How to cook regular pilaf with meat. How to cook pilaf at home

Hi all!

Do you like pilaf from Uzbek cuisine? I think so, since you are reading and looking for delicious variations in the preparation of this most delicious dish. And I want to please you today with a variety of recipes for its preparation.

I already wrote earlier that I know first-hand about Uzbek cuisine - after all, I come from Tashkent. Tashkent is the capital of sunny Uzbekistan. And in this colorful city, in hospitable cafes - teahouses - you can taste delicious national dishes: and, of course, pilaf.

This dish has so many recipes that even in one cookbook by an Uzbek author I counted about 50 different versions of it. I may someday describe all 50 methods, but today, dear cooks, I offer you 5 of the most popular recipes.

Today in the article:

How to cook real Uzbek pilaf correctly

Without knowledge of the general rules for preparing crumbly and tasty pilaf, you will not be able to cook a high-quality and appetizing dish. Therefore, I definitely recommend reading these important recommendations.

Rice. The secret of a crumbly dish, where the grain of rice leaves the grain, lies in the correct choice of rice variety. The ideal varieties would be Devzira, Oshpar, Kenja and the varieties from which paella is made.

Steamed rice, which is sometimes found in stores, is by no means suitable for preparing good pilaf.

These varieties are quite hard and dense and do not soften when cooked. But rice that grew in Southeast Asia, such as India or Vietnam, is not suitable for crumbly dishes. The varieties most often grown there are jasmine and basmati. They get very soft even with a little cooking and can ruin everything, turning our dish into porridge.

Meat. In Uzbekistan, it is common to cook from lamb and fat tail fat. But recipes for cooking with beef, poultry or pork are also often found. At the same time, the quality of the pilaf does not suffer at all. You just need to choose good meat with streaks of fat and try to cut it no smaller than, say, a lime. It is better to use chilled meat that has not been frozen. And then you will receive a fragrant, tasty dish.

Oil and spices. Uzbek cooks originally used unrefined cottonseed oil. But this is in order to reduce the cost of the dish, since cottonseed oil is cheaper than carrots, which is also included in the composition. Nowadays it is most correct to fry in refined vegetable oils so that they do not interrupt the aroma of the food being prepared. Therefore, do not bother looking for cottonseed oil, but cook with any vegetable oil: sunflower, corn or even olive.

You can add any spices, but there is still a basic set of herbs and spices, without which you cannot get the aroma of unsurpassed pilaf. This set includes cumin (cumin), barberry, black pepper and coriander seeds.

Sometimes saffron or its cheaper alternative, turmeric, is added to give the dish a beautiful golden-yellow color.

You can get creative and add your favorite seasonings to the basic set of spices.

Kazan and cauldron. It is important to choose a good cauldron or cauldron with a thick bottom. Then your dish will cook evenly and will not burn. Thin saucepans and enamel dishes should absolutely not be used. Here it is better to fork out more and buy a normal cast iron boiler. By cooking in the right container, you will receive a wonderful dish that even the most sophisticated Uzbek chefs will praise.

Another important element when cooking delicious food is a slotted spoon. It looks like a big spoon with holes. It is very convenient for her to stir zirvak and pile rice. If you find one in a store, be sure to buy it. Such a convenient stirrer will be useful not only for cooking Uzbek food. And what it looks like - look at the photo below.

Roasted vegetables - zirvak. Zirvak is the process of frying onions and carrots with meat and spices before adding rice. In the East, the preparation of zirvak is treated with great care and respect. Of course, the whole dish depends on a well-fried zirvak. Therefore, if you make a good frying for pilaf, then the dish itself will turn out not only tasty, but also beautiful.

In Uzbekistan, pilaf is served on a large dish - lyagan. In this case, they often do not stir, but simply tip it onto a plate. In this case, the rice remains at the bottom and the zirvak on top. If you wish, of course, you can mix everything in advance in the cauldron.

Well, in addition, you can put a salad of fresh cucumbers and tomatoes on the table - personally, I really like to pour the magnificent juice from this salad over the dish on my plate. Or chop onions and herbs and season with vinegar, as they do in the homeland of pilaf.

These are, in principle, simple tips that will help you prepare a flavorful dish and please your family and guests!

Cooking Uzbek pork pilaf

Although among Muslims a pig is considered a dirty animal and is not used in cooking, we have a different attitude towards this animal and really value the tasty and nutritious pork meat.

The pork in the dish comes out soft and tender. At the same time, it cooks much faster in time, unlike the version with lamb. Well, the very step-by-step process of cooking the food deserves the name - Uzbek pilaf!

In this option, we take basic products 1 to 1. And we take pork pulp with fat.

Required ingredients:

Pork - 1 kg;
Rice - 1 kg;
Carrots - 1 kg;
Oil - 400 ml;
Garlic - 2 heads;
Salt, cumin, turmeric, barberry - to taste.

Preparation:

We separate the fat from the pork and fry it in a cauldron with oil. I forgot to say that for such a quantity of products we need a large cauldron - 7-10 liters.

Cut the pulp itself into pieces the size of a small lemon or lime.

Here, if desired, you can take pork without fat. But then you will need fat tail fat instead.

Fry for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, you can chop and peel the onions and carrots.

Cut the onion into half rings. There is no need to grind it - it will still get lost in the pilaf. But at the same time it will give off its piquancy and aroma.

The fat has acquired a golden color - it’s time to add the onions.

Fry the onion until a beautiful golden color.

Add the pork pulp and continue frying. Stir the whole mass with a slotted spoon, which I wrote about above, or with any other spatula convenient for you.

Now you can add some of the seasonings - cumin and salt.

Cut the carrots into large strips. And add to the fried onions, meat and spices.

We cook everything with the lid open so that the zirvak is thoroughly fried. Don't forget to stir it from time to time so that it doesn't burn.

When the carrots soften, add turmeric, barberry and pepper. Pour in 1 glass of water and simmer for 5-7 minutes.

While it is stewing, wash the rice under running water. The most important thing here is to rinse it well so that the water is clean and not cloudy. Such well-washed rice in pilaf turns out to be crumbly, without gluing.

Mix our zirvak one more time. We make sure that nothing burns and stick 2 heads of garlic into the middle.

Carefully pour the rice into a cauldron to fry the vegetables.

Level it with a slotted spoon or spoon. You can add more seasonings on top. As they say, you can't spoil porridge with butter. So is pilaf with seasonings.

Pour clean drinking water on top 1.5 cm from the surface of the rice and boil over high heat.

Once all the water has evaporated, reduce the heat.

We collect the rice in a mound, carefully separating it from the walls of the cauldron.

If your water has evaporated well, then it won’t be difficult to make a slide. She will not move apart.

In the center of the slide we make indentations to the very bottom. We need this to steam the rice well.

Cover tightly with a lid and leave for 20-25 minutes until ready.

Bon appetit!

Delicious Uzbek pilaf with chicken

This option is one of the most affordable. Because, firstly, chicken meat is available and one of the cheapest; secondly, it’s easy and quick to prepare, taking a minimum of time and effort.

That's why my men often see this dish on our table. And they are happy, and I - a well-fed husband and son means that they are in a good mood. And their great mood is transmitted to me. Especially when they compliment me on a wonderful lunch.

So, we will need:

Chicken – 700 gr.;
Rice - 1 kg;
Onions – 3 pieces;
Carrots - 6-7 medium pieces;
Vegetable oil – 250 ml;
Spices: black and red pepper, coriander, cumin, barberry, salt;
Garlic, quince, dried apricots - optional.

We are preparing zirvak. This is what Uzbeks call the base: fried meat with onions and carrots and spices and sometimes dried fruits.

I took the chicken on the bones: thighs, drumsticks and wings.

The pulp may get lost in the pilaf. Or, even worse, it will disintegrate into fibers, since chicken meat cooks very quickly.

Wash the chicken for pilaf and dry it on paper towels.

Pour vegetable oil into the boiler and heat it. Throw the chicken parts into the oil and fry for 5-7 minutes.

Peel the onion. Then cut into half rings and add to the chicken.

Mix the whole mass. Let it fry until light golden and beautiful.

Peel the carrots and cut them into strips.

And we try not to make it small, but you can cut it very coarsely.

Throw the carrot strips into the cauldron with the onions and chicken, fry until the carrots soften. It is believed that the more carrots, the juicier and more beautiful the pilaf.

Now it’s the turn of our spices. Add seasonings and salt. I recommend crushing the coriander and cumin with a pestle and mortar just before adding. This way the dish will be more flavorful.

Zirvak can be well salted. Because some of the salt will be absorbed by the rice. And if the zirvak is under-salted, the pilaf will turn out bland.

Fry with zirvak spices for another 5 minutes.

While the zirvak is fried, prepare the rice.

Rice should be washed well 5-6 times in a large bowl. We rinse it like this: while the water is pouring, rub the rice between your palms. The bowl is filled with water - drain the water through a sieve so that the grains of rice do not escape. We need to repeat this operation several times so that the water becomes much clearer than when we washed the rice the first time.

Also at this time we boil water in the kettle. We will need 1-1.5 liters of boiling water.

We make sure that the zirvak does not burn. Place the rice in the cauldron on the zirvak and level it.

Under no circumstances should we mix rice with zirvak!

Pour boiling water over the rice 2 cm from the surface of the rice and evaporate the water from the cauldron over high heat. We do not cover the cauldron with a lid.

The water may evaporate for 10-15 minutes. How can you tell if the water has completely evaporated? Take a flat spatula or slotted spoon and separate the rice from the sides. When the water has completely evaporated, we will see boiling oil in the zirvak at the bottom. And the rice itself will form a wall and not crumble. To make the pilaf crumbly, it is important to evaporate the water well.

When the water has evaporated, carefully separate the rice from the walls of the cauldron and fold it into a mound. We make a hole in the middle until the day.

At this time, you can optionally add a couple of heads of garlic, quince slices or dried apricots to the rice.

Cover the cauldron with a lid and leave a very small fire under the cauldron. Cook for 20 minutes. During this time, the lid must not be opened.

If the lid does not fit tightly to the cauldron, you can cover it with a towel and cover the cauldron.

After 20 minutes, try the rice. If the rice is soft, then the food is ready. Before serving, pilaf can be stirred in a cauldron, mixing rice and zirvak. Or you can dump the entire cauldron onto one huge dish - lyagan, without stirring. This way you will get rice, and on top of it will be meat and vegetables - zirvak.

We eat with pleasure!

Recipe for crumbly pilaf with chicken in a slow cooker

A wonderful dish can be prepared in a slow cooker. Probably the easiest way to cook. Everything is cooked in one pot and there is no need to fry or simmer anything separately.

And I also call this option a quick fix. After all, the wonderful multi-cooker assistant will do everything herself, just set up the program.

And if you haven’t tried this method yet, be sure to check it out!

Appetizing turkey dish in a cauldron on the stove

Pilaf with turkey turns out to be dietary and not as fatty as with other meat. Therefore, this dish is lower in calories and deserves to be on the table for those who are on a diet and maintain a slim figure.

And bon appetit!

An interesting way to prepare pilaf with duck according to the recipe of Stalik Khankishiev

Stalik Khankishiev is a culinary specialist and restaurateur who has published several excellent books on oriental cooking. He is Azerbaijani, but was born and raised in Fergana in the Uzbek SSR.

Choosing recipes for dinner from videos, I liked the video where an Azerbaijani chef prepares a wonderful duck dish.

I really liked the recipe. And since my husband’s father sent us several Indian ducks in a parcel, I became completely stronger in my decision.

I prepared it and gave it to my family to try. Seeing happy and smiling faces, I thought that I could share the recipe with you, my dear readers.

We will need:

Duck - 1 kilogram;
Rice is round and not steamed - 1 kilogram;
Yellow or red carrots - 1 kilogram;
Vegetable oil - 250 ml;
Spices: barberry, coriander, cumin, turmeric - 0.5 teaspoon each;
Salt and pepper - to taste.

The only thing is that I simplified Stalik Khuseinovich’s recipe. In the process, he pre-separates the fat and skin from the duck carcass and cooks it for a couple of hours. Then it turns into lard.

Then zirvak is fried on it.

I offer you a simpler method - immediately cook the duck with vegetable oil. At the same time, the fat will be rendered, which will help us save vegetable oil. Which is even better. The duck is quite fatty - this is exactly the kind of meat you need for a good juicy pilaf.

We cut the duck carcass into parts: drumsticks, wings, neck and other parts. I just ask: don’t throw away the tail; it has a lot of lard and will give a lot of fat when fried.

We take a spacious cauldron, fill it with oil and throw in our duck. Fry over high heat for 30-40 minutes.

Keep the lid off during this process and stir occasionally with a slotted spoon.

While the duck is roasting, it's time to prepare the vegetables.

Peel the carrots and onions. We cut the onion into half rings, and the carrots into long strips.

Combine all the onions with the duck. Fry the onion until golden brown.

Now it's the turn of carrots and spices. Throw the carrots into the cauldron. Add aromatic spices.

Mix everything with a large spoon and fry for another 2-3 minutes.

Pour the rice into a deep bowl and rinse under running tap water.

We try to wash the rice very thoroughly. We rub it between our hands to get rid of plaque.

Drain excess water through a strainer. This way we will protect our grains of rice from escaping into the drain.

To make the rice clean, repeat the procedure 6-7 times.

Place the cereal on top of the zirvak evenly and smoothly. Level with a spatula or slotted spoon.

Pour boiling water on top. Water should be poured 1-1.5 cm from the surface. Better yet, focus on the phalanx of your finger.

Let the rice steam with the lid open over high heat.

The water will completely disappear and the rice can be piled up. If the grains easily collect in a hill and do not scatter to the sides, it means that the water has evaporated well and you are doing everything correctly.

We make a hole in the middle all the way to the bottom. This hole will help the rice cook well.

Reduce the heat on the stove under the cauldron to the very minimum.

Wrap the lid of the cauldron with a kitchen towel. The towel will help press the lid tightly and keep all the steam in the cauldron.

Close the cauldron and leave for 25 minutes until ready.

After the specified time, we check our dish. If you did everything according to the recipe, you will get a ready-made, aromatic, tasty dish, where grains move away from grains and do not stick.

That's what happened to me. I think Stalik Khankishiev himself would certainly praise me.

I mixed the finished dish directly in the cauldron with zirvak and served it to the table on plates.

With sauerkraut, we finished the dish in a matter of seconds and ran for more.

I wish you ease of preparation and bon appetit!

Did you like the recipes? Write your reviews and suggestions below. Any attention and support from you inspires me to write even more delicious recipes!

And I will describe how to cook real Uzbek pilaf from lamb and beef in subsequent articles.

It takes an hour to prepare the pilaf. Half an hour is needed to fry the meat with carrots and onions, and about an hour of cooking is needed after rice is added to the pan. The rice needs to be literally “simmered” with the top layer, so keep the pilaf for at least 40 minutes after the water boils in the cauldron, and if there is a lot of pilaf, even an hour. After cooking the pilaf, stir and leave for at least 15 minutes.

How to cook pilaf

Meat for pilaf
5 liters per cauldron or saucepan
Meat - half a kilo / the classic recipe uses lamb, which, if necessary, can be replaced with beef, veal and, as a last resort, lean pork or chicken

Rice for pilaf
Steamed rice - half a kilo

Spices for pilaf
Carrots - 250 grams
Onion - 2 large
Garlic - 1 head
Zira - 1 tablespoon
Barberry - 1 tablespoon
Turmeric - half a tablespoon
Ground red pepper - 1 teaspoon
Ground black pepper - half a teaspoon
Salt - 1 heaped teaspoon
Vegetable oil - 1/8 cup (or fat tail fat - 150 grams)

How to cook pilaf
1. Peel the onion and cut into half rings.
2. Heat a thick-walled saucepan or cauldron, pour in oil (or melt fat from tail fat) and add onions; fry with occasional stirring over medium heat for 5 minutes.
3. Cut the meat into pieces with a side of 2-4 centimeters, add to the onion and fry until golden brown for 7 minutes.
4. Cut the carrots into long cubes 0.5 centimeters thick and add to the meat.
5. Add cumin and salt, all spices and seasonings, mix meat and vegetables.
6. Level the meat and vegetables to level 1, pour rice on top in an even layer.
7. Pour boiling water so that it covers the rice 3 centimeters above, place a whole head of garlic in the center.
8. Cover the cauldron with a lid and simmer the pilaf for 40 minutes - 1 hour over low heat until the meat is completely cooked.
9. Stir the pilaf, cover with a lid, wrap in a blanket and leave for 15 minutes to simmer.

Pilaf on fire in a cauldron

It is recommended to double the quantity of products
1. Make a fire, take care of a sufficient amount of firewood and a long shovel for stirring. The firewood must be small for the flame to be strong.
2. Place the cauldron over the firewood - it should be exactly above the firewood, parallel to the ground. The cauldron should be large so that mixing in it is convenient.
3. Pour oil over it - you need three times more oil, because... pilaf burns more easily over a fire.
4. Place the meat piece by piece into well-heated oil so that the oil does not cool. It is important to place the oil carefully so as not to get burned by oil splashes. You can use gloves or spread the butter with a spatula.
5. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring the pieces every minute.
6. Add chopped onion to the meat and fry for another 5 minutes.
7. Add half a glass of boiling water and fry for another 5 minutes.
8. Remove high flame: zirvak should be simmered at medium boil.
9. Add salt and spices, stir.
10. Add some small logs so that there is enough to cook the rice.
11. Wash the rice, lay out in an even layer, and insert a whole head of garlic on top.
12. Add salt and add water so that it is level with the rice.
13. Close the cauldron with a lid, open it only slightly to control cooking.
14. Steam pilaf for 20 minutes.
15. Mix meat with rice, cook for another 20 minutes. Rice for pilaf
To prepare pilaf, you can use any high-quality long-grain or medium-grain durum rice (dev-jeera, laser, alanga, basmati) so that it remains crumbly when cooked. Carrot for pilaf it is necessary to cut it, and not grate it, so that the carrots do not lose their structure during cooking (in fact, the carrots in pilaf are cooked for an hour) and the pilaf remains crumbly. Onion It is also recommended to chop it coarsely so that it does not overcook. Meat and onions for pilaf must be fried until the liquid has almost completely evaporated, because... excess liquid leads to a decrease in the friability of the pilaf.

What spices are put in pilaf
Traditional - cumin (Indian cumin), barberry, saffron, turmeric. It is turmeric that gives pilaf its yellow color. If you add a little raisins and paprika to the meat and vegetables, the pilaf will acquire sweetness. Add raisins like this: first rinse, then pour boiling water for 15 minutes, then chop (otherwise the raisins will swell in the pilaf entirely, not imparting any sweetness to the rice). Add 2 tablespoons of ready-made seasoning from the store to 1 kilogram of meat.

The head of garlic is placed in the pilaf so that the garlic does not affect the consistency of the pilaf, but gives the pilaf all its flavor.

What meat is best for pilaf
The use of lamb and beef - relatively “tough” meats - in pilaf is justified not only by tradition, but also by modern ideas about taste and nutrition. Rice pilaf is quite high in calories, so the use of fatty pork is undesirable for dietary reasons. Lamb is ideal - because the meat is soft, absorbs spices in moderation, properly imparts flavor to the rice and vegetables, and has a bite-like texture that is more suitable for rice than all the others. Pilaf with beef will turn out a little drier, veal will leave a deep meaty imprint and risks overshadowing the rice. For homemade “quick” pilaf, pork is used, from which excess fat is trimmed off before cooking the pilaf. Or at least chicken. Chicken meat is tender, so fry the chicken until crusty over high heat for just a few minutes - then add rice. Vegetables in chicken pilaf will not receive the same degree of fat as they would from lamb or cow/calf meat.

Plov traditions
Pilaf is cooked over an open fire in a cauldron and is mainly made from lamb. The meat is fried not in oil, but in fat tail fat - this is the fat of sheep, which are bred mainly in Kazakhstan to obtain a replacement for oil. However, fat tail fat can have a strong specific odor because it is located in the area of the ram's tail. The price of tail fat is from 300 rubles/1 kilogram (on average in Moscow as of May 2018). You should look for fat tail fat in Tatar food markets, meat markets and VIP grocery stores.

Standard proportions products for cooking pilaf - for every kilogram of rice, 1 kilogram of meat, half a kilo of onions and half a kilo of carrots.

Plov is most popular in Uzbekistan, where the most classic version is called “Fergana” from the name of the town in the Fergana Valley where it originated. In our homeland, pilaf is consumed every day, and it is cooked by women. Special festive types of pilaf are prepared for weddings, births and funerals, and they are traditionally prepared by men.

What to cook pilaf in
Pilaf is usually cooked in a cast iron cauldron, since the temperature of the open fire is evenly distributed throughout the cast iron cauldron, the pilaf does not burn and cooks evenly. The time in the cauldron takes longer, but the pilaf turns out more crumbly. If you don’t have a cauldron at home, pilaf can be cooked in a regular steel pan or frying pan with a thick bottom.

How to cook pilaf and avoid troubles

Getting ready for Easter - April 28th!

What are we cooking?

Cereals
- Rice

Pilaf- a rice dish cooked in a special way. There are a huge variety of ways to prepare pilaf.

There is pilaf with lamb, pilaf with pork, pilaf with beef, chicken pilaf, sea pilaf, pilaf without meat, lean pilaf, vegetarian pilaf, vegetable pilaf, fruit pilaf, red pilaf, etc.

There are Uzbek pilaf, Turkmen pilaf, Armenian pilaf, Azerbaijani pilaf, Samarkand pilaf, Italian pilaf, Fergana pilaf, etc.

The composition of classic pilaf includes:

1. Meat (lamb, pork, beef, veal)
2. Carrots (preferably yellow, juicy, ripe)
3. Fat or oil
4. Rice (large)
5. Onions
6. Spices and seasonings for pilaf: cilantro grains, cumin, barberry, saffron, basil, raisins, dried fruits.

To prepare a simple pilaf for ten servings (about 8 liters of pilaf) you need:
1. Meat - 1.5 kg
2. Rice - 1.5 kg
3. Onion - 0.5 kg
4. Carrots - 1 kg
5. Vegetable oil - 450 gr. (for 1 kg of rice - 300 grams of butter).
6. Spices - 50 gr.

There is more than one way to prepare pilaf, but in any case you cannot do without a cauldron.

1. Before cooking pilaf, wash the cauldron with hot water.
Then we set it to heat up at maximum heat (it’s worth noting right away that the intensity level of the fire will not change until a certain stage of cooking the pilaf - see below).

2. Heat the pilaf cauldron over the fire for five to seven minutes, then pour all the prepared oil into it.

3. Continue heating the cauldron over the fire until slight smoke (evaporation) appears. This should take an average of eight to ten minutes.

4. Place the peeled and chopped onion into the cauldron. The thickness of the rings should be half a centimeter. At the same time, we immediately begin to intensively stir the onion.

Attention: Never cover the cauldron with a lid. The lid is lowered onto the cauldron only after rice has been placed in it.

5. Within seven to ten minutes, the onion becomes golden brown. The intensity and duration of frying depends on the intensity of the fire and the initial temperature of the oil.

You will get delicious pilaf if you fry the onions well. Fried onions significantly affect the taste of pilaf and its color. We must adhere to the golden mean: the onion should be fried as much as possible (we get a dark color), but the onion should not burn (turn into embers).

6. The meat is cut into small pieces, in the form of cubes. The average size of the pieces should be 4 centimeters.

As soon as the onion is fried, immediately lower the chopped meat into the cauldron. Stirring the resulting mass, fry over high heat until the meat darkens and gets a colored crust.

The process of frying meat should last about 15 minutes. Don't forget to stir the pilaf every minute.

7. Clean and cut the carrots into strips in advance. After frying the meat, put the carrots in the cauldron. We continue to fry the resulting mass, stirring occasionally, for another 10-15 minutes.

8. After that, boiling water is poured into the cauldron. The water level should hide the contents of the cauldron, but not exceed it. As a result, we get the so-called zirvak.

9. Reduce the heat under the cauldron to a minimum, so as to maintain a boil in it. Add salt - 2 tablespoons, and add selected seasonings and spices for pilaf.

Mix the contents and cook for about 15 - 30 minutes. The meat should be ready. It is worth considering that high-quality and fresh meat cooks much faster than old and stale meat.

10. Now you can taste the resulting zirvak. You should get a bitter-salty, even over-salted taste. Do not be alarmed by the large amount of salt - most of the salt will be absorbed by the rice when cooked. If necessary, add a little more salt to get the salty taste of zirvak.

11. It is necessary to boil water to cook rice. Wash the rice thoroughly. Increase the heat under the cauldron to the maximum level. Place an even layer of rice on top of the resulting zirvak, leveling it with a slotted spoon. After which boiling water is poured into the cauldron. The water level should exceed the rice by 1.5 centimeters.

12. Without changing the intensity of the fire under the cauldron, cook until the water evaporates below the level of the rice.

Attention: Under no circumstances should you stir the contents of the cauldron.

13. Taste the resulting rice. If the rice is hard and not cooked, you need to add boiling water to the cauldron. You need to pour boiling water very carefully so as not to destroy the resulting structure of the rice.

14. Now comes one of the most responsible and important moments in preparing real pilaf. It is necessary to catch the moment when the water from the surface of the rice has almost evaporated, and the rice itself is in a state of half-cookedness. The rice should be half ready, as it will steam with the cauldron closed for another 15-20 minutes. If the rice is already ready by this time, you run the risk of overcooking the rice and ruining the entire taste of the pilaf.

15. Now reduce the fire under the cauldron to a minimum. We begin to collect the rice using a slotted spoon in a neat mound in the center of the cauldron. Cover the rice with a plate so that it falls into the cauldron. We select the plate in such a way that there is a distance of 1 or 2 centimeters between the plate and the walls of the cauldron. Press the plate down, then close the cauldron tightly with the lid.

16. Simmer the pilaf for 10-15 minutes over low heat.

17. Turn off the fire under the cauldron.

18. Without removing the lid from the cauldron, let the pilaf stand for 10-15 minutes without fire.

Pilaf. Recipe for making classic pilaf.

19. Remove the lid from the cauldron and take out a plate.

20. Gently mix the finished pilaf with a slotted spoon. It is necessary to mix the rice evenly with onions, carrots and meat. If you have met all the above conditions for preparing real pilaf, you will end up with ready-made and crumbly rice. This is properly prepared pilaf. If you are unlucky, the rice will be raw or overcooked.

21. Place the resulting pilaf on the lyagan. Lyagan is a special flat and wide dish.

22. The pilaf is finally ready. Now you can gather family and friends around the table. We wish you bon appetit and delicious pilaf. Prepare pilaf at home.

Some features of the real pilaf recipe:

1. To obtain a pleasant aroma, garlic cloves are usually used. Garlic cloves, well washed and peeled from coarse husks, are not cut, but placed directly whole into the zirvak, before adding rice, after which the rice is added. After cooking the pilaf, the cloves are removed and placed on top of the cooked rice (but this is a matter of taste). For the indicated volume of products used, you can use approximately four medium heads of garlic.

2. To obtain pilaf with a bright red-brown color, while heating the oil, place a small bone in it, fry the bone until black, then discard it. You can also use a joint or rib.

3. For real pilaf, you need to use meat with fat (the presence of layers in the meat). But it is worth considering that in the case of using meat with a large amount of fat, the volume of oil used should be reduced by one third.

4. Pilaf is usually eaten from a common dish (one lyagan), by the whole family or company. They eat with their hands or spoons. After a hearty meal, drink unsweetened green tea.

However, any pilaf is prepared from two components: meat, fish or other dressing (in the Central Asian version “zirvak” or in the Iranian “gara”), and rice, or, much less often, other cereals - wheat, peas, corn, mung bean. In fact, pilaf is somewhat reminiscent of meat rice porridge; the first Russian explanatory dictionaries defined it that way. However, the main difference between pilaf and porridge is that the grain for pilaf is not boiled, but stewed. Cooking pilaf- real art. It is very important to choose the right rice for pilaf - it should not be overcooked, the grains should be easily separated from each other. There are two main options how to cook pilaf, or two main technologies for preparing pilaf - Uzbek and Azerbaijani.

Pilaf, recipe which involves the joint preparation of zirvak and cereals, is called Central Asian or Uzbek. The only exception is Samarkand pilaf, which is prepared using Azerbaijani technology. Various pilaf recipes arise due to the choice and combination of zirvak, grain, vegetables, spices, the sequence of laying and the duration of processing of products, specified in the pilaf recipe. As you know, in Asia they usually cook lamb pilaf. The rice for preparing pilaf using Central Asian technology must be special - this is red Uzgen rice or “devzira”. Only yellow carrots are considered an obligatory vegetable. Spices usually include cumin, red pepper, barberry, garlic, as well as dried apricots, quince and raisins. For Uzbek pilaf Pre-calcination of the oil is very important. Traditionally, a mixture of vegetable (usually cottonseed, less often sunflower, sesame) oil and animal fat (lamb, goat) is used. Uzbek pilaf is prepared exclusively in a large thick-walled cast iron, aluminum or copper cauldron, over an open fire and on the street, because even a very good hood is difficult to cope with the consequences of calcining the oil.

In the Azerbaijani (Iranian or Turkish) version of pilaf, the dressing, “gara”, and cereals are prepared separately and combined only on a common dish or even on a plate. Gara can be meat, fish, egg, vegetable. Almost all recipes for Azerbaijani pilaf use fruits - cherry plum, pomegranate, apricot, etc. For example, chicken pilaf Persian style is prepared exclusively with pomegranate juice. Rice for pilaf is always boiled with butter - butter or melted butter. Unlike Uzbek pilaf, Azerbaijani pilaf is served not hot, but slightly warm, but with not yet solidified butter.

Here we should remember the Turkish proverb “As many Muslim cities exist in the world, there are as many recipes for pilaf in the world,” and make a reservation that in different countries you can find a lot of variations that combine both methods of preparing pilaf. At the same time, today the most common version of pilaf is still Uzbek pilaf. By combining rice and meat with vegetables and spices in a cauldron, they prepare pork pilaf(which is basically impossible in Muslim countries), pilaf with chicken, beef pilaf– products that are not popular in Central Asia. Has an original taste sweet pilaf Indian style with dried fruits. In general, choose a pilaf recipe, prepare this wonderful dish and let it be delicious! How to cook pilaf. Our tips Rice for pilaf. Do not use Indian or Thai varieties of rice - basmati or jasmine. They are too soft, they will boil quickly and turn into porridge. If you can't find scald or scald, use Italian rice intended for paella. Oil for pilaf. Use only refined oil, aromatic oil will muffle the smell of pilaf. Spices for pilaf. Only cumin, hot red pepper and barberry are mandatory. Everything else is up to your taste.

The most common recipe for making pilaf at home. Beef or lamb meat, onions and carrots. Proper long grain rice. And of course oriental spices. We lived in Tashkent for several years. In ordinary families, pilaf was prepared this way from available products.

Ingredients

beef – 600 g;
carrots – 300 g;
onion – 200 g;
long grain rice – 400 g;
garlic – 1 head;
vegetable oil – 100 g;
zira – 1 teaspoon;
dry barberry – 2 teaspoons;
coriander seeds, ground black pepper - 0.5 teaspoon each.

Peel and wash the carrots and onions. Cut the carrots into fairly large strips. Cut the onion into quarters and chop. Wash the garlic thoroughly, remove the husks and roots, but do not separate it into cloves; we will cook it whole. Wash the meat, dry it and cut it into pieces of 60-70 g.

Pour vegetable oil into a saucepan or frying pan with high sides and heat until smoking appears. Here it is recommended to take a small peeled onion, dip it in oil, fry it, remove it and throw it away. This procedure should infuse the oil with aroma. Don't be greedy and do this operation. Next, put the meat in the oil, fry it until a light brown crust forms, stirring from time to time with a slotted spoon.

Add chopped onions to the meat in a saucepan and fry them. Then add the carrots cut into strips and fry over high heat for about 8-10 minutes. Add cumin, coriander seeds, pepper to the pan and reduce heat. It wouldn’t hurt to add a handful of pre-soaked chickpeas and washed raisins. Add a whole head of garlic.

Pour boiling water into the saucepan so that it completely covers the meat. Add salt to the broth and simmer over low heat under a closed lid for 1 hour. We are preparing zirvak. This is the name for the base for pilaf, consisting of onions, carrots and meat with spices fried and stewed over low heat.

Rinse the rice in several waters until completely transparent. Lay the rice in an even layer over the entire surface of the saucepan, without mixing with the zirvak. Add boiling water to the saucepan so that it covers the rice by 1 centimeter. Cover with a lid, increase heat and let it boil. Then reduce the heat to low and cook without a lid until the liquid is completely absorbed. Then close the saucepan with a lid and cook until done for 20-30 minutes.

The pilaf is ready. All that remains is to serve it beautifully to the table. To do this, place the head of garlic and pieces of meat on a separate plate. Cut the meat into 2 cm pieces.