Begova čorba

Ingredients

• Chicken — whole1.5 kg
• Veal — optional400 g
• Okra — small, whole200 g
• Carrots2
• Celeriac150 g
• Onion1
• Egg yolks3
• Soured cream250 ml
• Flour2 tbsp
• Butter50 g
• Lemon1
• Parsley30 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Simmer the chicken and veal with the onion, carrot and celeriac for an hour, skimming.

   65 min

2. 2

   Lift out the meat, strain the broth and pull the chicken into fine threads.

   20 min

3. 3

   Rinse the okra under cold water and pat it dry without trimming the caps.

   8 min

4. 4

   Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook it two minutes without letting it colour.

   5 min

5. 5

   Pour the broth into the roux, add the okra and cook fifteen minutes.

   17 min

6. 6

   Whisk the yolks with the soured cream and ladle in hot broth, stirring without stopping.

   8 min

7. 7

   Take the pot off the heat, pour in the mixture, return the meat and warm it through without boiling. Add lemon and parsley.

   8 min

About the dish

The okra is rinsed and left uncut so it does not release its mucilage. In begova čorba the body comes from yolks, and the sliminess of okra counts as a fault.

The yolk liaison goes in off the heat and is tempered with hot broth. Poured straight into the pot it curdles and the soup goes grainy.

The name means "the bey's soup": it was served to the nobility, and the meat was pulled into fine threads so it could be eaten without a knife.

Worth knowing

• — Take the pot off the heat before the yolks go in. Even a bare simmer sets them within seconds.
• — Use small okra, whole. Large ones have to be cut, and cut okra releases the mucilage this soup should not have.
• — The soup is not reheated twice. The yolk liaison splits on a second heating and cannot be brought back.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

520 kcal

Protein

44 g

Fat

30 g

Carbs

16 g

More from Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Bosanski lonac — Meat and vegetables layered in a clay pot and cooked four hours without stirring.
• Bosnian burek — A spiral of hand-stretched pastry with a meat filling. In Bosnia only the meat one is called burek.
• Tufahije — Apples poached in syrup and filled with walnuts under whipped cream.