Azerbaijani beef bozbash with chickpeas

Step-by-step preparation

Cooking time: 1 hr 45 mins

1. STEP 1

   

   How to cook bozbash, Azerbaijani soup? Prepare all the necessary ingredients. You can use only the beef pulp, but if you need a richer broth, then take part of the meat with the bone. For tomatoes in their own juice, you can use ready-made store-bought ones or replace them with fresh tomatoes, grate some of them on a fine grater, and cut the rest into small cubes.

2. STEP 2

   

   Rinse chickpeas until clean. Fill with cold water and leave overnight. Then drain the water and dry the peas.! While soaking, chickpeas may make slight clicking noises that can be heard even through the water. Therefore, if at night you hear an incomprehensible periodic crackling sound from the kitchen, then do not be alarmed - it’s chickpeas. If these clicks are too disturbing, you can put the chickpeas in a cold oven - nothing can be heard behind the hermetically closed door.

3. STEP 3

   

   Peel the potatoes and cut them in half lengthwise. If the tubers are large, then in quarters.

4. STEP 4

   

   Wash the beef, dry it and cut into medium pieces.

5. STEP 5

   

   Peel the onion. I have a large onion, so I used half. Then it all depends on your preferences. Usually the onion is chopped into small cubes and fried along with the meat (step 7). And then they add the rest of the ingredients and cook the soup along with the onions. I prefer that there are no pieces of onion in the soup. Therefore, I cut it coarsely and after frying it with the meat, take it out of the pan and cook the bozbash without the onion.

6. STEP 6

   

   Heat the butter in a frying pan over high heat. Add the beef and fry, stirring, until golden brown.

7. STEP 7

   

   As soon as almost all the excess liquid has evaporated from the pan and the first golden spots appear on the meat, add the onion (finely or coarsely chopped) and fry everything together until all the meat is covered with a golden crust. Then you can remove the onion from the pan, like I did, or continue cooking with him.

8. STEP 8

   

   Transfer the meat to the pan. Reduce heat to medium.

9. STEP 9

   

   Add chickpeas. Salt and pepper everything, sprinkle with turmeric and mix.

10. STEP 10

    

    Pour in hot water and bring to a boil. Cook over low heat at a low simmer for about 30-40 minutes until the beef is cooked through.

11. STEP 11

    

    Add potatoes and tomatoes in their own juice to the soup and cook the bozbash, stirring occasionally, for another 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are ready.

12. STEP 12

    

    Remove the finished soup from the heat and let it brew under the lid for 20-25 minutes.

13. STEP 13

    

    Then pour the soup into bowls, sprinkle with chopped parsley or cilantro and serve. Bon appetit!