Generalized shurpa recipe
The three basics of this dish are available almost everywhere, but I have rarely seen a detailed recipe. I read a lot and talked with many about its preparation. And after 6 years of practice, I will gain the courage to describe a generalized recipe.
Three basics of shurpa:
- Mutton
- Vegetables
- Spices
And if many people combine 2 and 3, then 1 is the basis. Shurpa can only be prepared from lamb. Properly selected meat and properly cooked broth (which, by the way, is not paid attention to in recipes at all) is 90% of success. Therefore, I will focus on choosing meat and preparing broth.
How to cook lamb shurpa
Ingredients:
- Lamb... (Breast, shank, neck, shank and in some cases ribs
- Potato
- Tomatoes
- Red pepper
- Spices in assortment
- Oil for frying
- Number of servings:
- 1 saucepan
- Cooking time:
- 2 hours.
Lamb shurpa - first, general information:
You also need to take special dishes, namely Cossack or cast iron with a non-stick coating, since usually the beginning of cooking shurpa is done by frying the lamb, after stewing the vegetables and potatoes. If you don’t have such utensils, don’t despair; you can use a frying pan for frying.
How to choose lamb
So, when choosing lamb for broth, I limit myself to the following parts:
- Spatula
- Neck
- Rear end
or I combine these parts for NAVAR-MEAT reasons. The neck is a good fat, the shoulder blade is both fat and meat, the back is more meat, less fat.
So, we’ve decided which parts we’ll take and go buy them. The option of buying in a supermarket leaves us no choice - take what you have. That's why I go to the market. There are some nuances here.
I don’t know about anyone, but in Odessa about 12-15 people sell lamb on Privoz. Everyone naturally wants to sell. No one tells you whether they are selling you a female or a male. Yes, you won’t even ask if you don’t know that you need to take a female for the broth . The male does not have that characteristic pleasant smell of lamb that will emanate from the broth. In addition, the meat of the male is less tasty, less fatty, and if it was slaughtered late or incorrectly, it will emit a smell similar to the smell of animal urine. Therefore, always feel free to check the meat for smell. The lamb should smell aromatic and pleasant. Females are always fatter, males have much less fat. Well, the most obvious sign is the color of the meat. The meat of females is always darker than that of males. The age of the meat should be from young to medium. Age is determined by comparative characteristics and size. A young or medium shoulder is usually 35-40 cm. You can also take an older one - the meat there is always soft. It is better to pierce the back part with a knife in its meat part. The soft meat is pierced like a young melon. Don’t forget to cut off a piece of fat from the part you buy and set it on fire with a match. The fat should have a pleasant aroma. If there is no smell or you don’t like something, look for meat elsewhere. And compare.
So, Color, Smell and Softness are the main criteria for good meat . I was able to do this only with experience, and I will think that with the amount of knowledge that I described, you will buy decent lamb. Don’t forget to ask the seller to chop the meat for you as for the broth. The neck is pieces of 3-4 cm. The shoulder blade or back is 4-6 cm.
How to cook lamb broth
There are many opinions about how to cook broth. Someone immediately throws it into the water. Someone rinses it and again into the water. All the same, they say it will be cooked - it will be disinfected there. Although our ancestors in the steppes may have cooked it this way, there were also those who first soaked the meat for 1-1.5 hours in water. This is exactly what I do. And don’t let them tell you that this will make the broth cloudy and all sorts of other nonsense. Thanks to soaking, ichor, remaining wool, and debris will come off; Well-washed meat is great for boiling.
So, soak the lamb in cold water for an hour and a half . We rinse well and, after getting wet, put in cold water and put on fire. I usually put a whole shoulder blade in a 5-liter saucepan and add 2 cm of water to the brim. About 1/3 of it will boil away, and this is normal.
Now about the transparency of the broth . Naturally, when starting to prepare the broth, be patient. It will take 3-5 hours. I always put it on the lowest heat right away and it will take 30-40 minutes to heat up the water. Then the first “noise” will appear, which will need to be removed for 1.5-2 hours. But the transparency of the broth depends not only on this. Chopped lamb has exposed bones and lots of exposed meat. What does not float up in the form of “noise” will partially dissolve in the water and you may not get a perfectly clean broth. For those who like pure broth, I advise you to cook the lamb in large pieces. But this is important for KURBAN. In the case of shurpa, cloudiness will then appear in potatoes and vegetables. Therefore, you don’t have to strive for this.
I usually cook the meat for 3.5 hours and taste it. If the readiness suits you, then I put it
- 1-2 onions
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- 0.5 teaspoon ZIRA
- and add salt so that you only need to add a little bit of salt.
I leave it for another half hour and turn it off, taking out the onion and garlic.
In the KAZAN-MANGAL cooking option, the meat will cook faster - 2-2.5 hours. And at this stage it's time to talk about vegetables.
Lamb shurpa recipe
Ingredients you will need to make shurpa:
The amount of ingredients is calculated for the volume of a five-liter cauldron.
- 700 grams of lamb, you can take it either on the bone or just meat.
- Onion – 3 pcs.
- Carrots – 2 pcs.
- Tomato – 2 pcs.
- Bulgarian sweet pepper – 2 pcs.
- Potatoes – 5 pcs.
From greens:
- parsley
- green onion
- cilantro
From spices:
- cumin
- red pepper
- coriander
- black pepper
- salt
- refined sunflower oil
So let's get started!
Pour refined sunflower oil into a heated cauldron.
Add pre-chopped meat to the heated oil.
Note: you need to fry the meat over high heat. Since lamb is quite fatty, the meat should not burn. We still recommend stirring the meat a little while frying.
While the meat is frying, chop the vegetables.
Cut the onion into rings. We would not recommend cutting it finely, because at the end of cooking the dish there may be nothing left of it.
We also cut the carrots into rings.
When the meat is fried until crusty, add onion to it.
After adding the onion, turn the heat down a little and simmer without stirring for exactly 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, add carrots as the top layer.
Now the vegetables need to be simmered for another 10 minutes. Do not stir.
While the vegetables are simmering in the cauldron, we can cut the tomatoes, which have previously been peeled. Peeling will be much easier if you pour boiling water over the tomatoes in advance. You can cut tomatoes in absolutely any way.
10 minutes after you added the carrots, stir the vegetables and simmer them for exactly 10 minutes over low heat. Do not forget to stir the contents of the cauldron regularly.
Now you need to peel and cut the sweet pepper into strips.
After 10 minutes of frying the vegetables, add bell peppers and tomatoes.
At the same time add spices:
– a third of a teaspoon of red pepper;
– a teaspoon of coriander;
– a heaped teaspoon of Zira.
After which, be sure to mix the contents of the cauldron.
Add a little water (100 ml.). This is necessary so that the contents of the cauldron begin to stew.
Leave to simmer for 15-20 minutes over low heat.
Meanwhile, chop the potatoes. It is customary to cut the potatoes into this dish quite coarsely, cutting them into four parts.
When the contents have simmered, add the chopped potatoes to the cauldron.
Fill the contents of the cauldron with water.
Cover with a lid and let it boil.
When the dish has boiled, add salt: approximately one level tablespoon per volume of a five-liter cauldron.
After that, add black pepper: about 10 pieces if peppercorns, or a little less than a teaspoon if ground pepper.
Now we just have to cook Shurpa until the potatoes are ready, about 25-35 minutes. During this time, we recommend that you taste the dish for salt.
While Shurpa is cooking, chop the greens.
Finally the dish is ready!
Pour Shurpa into a plate and garnish with herbs on top.
You can start eating!
You can also watch a video recipe for making shurpa.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel, we will show you many ways to prepare delicious meals outdoors and on the go.
Vegetables for shurpa
I came across three cooking options.
- Whole vegetables
- Some are cut, some are whole
- Everything is cut
I tried all three, and this is what I can say. The first is inconvenient - you still have to divide it between plates, and not everyone eats things like onions and carrots in this form. The second is when everything is chopped except potatoes. In this case, potatoes and meat are served as a second course. Then get ready to eat cold meat and potatoes, which, coupled with congealed fat, is not very pleasant. And the soup is cooked for the sake of soup, because no one gets cabbage and meat from borscht as a second one. Having tried everything, I settled on the 3rd option, which I will describe (I’m probably talking for a long time - but I take the word Recipe literally)))
When I have broth and cooked meat, I prefer to remove the meat and strain the broth. Divide the meat into portions or completely separate it from the bones. The broth will remain clean, and the meat will wait in the wings.
Vegetables . I respect this set:
- 3-4-5 bulbs
- 1-2 carrots
- 3 potatoes
- 2 sweet peppers
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 hot pepper
I have seen the addition of cauliflower, zucchini, and blue [eggplant] - this is not traditional for shurpa.
Uzbek-style lamb shurpa - a classic step-by-step recipe for cooking at home
Good afternoon friends!
And again I’m writing about Central Asian cuisine!
Classic shurpa - lamb soup with vegetables is another symbol of the gastronomic luxury of oriental cuisine, along with crumbly pilaf, juicy kebab and long stretchy lagman.
You can cook this soup in different conditions: at home or in the garden, over a fire. Cooking in a cauldron gives the food a special, unique taste. Compare the taste of any dish cooked in a Russian oven in a cauldron with the same dish cooked in a saucepan on the stove. Do you feel the difference?
The recipe for a real Uzbek shurpa includes such mandatory ingredients as meat (in our case, lamb), onions, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, spices and seasonings. The remaining products can be varied as desired.
Without knowing the cooking technology and the order of adding ingredients, you won’t be able to cook a delicious rich vegetable soup with meat, so let’s together, slowly, with love, let’s cook it according to the simplest classic recipe.
Classic lamb shurpa - step-by-step cooking recipe
This is the favorite dish of my grandfather, a great connoisseur and lover of Uzbek cuisine. As a child, I often watched him perform magic near the cauldron, and when I was about to get sick, they always gave me hot soup to drink, it helped...
Necessary ingredients for cooking in a 5.6 liter cauldron:
- 0.7 kg lamb: a little brisket + meat on the bone
- 80 g fat tail fat
- 200 g carrots
- 200 g potatoes
- 200 g soaked chickpeas
- 300 g of onion: 200 - red, 100 g - regular onion
- 2 bell peppers, different colors
- 2 medium tomatoes
- 1 strong apple
- 1-2 capsicums
- a pinch of cumin
- raikhon (basil)
- jambul (savory)
- a bunch of cilantro
- parsley, dill, green onions
- salt
I show the recipe for preparing delicious oriental soup shurpa at home, in a cauldron on the stove, step by step, so that it is clear. I am sure you will succeed at the highest level.
1. Place large pieces of meat in cold water and bring to a boil. If there is a lot of foam and it is difficult to collect, you can pour out the broth and rinse the meat under running water. Also wash the bottom and walls of the cauldron from foam. Pour in and put back on the fire. If the amount of foam is not critical, then we simply collect it.
2. My onions are not large, so we cut them into thin rings; it is better to cut large ones into half rings.
3. After the broth boils, add thin red onion rings. Leave to cook over moderate heat for 20 minutes. And let's start preparing other products.
4. Chop the fat tail or internal fat into small cubes. Fresh fat that has not been frozen is especially good.
5. Soak the chickpeas overnight in advance, during which time they will increase in volume three times. I like this ingredient for its satiety and usefulness.
6. Cut the carrots quite coarsely, diagonally, and the bell peppers into large, long strips. It is better to take peppers of different colors; the dish will turn out bright, beautiful and appetizing.
7. 20 minutes have passed. During this time, the onion gives its taste and color to the broth, and during the cooking process it completely dissolves.
Add carrots, finely chopped fat and swollen peas to the broth. Increase the heat to high, after boiling, reduce again to moderate and cook for one hour.
8. Peel medium-sized potatoes, remove the core from the apple, and remove the skin from the tomatoes. Cut medium-sized tomatoes in half, large ones into four parts.
9. Dip tomatoes, apple and hot pepper pods into the broth. Cook for 10 minutes.
The hot pepper pods must be intact and without damage. Otherwise, all the bitterness will go into the soup and spoil its taste.
10. Add potatoes, bell peppers and cilantro, tied in a bunch, and leave for 10-15 minutes over low heat.
11. Add salt and cumin. Chop savory and basil.
12. Let's try. Amazing amazing scent! It's amazing how oriental spices and seasonings give dishes a unique, refined taste.
13. When all the vegetables are cooked, lay out thin onion rings. Use a slotted spoon to catch a bunch of cilantro, an apple, and a hot pepper.
Important. Do not let the apple boil, otherwise you will end up with an ugly broth.
14. Let the soup simmer under the lid for 10 minutes.
15. Look how bright and rich the broth is! If you wish, you can leave the pieces of floating tail fat or collect them with a slotted spoon.
16. Place large vegetables and pieces of meat from the cauldron on the lyagan, decorate with chopped apple, sprinkle with fresh herbs and leave for the second course.
17. Place some of the small vegetables and pieces of meat into cassas (deep bowls), fill with hot broth, this is the first thing.
18. Serve both dishes hot to the table. Spicy lovers add a piece of hot pepper to their bowl; it will warm up the eater from the inside. An Uzbek colleague always joked: “I sweat when I eat, I’m freezing when I work.”
19. We drink lamb shurpa, add pieces of freshly baked flatbread to the vegetables and meat and put them in our mouths. Yummy!
How to cook real shurpa at home
It doesn’t matter at all how you cook it, Caucasian or Uzbek, whether it’s Azerbaijani or Turkmen, you will always get an amazingly tasty, appetizing dish with national flavor.
In order to cook any dish efficiently, easily and with pleasure, you need to properly prepare the dishes and ingredients.
Dishes. In our case, a cast iron cauldron or saucepan is best suited. They take a long time to cool down, and the food turns out delicious thanks to the “non-stick layer” formed from oil, absorbed into the porous bottom of the cast iron. Great for stewing, boiling, frying, and baking dishes in the oven. And pilaf and meat dishes turn out especially tasty in cast iron dishes.
Meat. Anything will do: soup chicken, young beef, but lamb is still better. For a good strong broth, add bone-in meat (ribs, shank, hind leg) to the pulp. Pork is not used in traditional shurpa. The classic recipe allows for cooking meat without frying, whereas in the traditional version the meat must be fried.
Water. Tasty, clean, without impurities or smell.
Fat. Fat tail or internal. In European cuisine, lamb product is rarely used; fat can be mixed with vegetable oil in a 1:1 ratio.
Vegetables. The vegetable part of the dish is represented by onions, carrots and potatoes. There is always a lot of onion. And also turnips, you know that when there were no potatoes in the Old World, the main vegetable was turnips. Nowadays it is added at will (only when cooking the broth, and then removed).
Bell peppers, tomatoes, hot peppers appeared later, but now it’s hard to imagine this dish without them. The Uzbek shurpa recipe also recommends adding small ears of corn, chickpeas, beans, and lentils.
Fruits. Traditional dishes also widely use sour fruits and berries (quinces, apples, pears, plums, dried apricots). Gourmets add cranberries and lemon slices.
Spices and seasonings. It is they who complement and emphasize the taste of an oriental dish, making it refined and unique. Essential spices are cumin, coriander, raikhon, ground black jambul and hot pepper pods.
And a lot of fresh herbs: parsley, dill, green onions.
Uzbek recipe for shurpa in a cauldron, on fire from Stalik Khankishiev
See how to prepare real shurpa in Uzbek style. How much love, patience and effort the chef puts into this dish. Cooking in nature, on an open fire, in a cauldron, and you get the most healthy, excellent, delicious food.
Source: https://prostoi-recept.ru/klassicheskaya-shurpa.html
The final stage
We cut everything roughly like this: onions, tomatoes, carrots, peppers - into half rings, and potatoes like for any soup.
First throw the meat, potatoes and carrots into the almost boiling broth. When the potatoes are half cooked, add everything else.
Remove when the potatoes are ready. It should sit for 5-10 minutes. And - voila.
That's what's in the finale. It's a pity, the Internet doesn't convey the taste)))
