmer the ingredients until the potatoes are cooked. 5 minutes before the end, add 2 bay leaves.
9. Turn off the stove and wait for infusion. Decorate with greens. The shurpa recipe turned out to be quite interesting. A lamb dish at home will please your loved ones.
Lamb shurpa at home in a cauldron
Before preparing shurpa, make sure you have all the necessary ingredients. A lamb dish would not be complete without using a cauldron.
- fatty lamb - 0.6 kg.
- fat tail fat - in fact
- tomatoes - 4 pcs.
- carrots - 2 pcs.
- potatoes - 5 pcs.
- onion - 2 pcs.
- sweet pepper - 2 pcs.
- spices - to your taste
- water - 3 l.
To understand how to cook shurpa, you need to familiarize yourself with the classic recipe. Lamb soup in a cauldron at home will turn out no worse than at a campfire.
1. Melt the lard in a cauldron; there should be quite a lot of it. Next, fry the pieces of meat. The lamb should completely lose its pinkish tint.
2. Chop the onion and place in a container. Chop all the vegetables into random pieces. Send them, except for the potatoes, to fry in a cauldron. After this, add water and add spices.
3. Cover the container with a lid and simmer over low heat. Wait until the meat is completely cooked. The procedure will take 50 minutes. Now throw in the potatoes. Simmer for another 15 minutes.
4. Preparing shurpa is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Lamb soup in a cauldron should be eaten exclusively hot. After steeping the dish, serve it to the table, garnished with herbs.
When deciding how to cook shurpa, familiarize yourself with all the intricacies. In any case, the lamb dish turns out very tasty. Traditionally, this soup needs to be cooked in a cauldron. Feel free to add minor components. Use your favorite spices to achieve an unusual taste and aroma.
Shurpa is the same pride of oriental cooks as pilaf or world-famous sweets. Another feature of Asian cuisine is the almost unchanged menu in the Khan’s palace and nomad’s tent. This means that the delicious aroma of shurpa is equally familiar to commoners and nobility. Our selection includes various variations on the theme of a hearty dish, which, if desired, can be easily prepared in your home kitchen, regardless of whether it is located in Persia, Kaliningrad or beyond the Arctic Circle.
General principles for preparing shurpa at home
To prepare delicious shurpa at home, you will need a voluminous cauldron or a large saucepan with a double bottom. You can also use a slow cooker if you have one.
There are two types of shurpa: boiled and fried. In the first case, the meat broth is cooked for a long time, into which vegetables are also added. In the second option, the meat is fried in a frying pan with vegetables, after which it is transferred to a cauldron or pan and filled with water or pre-prepared broth. In both cases, the dish turns out excellent, but with completely different tastes.
Traditionally, shurpa is prepared from young lamb, but if you wish, you can try making it from any type of meat. The main thing is that these are the best pieces of carcass with bones: loin or brisket. Ribs will also work, but they don’t have enough meat for shurpa. The taste of the soup will be almost standard if the broth is cooked from different types of meat.
As for the vegetable part of shurpa, it consists of carrots, onions, potatoes, and bell peppers. Turnips and fresh tomatoes are often added.
In addition to vegetables, shurpa can be supplemented with other products, for example, chickpeas. It needs pre-treatment; chickpeas need to be kept in cold water for eight hours.
The taste of the dish largely depends on the spices. As a rule, cumin, coriander, and black pepper are used. For spiciness add hot pepper pods. Sometimes fruit is added to shurpa, it can be quince or green apples.
There is no way to cook real shurpa without fresh herbs - cilantro, fresh dill, young basil or parsley, any will do, choose to your taste. A prerequisite is that there should be a lot of greenery. It is added at the end of cooking or during vacation, to portioned plates.
Shurpa at home in Uzbek
Ingredients:
Young lamb ribs – half a kilo;
Fat tail fat – 50 g;
300 gr. bitter onions;
Sweet purple onion – 200 gr.;
Carrot – 250 gr.;
Two large potatoes;
Two bell peppers;
300 gr. black turnip;
Hot pepper pod;
Fresh tomatoes - two large ones;
Zira, cilantro, coriander, basil - to taste;
Parsley;
A small quince fruit can be replaced with a green sour apple.
Cooking method:
1. Chop the lamb into pieces and place in a saucepan with three liters of cold water. Skimming the foam from the surface of the broth, bring to a boil on high heat. Then add a small pinch of cumin and coriander to the broth, cover the pan with a lid and cook, avoiding too much boiling, for exactly an hour.
2. After this, put half rings of bitter onions and medium-sized cubes of fat tail into the broth. Add coarsely chopped carrots and potatoes, thick slices of turnip, hot pepper. We continue cooking in the same mode for another hour.
3. At this time, lower the tomatoes into hot water, soak in it for two minutes and quickly cool under the pressure of cold water. Remove the peel from the tomatoes.
4. Remove the seeds from the peppers and wash off their remains. Cut the pulp into small cubes.
5. Pour water over the quince and cut into slices. You will need a sharp, powerful knife, since the quince pulp is very dense. If there is dark flesh in the middle of the fruit, do not throw it away, but carefully cut out this part.
6. Dip quince slices, sweet pepper slices and tomatoes into the broth when the potatoes begin to soften, 10 minutes after adding them. At the end, add sweet onion half rings into the shurpa, adjust the taste by adding sugar and salt, bring to a boil again and remove from heat.
7. Garnish the shurpa with chopped parsley when serving.
How to prepare shurpa at home in a cauldron
Ingredients:
Any non-lean meat on the bone (breast, loin) – kilogram;
Three onions;
One bell pepper;
400 gr. fresh tomatoes;
Three large carrots;
700 gr. potatoes;
Large head of garlic;
An incomplete spoon of cumin;
A large bunch of cilantro;
A tablespoon of ready-made seasoning “For pilaf” or “For kharcho”.
Cooking method:
1. Without separating from the bones, wash the meat and boil in three liters of water until tender. First, quickly bring to a boil, skimming off the foam all the time, then cook under the lid over low heat for at least two hours. Remove the piece of meat from the broth and place it in a bowl and let it cool.
2. Cool the broth. In this case, fat will accumulate on the surface. It will need to be removed and set aside, it will be useful for frying.
3. Remove the boiled meat from the bones and cut it into large pieces, 3x4 cm in size. Chop the onions into half rings. Place the tomatoes in boiling water for three minutes, dip them in cold water for a minute and remove the skins without effort. Cut the remaining vegetables into equal, fairly large pieces.
4. Transfer the fat collected from the broth into a cauldron, heat it well and lightly sauté the onion half rings in it. As soon as they become transparent, add the boiled meat and fry the pieces until golden brown. Keep an eye on the onion; its strips should acquire an amber tint, but not burn.
5. Place carrots and bell peppers in a cauldron, add spices and, after mixing thoroughly, continue frying for another couple of minutes. Next, add a little meat broth and let it simmer slowly for a quarter of an hour.
6. Add large potato slices, pour all the remaining broth into the cauldron and cook after boiling over low heat until tender. This may take about 20 minutes.
7. After this, put whole tomatoes without peels into the shurpa and cook for another quarter of an hour. Season the soup with herbs and chopped garlic, bring to a boil again and immediately turn off the heat.
8. Before serving, let the shurpa stand for at least 10 minutes so that it absorbs the aroma of garlic and cilantro.
Delicious and simple homemade shurpa with chickpeas
Ingredients:
Pulp on the bone – 500 g;
100 gr. dry chickpeas;
Onion – 2 large heads;
Five medium potatoes;
Small green turnip;
Two carrots;
Fresh tomatoes – 2 pcs.;
Five large cloves of garlic;
Red sweet pepper fruits – 2 pcs.;
Zira and coriander - 1/3 tsp each;
A small pod of hot pepper;
Fresh herbs of choice - cilantro, young dill, garden parsley;
Refined oil – 50 ml.
Cooking method:
1. First of all, you need to prepare the chickpeas. Soak it overnight in a large volume of warm water. After this, we rinse several times - the last one to drain is absolutely clear water.
2. Pour oil into a large cauldron and place it over high heat. As soon as the fat stops crackling, lower the large pieces of meat and fry until thick.
3. Add onion half rings to the meat, add salt, and season with spices. Cook, stirring regularly and slightly reducing heat, until the onion is translucent. Then add two liters of water to the meat and, carefully removing the resulting foam, wait for it to boil.
4. Place swollen chickpeas and whole, peeled garlic cloves into the shurpa. We omit the coarsely chopped carrots and the whole turnips. Cook the soup over low heat for about an hour.
5. Add large potato slices, and after 25 minutes, add large strips of sweet pepper and peeled tomatoes. Continue cooking the shurpa until the chickpeas and potatoes are ready.
6. At the end, add spices to the soup and add salt to taste. Pour in the chopped herbs and, bringing to a boil, remove from the stove. Let the shurpa sit for a quarter of an hour under the lid.
How to prepare shurpa at home in a slow cooker
Ingredients:
Ribs or pork on the bone – 400 gr.;
Two liters of water;
Half a kilo of potatoes;
Two large onions;
Three small tomatoes;
One carrot;
Large bell pepper;
Vegetable oil;
To taste – cumin, ground pepper and ready-made khmeli-suneli seasoning.
Cooking method:
1. Turn on the multicooker in baking mode and pour about 40 ml of vegetable oil into the bowl. After waiting until it is hot enough, lower the large pieces of pork and fry for 25 minutes. Try to divide the ribs so that there are two bones in each piece.
2. To the fried meat, add carrots cut into circles, onion half rings, large pieces of bell pepper pulp and large slices of tomatoes. Fry vegetables and meat for another 20 minutes.
3. Place potatoes, season with spices, add a teaspoon of fine salt. Pour two liters of freshly boiled water into the bowl and, after stirring well, switch the multicooker to the “Stew” mode for exactly an hour.
4. After the end of the program, let the shurpa stand on heating for 10 minutes. Ready!
Homemade pork shurpa
Ingredients:
A kilogram of fatty pork on the bone;
Seven small potatoes;
Carrot;
Red bell pepper;
Large meaty tomato;
Spices: paprika, cumin, ground pepper;
Greens to taste: a mixture of cilantro with dill or parsley.
Cooking method:
1. Dip the washed meat in one piece into two liters of cold water. Bringing to a boil, constantly remove the resulting varnish. Place large pieces of carrots and onion halves into the broth and cook over low heat for an hour and a half.
2. We take out the meat, let it cool a little and, separating it from the bones, cut it into pieces. We're not being petty. Return the boiled meat back to the broth.
3. Cut the peeled potato tubers into two or four parts and place them in the pan after the pork. Cook the potatoes until tender, about forty minutes, depending on the size of the pieces.
4. Add large slices of tomatoes and wide strips of bell pepper to the shurpa. After boiling over medium-low heat for a quarter of an hour, season the soup with spices. It is enough to add a third of a teaspoon of each seasoning.
5. Cook the shurpa for another five minutes. Season with chopped herbs and press two cloves of garlic. Warm up for a minute and turn off the heat.
How to cook thick shurpa at home from beef with tomato paste
Ingredients:
Steamed beef brisket – kilogram;
600 gr. unboiled potatoes;
One onion;
5 gr. ground pepper (black);
100 gr. carrots;
Three bay leaves;
Large pod of bell pepper;
60 gr. tomato paste;
Five peppercorns;
Refined oil;
Zira – 5 gr.
Cooking method:
1. Wash the brisket thoroughly and cut it into pieces. We make them small, but not too small. The desired size is 4x5 cm.
2. Peel the potatoes, cut the tubers in half and fill with water to prevent them from darkening.
3. Peel the carrots, bell peppers and onions, chop the vegetables - the carrots into thin cubes, and the onions and peppers into strips.
4. Heat the oil in a frying pan for a short time and drop all the chopped vegetables into it at once. Stirring, sauté over low heat until the carrots soften.
5. Stirring, add meat to the vegetables and leave to simmer with the lid closed until cooked. Approximately 7 minutes before the end you need to introduce the tomato.
6. Transfer the meat stewed with vegetables into a saucepan with a double bottom and fill with water. It is advisable to cook the bone broth in advance. Having set the heat to medium, bring to a boil, and then cook over low heat for half an hour, add the potatoes with bay leaves and spices. Cook for another half hour and check the potatoes are ready.
7. When serving, sprinkle the finished shurpa generously with herbs, you can add a little chopped garlic.
Tricks for making shurpa at home - useful tips
Shurpa does not have to be greasy. You can also prepare a lean dish from poultry or lean pieces of meat. It is often cooked from game and even fish.
If the meat does not have enough fat content, you can add a little tail fat, cut into small pieces, when cooking the broth.
Turnips can impart bitterness to shurpa, which is characteristic of a root vegetable, so it is not advisable to chop it. To impart a specific taste, it is enough to boil a whole root vegetable in the broth and then remove it.
It is permissible to replace fresh tomatoes that are missing during the winter season with tomato juice or tomato puree, and fresh herbs with dried ones.
