Kurban chorba

Ingredients

Meat

• 2 kglamb or mutton on the bone
• shoulder, neck and shank
• 3 litreswater
• 2 teaspoonssalt

The pot

• 3onions, chopped
• 3carrots, diced
• 2red peppers, diced
• 3tomatoes, chopped
• 150 grice
• or 150 g fine bulgur
• 4 tablespoonsoil
• 2 teaspoonssweet paprika
• 1 tablespoondried summer savory
• chubritsa
• 2bay leaves
• black pepper

To finish

• 2egg yolks
• 200 gyoghurt
• juice of 1 lemon
• a handful of parsley
• or vinegar, at the table

To serve

• bread
• fresh chilli
• at a village feast

Directions

1. Take ladles of hot broth into it first. Cut the lamb into large pieces. Leave the bones in throughout. Rinse the pieces in cold water. Put the meat in a very large pot. Cover it with all the cold water. Bring the pot up to a full boil. Skim off the grey foam as it rises.
2. Keep skimming for the first twenty minutes. Do not skip that step at any point. Add the salt and the bay leaves. Cover the pot and let it cook on. Give it at least two full hours.
3. Lift the meat out of the broth. Let it cool enough to handle it. Pull all the meat from the bones. Cut it into bite-sized pieces. Discard the bones and any gristle. Strain the broth through a sieve. Return it all to the clean pot. Both are done and it is a matter of taste.
4. Heat the oil in a separate pan. Add the chopped onions to the pan. Cook them for a good eight minutes. Add the carrots and the peppers. Cook them for five more minutes. Adding the paprika takes care. Take the pan off the heat entirely. Stir the paprika into the hot vegetables. Paprika burns within seconds in hot fat.
5. Tip the vegetables into the broth. Add the chopped tomatoes to it. Return the picked meat to the pot. Bring it up to a gentle simmer. Rinse the rice well in cold water. Add it into the simmering soup. Let it cook for about twenty minutes. It should be soft rather than firm.
6. Add the dried summer savory to it. Add plenty of black pepper as well. Let it simmer for ten more minutes. Taste it and adjust the salt as needed. Beat the egg yolks in a small bowl. Whisk the yoghurt into them fully. Add the lemon juice into that too. Take a ladle of the hot soup out. Whisk it slowly into the yoghurt mixture.
7. Add a second ladle the same way. Take the pot right off the heat. Pour the tempered mixture into it. Stir it right through immediately. Do not let it boil afterwards. Keep it below a simmer from here on. Scatter chopped parsley over it.
8. Taste it and adjust the lemon. Serving it is done hot in bowls. Ladle it out with plenty of meat. Serve fresh bread alongside it. Put fresh chilli on the table. It keeps three days refrigerated.

Technique

• Kurban means a sacrifice or votive offering: an animal is offered in fulfilment of a vow, cooked and shared out, and the sharing is the whole purpose. The soup is given to everyone who comes, people of different faiths alike, and that openness is part of the custom as observed in Bulgaria.
• Many Bulgarian soups finish with a zastroyka of egg yolk and yoghurt, which must be tempered by whisking in ladles of hot broth one at a time; adding it cold and all at once curdles it instantly, and the soup must never boil afterwards or it splits and goes grainy.
• This recipe is a domestic reduction of something cooked outdoors in a cauldron over a wood fire from a whole animal, feeding a village at once; mutton from an older sheep is often what a votive animal is, and it needs considerably longer cooking than lamb.

Substitutions

• Fine bulgur stands in for rice and is used in some villages.
• Dried summer savory is chubritsa, the defining Bulgarian herb, and nothing tastes quite the same.

Variations

• Some cooks skim the lamb fat off and others leave it in for richness.
• Vinegar rather than lemon is offered at the table in some places.
• It is cooked on saints’ days, at village festivals and to fulfil a personal vow.

History

Cooked as a votive offering on saints’ days, distributed to everyone present regardless of faith.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kurban chorba?

Kurban chorba is a soup & stew from Bulgaria: lamb or mutton soup cooked in a cauldron and shared at village feasts. Cooked as a votive offering on saints’ days, distributed to everyone present regardless of faith.

How long does Kurban chorba take to make?

Kurban chorba takes 40 minutes of preparation and 3 hours of cooking. The recipe makes serves 12. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Kurban chorba?

Yes, within limits. Fine bulgur stands in for rice and is used in some villages. Dried summer savory is chubritsa, the defining Bulgarian herb, and nothing tastes quite the same.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kurban chorba?

Keep skimming for the first twenty minutes. Do not skip that step at any point. Add the salt and the bay leaves. Cover the pot and let it cook on. Give it at least two full hours.