Pork bozbash recipe. Beef bozbash. Other possible preparation and filling options

Delicious, aromatic, hearty Caucasian soup - Yerevan bozbash. Consolidation! Hurry up to replenish your culinary treasury with a cool recipe for Caucasian cuisine.

Bozbash - popular thick soup among the peoples of the Caucasus. Each region has its own recipe for preparing the dish. But they have the following things in common: good meat for the broth, thickness, spiciness and amazing aromas. It is customary to add sour apples or prunes to bozbash in Yerevan, and more often, both. Armenian bozbash is usually cooked from lamb. Pork is also used, but less often.

The main thing is that the meat is fresh and not too fatty, since after boiling it is traditionally cut into pieces, fried in oil with onions and put back into the soup. Shall we cook?

What you will need for Yerevan bozbash

List of ingredients:

Bright, hearty and aromatic Armenian soup bozbash / Photobank Lori

0.75 kg lamb or pork;
150 g onion;
0.5 cups of peas;
2.5 tbsp. l. ghee;
2 small sour apples;
1-2 tbsp. l. tomato puree (preferably homemade);
100 g small prunes;
70 g fresh or dried cilantro;
ground pepper and garlic to taste;
salt.

Recipe for bozbash soup in Armenian

Bozbash has a chance to become a favorite dish even in a family that is far from the traditions of Caucasian and, in particular, Armenian cuisine. The main thing is to try!

Place the meat in a saucepan with cold water, cook the broth for 1.5-2 hours. Be sure to remove foam. Then remove the finished lamb from the pan and chop into small pieces. Cut the onion into cubes. Fry both the meat and the onion in melted butter (you can also use lamb fat) for about 5-6 minutes.
Soak the peas in ice water in advance. It's best to do it overnight. Then rinse and add to the broth after the lamb is removed. Soaked peas will cook quite quickly. Then place the meat and onions in the bozbash. Stir tomato puree into it.
Then add sour apples, chopped into thin strips. The skin will need to be cut off from them. Add prunes, also cut into small strips, into the soup.
Let the soup simmer for 10 minutes, add spices and herbs. Be sure to crush the garlic together with cilantro so that the finished Yerevan bozbash acquires that same aroma, bright and spicy. After adding spices, cook for another 5-6 minutes. Let the dish steep before serving. Bon appetit!

Since bozbash is a dish of Caucasian cuisine, varieties of this soup can be found not only in Yerevan, but also in Baku. As an alternative, bozbash in Azerbaijani. As they say, find 10 differences!

Dishes of Caucasian cuisine have long transcended the borders of their regions and taken branded places on the menus of the world's leading restaurants. Excellent pastries, juicy kebabs from the best varieties of meat and, of course, thick, incredibly fragrant soups. Beef bozbash homemade is the quintessence of the culinary traditions of oriental cuisine, embodied in excellent dishes.

Eating in the Caucasus was never just a way to saturate the body with food. This is a kind of ritual, almost a sacred rite! For example, an Azerbaijani lunch, which takes three or more hours, begins with a variety of appetizers, continues with fresh vegetables and fruits, and ends with hot soup.

The most common version of the origin of the dish is based on its mention in late XIX century, the cook of the Persian shahs Mirza Ali-Akbar Khan Ashbazi.

As for the Armenian roots of bozbash, a dish under this name was first indicated in the Armenian language dictionaries only in 1944. The most piquant circumstance in this case is the translation of the root “boz” as “harlot, prostitute.” Curious, isn't it?

Similar names for similar dishes are also noted in Turkish cuisine, so the general and indisputable fact associated with the history of the creation of the dish is its Eastern origin and many variations in obtaining satisfying, nutritious, invariably tasty food.

Beef bozbash in Azerbaijani style

“Gray head” - translation of the word from the Azerbaijani language - is a hot soup, which, depending on the season, is served in summer or winter. Making bozbash from beef is not difficult, and the whole process does not take much time.

Grocery list:

melted butter - 200 g;
meat (preferably ribs) - 2 kg;
carrots and onions - 4 pcs.;
quince - 2 pcs.;
potatoes - from 8 pcs.;
chili pods - 2 pcs.;
garlic cloves - 12 pcs.;
paprika, coriander seeds, herbs, roots;
tomatoes - 800 g;
chickpeas - 2 cups;
sweet pepper fruits - 4 pcs.;
salt.

Cooking method:

First of all, soak the grain overnight. The next day, wash the product and boil for an hour and a half at low heat.
Divide the ribs into parts, place them in a pan, pour in 4 liters of filtered water and let the product cook. When boiling begins, lower the flame height of the burner and skim off the foam.
Add the onion, carrots, peppercorns, small pieces of celery and parsley roots, and bay leaf. Simmer the ingredients of the dish for an hour and a half on the lowest heat, after which we remove them from the dish.
Place the meat in a deep, preheated frying pan with oil, discard the rest. Fry the ribs until appetizingly golden brown, then add the onion, cut into half rings, and similarly shaped carrots.
We continue the process until the vegetables become the same golden color. Add peeled chopped tomatoes, strips of sweet (without seeds) peppers, chopped chili fruits and finely chopped quince. Cook food for another 7 minutes.
Place the boiled chickpeas in a colander and place them in a container with meat and vegetables. Fill the mixture with strained broth and simmer the food for another hour and a half.
Next, add the diced potatoes and chopped garlic, season the soup with the desired amount of salt, sprinkle with chopped herbs (basil, coriander, parsley) and finish cooking.

Azerbaijani-style bozbash, prepared at home, is especially tasty, healthy and very appetizing!

Cooking with chickpeas

This wonderful grain is present in almost every version of oriental soup, so special attention should be paid to this product.

Ingredients:

butter - 50 g;
chickpeas - 150 g;
potatoes - 10 pcs.;
onion - 2 pcs.;
lemon or pomegranate juice;
beef (not very fatty) - 500 g;
tomatoes in their own juice - 300 g;
spices (salt, pepper), parsley, curry, other aromatic mixtures.

A distinctive component, a kind of dominant feature of almost all variations of the presented dish, is chickpeas. It is advisable to soak the grain overnight, which will make preparing the dish easier by reducing the cooking time.

Cooking method:

Wash the chickpeas, leave the product in a bowl with drinking water for at least 5 hours.
To obtain the most delicious bozbash, we use only high-quality meat. We process the beef, cutting off the films and tendons, blot it with napkins, and divide it into large parts.
We peel the vegetables, chop the onion into squares or strips, and cut the tubers into not very large slices. We take the tomatoes out of the delicious marinade, then chop them.
Place the butter in a saucepan, sauté the onion until transparent, add pieces of tomato to it (you can replace it with tomato paste).
After evaporation excess liquid add portions of meat to the vegetables and fry them until they acquire a light golden hue.
We wash the swollen chickpeas and add them to the bowl with the mixture being prepared. Fill it with drinking water, determining by taste what consistency (thin or thick) you want the soup to be. Season the food with the required amount of curry, salt and pepper.
After the start of a new boil, put the chopped potatoes into the pan and continue the process until the meat is ready and the pieces of root vegetables are soft. At the end of cooking the food, flavor the soup with pomegranate or lemon juice.

Let the food brew for half an hour and serve beef and chickpea soup, sprinkling portions with chopped herbs.

How to make soup without peas

The most surprising thing is that, despite the inclusion of chickpeas in most existing recipes, soup without chickpeas turns out to be no less satisfying, tasty and bright.

Required components:

carrots - 2 pcs.;
potato tubers - 7 pcs.;
garlic cloves - 3 pcs.;
meat on the bone - 800 g;
chili pod;
tomatoes - 4 pcs.;
salt, seasonings and spices.

Cooking process:

Place the washed meat, sticks of one carrot, and cloves of garlic into the pan. After half an hour, throw in the bay leaf and pepper. We continue our fascinating process until the beef is completely cooked.
In the meantime, peel the potatoes and divide them into large pieces. Chop the carrots and chop the chili pod.
Strain the broth. Cut the extracted meat into pieces and return it to the liquid base of the soup along with pieces of root vegetables and prepared vegetables.
We continue cooking the first dish until all its components are soft, after which we season it with salt and add tomato slices.

As soon as the composition boils, throw in the chopped herbs and turn off the heat. What, you've lost your appetite? No wonder - the aroma of the dish has been hovering throughout the house for a long time!

Beef kufta-bozbash

The presented dish is not only tasty and attractive, but also low in calories - only 90 kcal per 100 g. Therefore, kufta-bozbash is also a healthy dish.

List of components:

minced beef - 500 g;
chickpeas - ½ cup;
lamb fat - 50 g;
cherry plum (you can use dried apricots and prunes) - 5 pcs.;
onion - 2 pcs.;
rice - 60 g;
turmeric, dried basil, salt, pepper, ground chili, mint, dill.

Cooking sequence:

Place the peas in drinking water. Leave in this state for 3 hours, then boil for 30 minutes. There is no need to salt the liquid during cooking of chickpeas!
Place the pre-cooked minced beef into a bowl and season it with salt and pepper. Add dried herbs, finely chopped lamb fat, washed rice and boiled peas.
Mix the resulting mass thoroughly, form large, fist-sized meatballs from it, and place a cherry plum or dried fruit in the center of each portion.
Dip parts of the potatoes into the broth left after cooking the grain. Add finely chopped onion and turmeric sautéed in oil. You can use dried saffron. Do not mix the assembled components of the dish, maintaining their integrity.
Boil the ingredients for 20 minutes over low heat until the root vegetables are soft.

We serve the cooked beef kufta-bozbash to the table, garnishing the dish with the desired herbs.

With meat balls

Amazing tasty option preparing homemade soup with meat balls in Georgian style.

Products used:

beef pulp - 250 g;
chestnuts - 50 g;
egg;
a drop of Satsebeli sauce;
carrot;
chickpeas - 70 g;
lamb bones - 100 g;
grain of rice - 30 g;
tomato - 1 fruit;
onion - 1 head;
spices and herbs.

The special taste of the dish is provided by the spicy-sweet Satsebeli sauce, which contains nuts, apples, blackberries and grapes, as well as pomegranate juice. We purchase exclusively high-quality products!

Cooking technique:

Boil the broth based on lamb bones, then strain the composition. Dip peeled, finely chopped chestnuts into it, add pre-soaked split peas, and boil the food until tender.
In the meantime, grind the chopped beef twice in a food processor. Season the minced meat with pepper and salt, cloves and cinnamon, add rice boiled until half cooked, a raw egg, salt and pepper.
Knead the resulting mass thoroughly and form small balls from it.
Chop the peeled onion and sauté it in the fat taken from the surface of the broth.
Carefully lower the meatballs into the liquid base of the dish, carefully stirring the mixture after placing each ball. Add fried vegetables, diced carrots and randomly chopped peeled tomatoes. Add a drop of Satsabeli sauce (its composition is extremely rich).

Boil the soup until the ingredients in it are ready and serve.

Multicooker recipe

Today we are increasingly resorting to the “services” of kitchen electrical appliances that have become indispensable. We save personal time and get excellent food quickly!

Ingredients:

tomato paste - 50 g;
ghee;
potatoes - 500 g;
onion - 100 g;
capsicum;
tomatoes - 300 g;
chickpeas - 100 g;
drinking water - up to 500 ml;
spices/herbs/salt.

Cooking method:

Leave the peas in purified water overnight.
Divide the washed meat into portions and place in a multicooker bowl. Immediately add the chickpeas and fill the products with filtered water.
Turn on the unit and set the “Soup” mode for 1.5 hours. Be sure to remove the foam that appears after the start of boiling.
While the meat and peas are cooking, peel the onion and chop it into cubes. Remove the skins from the tomatoes and chop them into small pieces. Fry everything in a frying pan with melted butter, adding tomato paste.
We transfer the vegetables into the bowl of the unit, add the slices of chopped potatoes, and extend the cooking time by another 30 minutes.
At the end of the process, open the pan of the device, add a bay leaf, season the food with spices and herbs. Continue cooking for 10 minutes in the “Warming” mode.

The Caucasian cuisine dish is ready. The dish attracts with a bright bouquet of rich flavors and incomparable aromas. This is simply amazing!

In world cuisine, soups, including beef bozbash, occupy an important place. It is customary to treat the preparation of such food with special attention and even a bit of respect. If this is your first time turning to this excellent dish, you can be absolutely confident in your choice - there will be no disappointments!

In the Caucasus, lamb bozbash is considered the main dish of the khans; it is prepared not only for holidays. The base is a ram's head, but you can also put ribs. Chickpeas are a must, and also chestnuts, but they can be completely replaced by potatoes. There is a summer and winter option, and there are also types by region: Yerevan, Sisian, Etchmiadzin.

How to cook lamb bozbash?

Cooking lamb bozbash does not require special skills, but it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of the dish. The base does not change, the ratio of meat and water is the same in all recipes. The types differ only in the sets of vegetables, fruits and spices.

It is recommended to boil the lamb and then fry it again.

Before you cook lamb bozbash correctly, you need to make a broth from meat on the bone.

Soak the pulp in vodka with cinnamon to remove the smell and hardness.

Cook in a cauldron or pan with thick walls.

Kufta bozbash from lamb

You can’t visit the Caucasus without trying kyufta, the word is translated from Turkic as “gray head”. This lamb bozbash soup impresses with huge gray meatballs made from meat, rice and beaten eggs. A characteristic highlight is fresh cherry plum, which is placed inside meat balls.

Ingredients:

meat - 700 g;

eggs - 2 pcs.;

cherry plum - 20 pcs.;

onions - 4 pcs.;

peas - 2 tbsp. l.;

potatoes - 3 pcs.;

fat tail fat - 20 g;

saffron - 1 tbsp. l.;

black pepper - 1 tsp;

greens - 1 bunch.

Preparation

Grind the meat with onions.

Boil broth on the bones.

Separately cook the peas.

Mix minced meat with onions, eggs, rice.

Make meatballs, adding cherry plum.

Place with potatoes and onions.

Cook for 15 minutes.

Fry lard with spices.

Season the lamb bozbash.

Azerbaijani lamb bozbash - recipe

One of the most famous recipes is Azerbaijani-style lamb bozbash, it is prepared with ribs, melted butter, green beans and quince. Necessarily - spices and herbs, in addition to basil, you can add mint and saffron, they give an original taste. It is recommended to take tomatoes not fresh, but in their own juice.

Ingredients:

ribs - 1 kg;

chickpeas - 2 tbsp.;

potatoes - 4 pcs.;

ghee -100 g;

onions - 2 pcs.;

carrots - 2 pcs.;

tomatoes - 400 g;

bell pepper - 2 pcs.;

quince - 2 pcs.;

garlic - 6 cloves;

hot pepper - 1 pc.;

paprika - 1 tbsp. l.;

coriander - 1 tbsp. l.;

pomegranate juice - 100 g;

greens - 1 bunch;

black pepper - 1 tsp.

Preparation

Soak chickpeas and boil.

Cook the broth.

Fry the ribs with onions and carrots.

Add tomatoes, simmer for 5 minutes.

Grind pepper and quince.

Cook food for 30 minutes.

Add potatoes, cook for 15 minutes.

Season with garlic, hot pepper, juice, spices.

Sprinkle lamb bozbash with herbs.

Lamb bozbash with chickpeas - recipe

Since lamb bozbash soup is traditionally prepared with chickpeas, it is important to take into account the features of this product. It is also called Turkish or lamb peas, the product contains many vitamins and useful substances. But it should be soaked for at least 5 hours. The dish can also be seasoned with apples.

Ingredients:

ribs - 1 kg;

chickpeas - 2 tbsp.;

potatoes - 4 pcs.;

butter - 100 g;

onions - 2 pcs.;

carrots - 2 pcs.;

tomatoes - 400 g;

bell pepper - 2 pcs.;

apples - 2 pcs.;

garlic - 6 cloves;

hot pepper - 1 pc.;

coriander - 1 tbsp. l.;

pomegranate juice - 100 g;

greens - 1 bunch;

black pepper - 1 tsp.

Preparation

Soak chickpeas and boil.

Fry the ribs, onions and carrots.

Place the tomatoes for 7 minutes.

Grind peppers and apples.

Pour the broth over the ingredients and cook for 30 minutes.

Add potatoes for 15 minutes.

Season with garlic, juice, spices.

Sprinkle with herbs.

Lamb bozbash with tomatoes - recipe

If we consider the traditional bozbash, the lamb recipe necessarily includes tomatoes, they provide the necessary sourness. It is advisable to take tomatoes in their own juice, but in the summer, fresh ones are better. They also add turnips, zucchini, sour plums, eggplant and dried fruits. One of the popular recipes for the dish is Yerevan.

Ingredients:

pulp - 500 g;

chickpeas - 0.5 tbsp;

butter - 2 tbsp. l.;

onions - 2 pcs.;

tomatoes - 4 pcs.;

prunes - 10 pcs.;

dried apricots - 2 pcs.;

vinegar - 1 tbsp. l.;

greens - 1 bunch;

ground red pepper - 1 tsp.

Preparation

Boil chickpeas and meat.

Cut the pulp and fry with onions.

Chop vegetables and fruits.

Cook the preparations for 15 minutes.

Season with spices, vinegar, herbs.

Simmer bozbash from fresh lamb for 10 minutes.

Lamb bozbash in a cauldron - recipe

If you make bozbash soup from lamb, the recipe calls for cooking only in a cauldron so that the dish simmers. Meat comes only from young animals, without a specific smell. This flesh is lighter in color, with white fat, and the ribs are thin, like cartilage. Wide, without gaps, characteristic of old rams.

Ingredients:

pulp -1.5 kg;

onions - 3 pcs.;

potatoes - 1 kg;

tomatoes - 2 pcs.;

bell pepper - 2 pcs.;

vegetable oil - 4 tbsp. l.;

peppercorns - 10 pcs.;

turmeric - 1 tsp;

black pepper - 1 tsp;

greens - 1 bunch.

Preparation

Chop the pulp and fry with the onion.

Cook for 1 hour.

Add onions and potatoes.

Cook for 15 minutes.

Add peppers and tomatoes.

Season with spices and herbs.

Lamb bozbash without chickpeas - recipe

There is also a simpler recipe for lamb bozbash at home, without chickpeas, it is replaced by rice. It is recommended to use crushed grains; for soup, the grains need to be crushed. Some housewives boil until half cooked, knead and finish cooking in soup. Added apples and prunes will add a piquant taste.

Ingredients:

pulp - 500 g;

onions - 2 pcs.;

fat tail fat - 50 g;

rice - 1 tbsp. l.;

ground black pepper - 1 tsp;

tomatoes - 3 pcs.;

greens - 1 bunch.

Preparation

Boil the meat, cut it.

Add cilantro, onion and lard, add rice.

Cook for 30 minutes.

Season with spices and herbs.

Bozbash without chickpeas from lamb simmer for 5 minutes.

Lamb bozbash in a slow cooker

A characteristic feature of the soup is a sour-spicy flavor, for which cherry plums, plums, quince, and pickled tomatoes are added. Mint, saffron and thyme go well with specific meats. There is a simple recipe for lamb bozbash at home, prepared in a slow cooker, which significantly saves energy.

Ingredients:

pulp - 500 g;

tomatoes - 300 g;

potatoes - 200 g;

onion - 150 g;

capsicum - 50 g;

ground black pepper - 1 tsp.

Preparation

Grind the meat and vegetables, mix with spices.

To fill with water.

Set to “Stew” for 2.5 hours.

What dishes come to mind when you see a juicy piece of beef? Beef stroganoff, shish kebab and roast? Previously, my culinary skills were limited to five to seven options for preparing this delicious meat.

However, after my husband’s Azerbaijani relatives visited us, the menu was replenished with another “beef” dish. This delicious soup, which is called bozbash. It is very nourishing, rich, has an excellent taste, and can be prepared very quickly. In addition, bozbash is delicious the next day, so you can cook it more. Let's figure out how to cook it!

Azerbaijani beef bozbash soup

Kitchen tools: bowl for soaking chickpeas, cutting board, knife, spatula for stirring, spoon. It is better to cook it in a saucepan with a thick bottom and walls or in a cauldron. Cast iron cookware works great.

Ingredients

How to choose the right ingredients

Be sure to pay attention to the choice of beef. If you want a more rich dish, take a piece with a bone, and for the “light” option – just low-fat pulp. Pay attention to the color and consistency of the meat: pink or burgundy color indicates freshness, and the appearance of spots or dull color is an indicator that the product is “not the first freshness”. Yellowish streaks of fat “speak” of the venerable age of the animal; this meat will be tough. Please note that good beef is firm and elastic; if you press it with your finger, the resulting cavity will fill quickly enough. Try to buy chilled meat rather than frozen.
If you can't find chickpeas, you can replace them with regular peas.
If desired butter can be replaced with vegetable.

Step-by-step preparation

Wash 100 g of chickpeas thoroughly, then soak it with plain water (not drinking water). It is better to do this at night, in extreme cases - no less than 4 hours.
Chickpeas are also called chickpeas. The rules for choosing it are quite simple: the peas should be light yellow, of the same size and shade. Green or brown grains are not suitable; it is better to set them aside in advance.
Peel 1 onion and cut it into small cubes.
Place a saucepan on the fire, then melt 20 g of butter in it.
When the butter melts, add the chopped onion and fry until golden brown.
Meanwhile, get to the meat. Take 400 g of beef, rinse, cut into portions (about 4 cm in size).
When the onion turns golden, add 280 g of tomatoes in their own juice. Stir and simmer over low heat until half the liquid has evaporated.
When choosing tomatoes, you can safely use home canning. It is better if the tomatoes are not whole, but cut into pieces
Add the meat to the pan and simmer until the meat changes color (about 10-15 minutes).
Drain the soaked peas and add the chickpeas to the pan.
Pour 2 liters of water into the soup.
Season the bozbash to taste, add 1 teaspoon of turmeric and ground black pepper. Let the dish boil and cook over low heat until the meat and chickpeas are soft. On average, this will take about one and a half hours.
Peel 6 potatoes and cut them into slices about 0.5 cm thick.
When the meat and chickpeas are soft, add the potatoes to the soup. Stir the bozbash and cook until the potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes).
Taste the soup and add salt if necessary.

Bon appetit!

Recipe video

To see how to cook bozbash with pieces of beef, watch the following video. It shows the technology for preparing this first dish.

Options for decorating and serving dishes

The finished bozbash looks very beautiful - yellow peas, red pieces of tomatoes, a delicate shade of meat... As a rule, to decorate such a soup it is enough to sprinkle it with finely chopped herbs.

If you want to make this dish even more original, sprinkle the edges of the plate into which you pour the soup. ground paprika and pepper. These colored “stripes” look very elegant. Soup is served as a first course, after appetizers.

Due to the fact that it is very filling, you can limit yourself to minimal “additions”: pita bread torn into pieces or a dried white loaf, as well as vegetable salad or vegetable slices.

Try to use a shoulder or rump for this soup - these parts of the carcass cook faster than the thigh or brisket.
Potatoes can be cut quite large - according to the recipe they should not be too small. Small tubers can simply be cut in half (but in this case, take eight or nine of them, not six).
If you don't have a thick-walled pan, you can fry the onions in a frying pan. Add meat to it, and transfer the mixture to the pan before adding chickpeas.
If the bozbash turns out to be too thick, feel free to add water to it (at the stage of boiling the potatoes).
To speed up the cooking process, chickpeas can be boiled separately until half cooked (this will take from 40 minutes to 1 hour). Fill it with 0.5 liters of water and cook over low heat.
Beef on the bone can also be boiled separately until half cooked. In this case, use not water for bozbash, but the resulting broth.

Other possible preparation and filling options

Try making “lamb bozbash”: it is prepared according to almost the same recipe.
Beef lovers should try other first courses made from this meat: Caucasian -khash-, as well as Turkic. By the way, Moldovans also love the latter very much.
You can also prepare this dish in a slow cooker. Like any other beef soup, it must be cooked in the first course cooking mode for about an hour and a half.
Some people make this soup from chicken, but in this case it turns out less flavorful.
Try replacing chickpeas with other legumes, such as regular peas or lentils. By the way, it is very good for health.

Many peoples argue about who first prepared this soup. Bozbash is indeed very popular, and this is easy to explain, because its original taste captivates from the first spoon. Are you preparing this dish? Share your recipes in the comments!

Those who have visited the Caucasus talk with delight about bozbash - very tasty Caucasian soup in meat broth. This dish is the pride of Azerbaijani cuisine. The base is lamb, beef or chicken, which is generously supplemented with chickpeas - chickpeas, green beans, fresh vegetables and aromatic spices. The result is hearty dish with sourness, something between a soup and a main course.

Recipes from Azerbaijan

Translated from Azerbaijani language "bozbash" means "gray head". In Georgian cuisine, a similar soup is called basbashe. In the Caucasus, there are countless recipes for preparing bozbash, which differ in the composition of the ingredients. In some regions, chestnuts or potatoes are added instead of chickpeas, and along with onions vegetables such as carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants, and turnips are used.

There are recipes for Azerbaijani bozbash, which involve the addition of sour fruits - cherry plum, plum or apples, as well as currant, pomegranate or lemon juice. And the main ingredient, which no recipe can do without, is meat.

If you ever visit Azerbaijan, be sure to try bozbash meat soup. It is prepared in every Azerbaijani family and, of course, served in cafes and restaurants.

And as a souvenir of the sunny region and unforgettable days spent in the eastern country, bring a recipe that will help you prepare lamb bozbash at home, as is customary in the Caucasus.

Rich lamb soup

In Azerbaijan, they prefer to prepare first and second courses from lamb, and most often lamb pulp or lamb ribs are used. Bozbash, cooked from such meat, turns out to be very rich and is called brocade-bozbash. Sometimes bozbash is confused with soyutma - another lamb dish, which is mainly prepared from shanks, potatoes or chestnuts are added to them. But this is more of a second course than a soup.

To prepare a classic bozbash you will need the following set of products:

Place the washed meat in a large cast-iron pan or cauldron, pour in 5 liters of raw water, place on a preheated stove and bring the contents to a boil. Don't forget to remove the foam. After the water boils, switch the burner to medium heat, after half an hour, salt the broth, add peppercorns. To make the broth aromatic and clear, add a peeled whole onion and carrots and continue cooking until tender.

While the meat is cooking, peel the carrots and remove the seeds from the sweet peppers. After this, cut the carrots and pepper into strips, peel the remaining onions and cut into thin half rings. Remove the skin from the eggplants and chop into large cubes.

Tomatoes also need to be peeled: to do this, pour boiling water over them and immediately dip them in cold water, now you can remove the skin. Finely chop the peeled tomatoes. Peel the potatoes, and to prevent them from darkening, place them in a bowl of cold water. All that remains is to wash the quince, remove the seeds from it and cut the fruit into slices.

After the meat is cooked, remove it from the cauldron and cut it into large portions, strain the broth and pour it into another container. Wash the cauldron, pour in vegetable oil and fry the boiled lamb until golden brown, then add the onion and simmer over medium heat until it softens.

The next step is to add carrots, cumin and coriander. After the carrots become soft, pour the prepared tomatoes into the cauldron, which can be replaced with tomato paste, and Bell pepper, leave to simmer for 10 minutes.

Place the chickpeas pre-soaked overnight into a cauldron with meat and vegetables, add hot pepper, Bay leaf, salt and fill with strained broth. Bring the contents of the cauldron to a boil, switch the heat to medium and cook until the chickpeas are ready.

Now it’s time to add potatoes and quince, and after another quarter of an hour - dried basil and saffron, which will give the dish a pleasant golden color. Close the cauldron, turn off the heat and let the soup brew for a few minutes. Serve the finished dish in deep plates, sprinkling chopped herbs on top and adding sour cream to taste.

With this recipe, you can safely improvise: for example, instead of eggplant, take zucchini, and in the absence of fresh fruits, use dried fruits, which must first be soaked in warm water. Green beans will not spoil the taste of the dish at all.

The secret of kufta-bozbash

The recipe for this type of bozbash differs from the classic dish in that it uses lamb meatballs. When preparing minced meat, onions, rice and spices are added to it. The meatballs are given a special piquancy by the secret ingredient - cherry plum or plum, which is placed into the center of the meat ball as a filling. It’s also worth noting the size of the meatballs: they are made half the size of your palm. Azerbaijani soup with fresh bread or crispy lavash is very tasty.

If it is not possible to prepare this lamb dish, do not be discouraged and use with the following recipe, which tells you how to cook bozbash from beef.

Beef soup on the bone

A dish made from veal or beef is not as fatty as bozbash according to the lamb recipe, but no less tasty. To prepare a delicious and rich soup, prepare the following ingredients:

Preparation of chickpeas begins the day before cooking: fill it with water and leave it to swell until the morning. In the morning, drain and rinse the chickpeas.

Wash the meat and cut into pieces measuring 2x3 cm. Peel the onions and potatoes, cut the onions into half rings and the potatoes into slices.

Melt the butter in a deep saucepan and fry the onion until translucent, then add tomato paste and bring the mixture until thickened. The next step is to add meat and bones, which need to be fried for about 10 minutes, then pour peas into the pan, pour boiling water over the contents, salt, pepper and add turmeric. Bring the contents of the pan to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the meat and chickpeas are cooked.

Lastly, add the potatoes and cook until they are ready, remove the pan from the heat and let the soup brew for half an hour. Serve bozbash in soup bowls, sprinkled with chopped cilantro or parsley on top.

Very often other dishes of Caucasian cuisine, for example, shalampur, are confused with bozbash. The difference between shalampur is that it is a full-fledged second course, in which the ingredients are placed in layers in a thick-walled pan or cauldron with a small amount of fat tail fat or oil at the bottom and simmered for 2 hours. Its composition, like bozbash, includes lamb cut into pieces, which is flavored with salt, turmeric, black allspice and ground ginger.

Place mugs of tomatoes on top of the meat, bell pepper, sliced potatoes and onion rings. Each layer is salted, sprinkled with ground pepper, herbs, dried barberry, and then the layers are repeated.

This splendor is poured with half a glass of water on top, brought to a boil and simmered for 2 hours over low heat. In the end it turns out delicious dish with meat that melts in your mouth, which is eaten even by those who do not like lamb.

Another lamb dish - kukai bash - also resembles bozbash in its composition. To prepare it, boil lamb and potatoes, which are then cut into medium pieces and placed in a deep saucepan. The food is poured with melted butter on top and sprinkled with salt, pepper and chopped onion. The final touch is pouring an egg mixed with fresh herbs, and the saucepan can be sent to the oven. The dish can be removed from the oven when it is covered with a golden brown crust. When serving, just don’t be surprised, you need to sprinkle the kukai bash with cinnamon.

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