Is it possible to cook pilaf? How to cook delicious pilaf at home

The years spent in Uzbekistan left their mark on my taste preferences. I really love Uzbek cuisine and, as promised, I continue to share my favorite recipes with you.
Today we will cook pilaf.

It doesn’t take much time or effort to prepare delicious pilaf.
First we need to cut the onion into half rings

Cut carrots into strips

Meat in medium cubes

We're all ready. Ideal proportions for delicious pilaf 1:1:1 This is what it looks like

Pour oil into the cauldron. It needs to be heated up well.

When the oil is hot, throw in 3 cloves of garlic.

The garlic must be thoroughly fried, then the oil will be saturated with the aroma of garlic and the pilaf will benefit from this.
This is the kind of garlic we take out of the oil.

Now we send the meat to the cauldron (do not reduce the gas and fry everything over the highest heat)

Fry the meat, stirring occasionally until golden brown, when we fry the meat over high heat. It is covered with a crust on top, which preserves the juiciness of the meat inside.

When the meat is fried, add the onion.

Fry the onion thoroughly. The color of the pilaf will depend on how the onions are fried.

When the onions are fried add carrots

Also fry the carrots until golden brown.

The carrots are fried, pour water into the cauldron so that it covers the meat by 2 fingers.

It is better to pour boiling water. Now you need to add salt and spices.

We have cumin, cilantro (coriander), turmeric, paprika, barberry and salt.

The zervak is almost ready, now close the lid and let it simmer. It all depends on the meat and how quickly it cooks. Simmer the meat until done.
Meanwhile, wash the rice and soak it in water. This is necessary so that the rice subsequently steams evenly and there are no raw grains of rice in the pilaf.
We also need to peel the head of garlic. We need to remove the top dirty scales from it. Cut out the roots. This is how clean garlic should be

Of course, you can do without garlic, but I advise you to try this garlic. The taste is amazing.
When the meat is ready, we pour the rice into the cauldron, but before doing this, we put the prepared garlic into the cauldron.

Now rice

Level with a spatula. And pour boiling water. Pour boiling water onto a spatula so that holes do not form in the rice and the grain (meat stewed with vegetables) does not float to the top.

Pour about two fingers of water.

Now we wait for the water to boil away. We don’t turn off the gas!
When the water evaporates. We collect the rice in a mound like this.

You see there is practically no liquid.
Now use a spoon to make a hole at the top of the slide. Stick the spoon all the way to the bottom of the cauldron. And twist the spoon a little as if widening the hole, but do not overdo it.
Cover with a clean plate.

We crush the plate.

Now close the cauldron with a lid and set aside for 20 minutes. This is how long it takes for the rice to cook.
After 20 minutes, open the cauldron and begin stirring the pilaf.

Do not rush to mix immediately from the bottom. Gradually remove layer by layer, shaking lightly on a spatula.

In Uzbekistan, pilaf is served in a lyagan (large dish), but you can serve it in portions. A salad of cucumbers and tomatoes, pickled cucumbers or tomatoes are great for pilaf.
I hope you will like my recipe.
Don't forget to get the garlic.
Bon Appetit everyone!
P.S. It’s better to use regular short-grain rice, but as you can see, long-grain rice also turns out great. This is a matter of taste and food preferences.

Cooking time: PT02H00M 2 hours

Approximate cost per serving: 250 rub.

Pilaf is a traditional dish of oriental cuisine, the most famous and delicious dish, the real king of kings (shah-an-shah) of the Central Asian table (dastarkhan).

The variety of recipes for making this dish is amazing; in Uzbekistan alone there is a great variety of it.

In every corner of the Uzbek Republic, as well as in the capital itself, pilaf is prepared differently.

Real docks and aksakals in their business, namely the preparation of pilaf, are based on the recipes of their ancestors, which are passed down from generation to generation.

How to cook Uzbek pilaf at home? Many people ask this question and are afraid of the complexity of the process of preparing this aromatic and nutritious dish.

But in vain, just practice a little on your own and you’ll start to be able to cook pilaf!

Each type of pilaf is tasty in its own way, but, like any other dish, osh (pilaf) has its own general principles and cooking features, which are an integral part of this dish.

How to cook pilaf at home - general principles and important points in making this oriental dish

It is customary to cook pilaf over a live and open fire, in a cast iron cauldron. But in the absence of the latter, you can use it for cooking - a duck pot, a goose pot, in general, the main thing is that the walls of the existing dishes are thick and retain heat for further even heating of the rice.

Traditional Eastern pilaf is prepared only from lamb with the addition of fat tail fat, which, when fried, turns into very tasty cracklings (recommended to be eaten hot with Uzbek flatbread). But you can prepare pilaf (its taste does not deteriorate at all) from pork, beef or poultry.

In order for the pilaf to turn out crumbly, you need to pay great attention to the choice of rice, since the preparation of the future pilaf depends on this main component of the future pilaf. For pilaf, you need to select varieties of long-grain rice with a low starch content. Firm varietal rice with transparent grains is dense, does not boil over and absorbs water perfectly.

Oil also plays a leading role in making pilaf, since it is it that absorbs odors and adds flavor to the future dish. The oil used in classic pilaf is cottonseed, sunflower, sesame. It is not recommended to cook the dish with olive oil due to its low heating temperature.

What pilaf definitely cannot do without is spices. The main spices of this aromatic dish are cumin, turmeric, barberry, sweet red pepper, saffron, hot pepper (possibly a pod). In the absence of these spices separately, you can purchase a special set for pilaf in the store. Pilaf loves spices; no need to regret adding them to zirvak when preparing it.

If the zirvak has prepared correctly, then the pilaf will be successful - so they say. Zirvak is a combination of all the ingredients of pilaf: meat, vegetables, dried fruits, along with seasonings and broth. Preparing zirvak for pilaf correctly is a real art, since the aromatic characteristics, taste and appearance of the future dish depend on it.

How to cook Uzbek pilaf at home is very simple, there are many recipes, you just need to follow the rules and sequence of making this dish.

Recipe 1. “Uzbek pilaf at home: in a cauldron”

Ingredients:

Lamb – 1 kg.

Kurdyuk – 200 gr.

Carrots (yellow or orange) – 1 kg.

Rice – 1 kg.

Onion – 500 gr.

Oil (cottonseed or sunflower).

Garlic – 2 heads.

Chickpeas (pre-soaked) – 250 gr.

Kishmish – 150 gr.

Hot pepper (pod) – 2 pcs.

Spices – cumin, turmeric, barberry, saffron, red pepper (sweet).

Cooking method:

Rice must be washed 6-7 times and set aside with water. Cut the meat into large pieces. If there are bones, you need to chop them (but not crush them). Peel the carrots and cut into medium-sized strips. The onion needs to be chopped into rings or half rings.

Then you need to heat the cauldron and pour oil into it. Next, turn the heat up to high and wait for the moment when smoke comes out of the cauldron - this will mean that the oil has been heated. Next, you need to throw a little onion into the oil so that it absorbs all the harmful substances of the oil. When the onion darkens, remove it and discard it.

Afterwards, you need to throw the meat with bones into the cauldron and fry it over the same high heat until golden brown. If there is a lot of meat, then it needs to be fried in portions. The meat and bones are covered with a golden brown crust, remove it from the cauldron and throw in the next portion. After all the meat has been fried, you need to put it back in the cauldron and add onions to it.

After the onion is slightly browned, you need to add the carrots to the cauldron, wait a few minutes and mix all the ingredients.

When frying meat and vegetables, do not forget to stir them periodically with a slotted spoon. When the excess moisture leaves the carrots, you should try to transfer the bones and meat to the bottom of the cauldron.

Next, the fried components must be filled with water (per 1 kg of rice - liter, 1,200 water, depending on the type of rice). Add spices, pepper pods, garlic and cook zirvak for 30-40 minutes over medium heat.

15 minutes after the start of cooking, the zirvak should be salted so that it seems saltier than usual. Since in the future the rice will absorb salt and normalize the salt balance of the pilaf. You also need to put chickpeas in the pilaf, which will be ready in 20-25 minutes.

Now you need to move on to throwing in the rice. Rice is placed in a cauldron in small portions and leveled over the surface. The water should lightly cover the rice (about a finger's width). It is better to add too little water to the rice than to eat boiled porridge later.

Important! The layers of meat, onions and carrots do not interfere. Each component must be prepared separately.

Now over high heat the water should completely evaporate.

After the water has evaporated, you need to collect the rice in a slide using a slotted spoon (carefully inserting the slotted spoon between the wall of the cauldron and the rice to the very bottom, without destroying the layers).

Now you need to tightly close the pilaf with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Cook the pilaf in this way for another half hour.

When the pilaf is ready, you need to put it in a lyagan, put garlic in the middle of the dish and sprinkle the entire surface with meat.

Recipe 2. “Pilaf at home in a slow cooker”

Ingredients:

Pork – 0.5 kg (pulp).

Rice – 500 gr.

Onion – 3 pcs. (small size).

Carrots - 3 pcs. (small size).

Vegetable oil – 150 ml.

Water – 700 ml.

Cooking method:

Rice must be washed several times under water. Pour oil into the multicooker bowl and set the “Baking” mode.

Peeled and chopped onions must be placed in a slow cooker and fried a little. Then to the onion you need to add carrots cut into strips and meat cut into small pieces. Meat and vegetables must be fried for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

At the end of the set program time, you need to add rice to the multicooker. Then you need to fill all the components with water, add salt, spices and set the multicooker to the pilaf cooking mode.

After the pilaf is cooked, you need to stir it and serve it with a tomato and onion salad.

Recipe 3. “Pilaf at home in a multi-cooker from seafood”

Ingredients:

Rice – 300 gr.

Oil (olive) – 60 ml.

Bulb.

Broth – 0.5 l.

Seafood: shrimp, mussels, fish fillet – 300 gr.

Corn (canned) – 1oo gr.

Spices – turmeric, paprika, cumin, coriander, saffron.

Cooking method:

Pour olive oil into the multicooker cup.

Then chop the seafood, chop the peeled onion into small cubes, remove the seeds from the pepper and chop it into half rings.

Then you will need to turn on the multicooker in the “Baking” mode for a few minutes.

Then you need to put rice, spices, salt and pepper in a bowl and pour all the ingredients with broth.

Set the multicooker to the “Pilaf” mode and cook the food for an hour. After the pilaf is ready, you need to let it brew for 15-20 minutes.

Decorate the pilaf with mint and half a lemon.

Recipe 4. “Pilaf at home in a pan from chicken fillet”

Ingredients:

Chicken fillet – 1 kg.

Sunflower oil).

Rice – 500 gr.

Carrots – 3 pcs.

Onion – 3 pcs.

Spices – cumin, barberry, turmeric.

Cooking method:

Rice should be washed thoroughly and set aside to swell. Next, the chicken flesh must be washed and cut into small pieces, chop the onion into half rings, and chop the carrots into strips.

Now you need to put the chicken in the pan and continue the frying process for several minutes, stirring it alternately. Next, add carrots to the onions and meat and fry them until half cooked.

Then all the ingredients need to be poured with water, seasoned with spices for pilaf and mixed. And then, covering the future pilaf with a lid, cook it for another 20 minutes.

Next, you need to place the rice on the meat, level it and pour boiling water over all the ingredients (one finger above the rice). Close the pan tightly with a lid and reduce heat. Thus, the pilaf needs to be cooked for 20 minutes. Then you need to open the lid, make holes in the pilaf to evaporate the water and cook it for another 10 minutes.

After cooking, the pilaf should sit. You can serve this dish with a salad made from radish, onions and mayonnaise.

Recipe 5. Uzbek pilaf at home: in a duck pot

Ingredients:

Rice – 400 gr.

Vegetable oil.

Chickpeas (pre-soaked) – 0.5 cups.

Beef (pulp) – 600 gr.

Carrots – 2 pcs.

Onion – 2 pcs.

Quince – 2 pcs.

Garlic – 2 pcs.

Raisins – 60 gr.

Cooking method:

Cut the beef into small pieces, chop the onion, cut the carrots into strips, quince into slices, and peel the garlic from the top layers of husk.

In a duck pot, first fry the meat, then the onions and carrots until golden brown. Add quince, chickpeas, pour water over all ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes.

After this time, you need to salt and pepper the zirvak and add spices to it.

Place the rice in the duck pot in an even layer, add more water to cover the rice, and cook the pilaf with the lid open over low heat for about 20 minutes.

Then you need to put the duck with pilaf in the heated oven and simmer the dish for another half hour.

Then stir the pilaf and you can start eating.

Recipe 6. “Pilaf at home in a pan with beans”

Ingredients:

Rice – 400 gr.

Beans – 100 gr.

Carrot.

Oil – 90 ml.

Salt, pepper.

Cooking method:

The beans can be soaked in advance, or opened until fully cooked.

Carrots and onions must be finely chopped. When the beans are cooked, you need to add vegetables and vegetable oil. Cook the above components for 10 minutes.

Then you need to add rice to the vegetables, fill it with water, pepper, salt and season with spices.

Close the pan tightly with a lid, reduce heat and cook the pilaf until the rice is completely cooked and the water has evaporated.

Then you need to stir the pilaf, remove from the heat, and wrap the pan in a towel for 15 minutes. The pilaf is ready - you can serve it to the table.

How to cook Uzbek pilaf at home - tricks and useful tips

In order for the meat in the pilaf to be cooked and juicy, it must be cut into large pieces.

In order to get pilaf and not porridge-rice, you need to rinse it at least 7 times and leave it in water for 2 hours. Excess starch will go into the water and the rice in the pilaf will turn out crumbly.

In order for the pilaf to simmer well at the end of its cooking, you need to wrap gauze or a towel in the form of a rope around the diameter of the edges of the lid - this will be a kind of seal.

You can add almost all dried fruits to pilaf, then it can be called sweet, but it will taste with some pleasant sourness.

If you cook the frying pilaf for a long time, the rice in the dish will end up being dark in color, but if you don’t fry the ingredients, the dish will come out light and elegant.

After devouring such a tasty, aromatic and nutritious dish, you must definitely taste and quench your thirst with hot green or black tea.

Of course, real pilaf is cooked over an open fire in a cauldron and only from lamb, but in the harsh conditions of the urban jungle we have to be content with only what we have.

To prepare pilaf at home, you will need a cauldron - a cast-iron pan with a semicircular bottom (instead of a cauldron, you can use a deep saucepan, a duck pan or another thick-walled cast-iron pan).

Any fatty meat is suitable for preparing pilaf. Pork is preferable to beef. If you want to use dietary poultry, then add pieces of lard to add fat to the dish.

For pilaf, it is advisable to use long-grain or steamed rice. This kind of rice does not stick together. Steamed rice has already undergone preliminary heat treatment and when using it, the pilaf will cook faster.

Pilaf recipe No. 1

Pour boiling water over the rice and leave without heat for 15 - 20 minutes without stirring. Grate the carrots on a coarse grater, finely chop the onion. Cut the meat into small pieces and fry over high heat until a crust appears. Separately fry the onions and carrots. Drain the rice into a colander. Add rice to a pan of boiling salted water and cook for 3 - 5 minutes. Then drain the rice into a colander and rinse with cold water. Place a layer of carrots on the bottom of the pan, then a layer of onions, a layer of meat, a layer of rice, and spices for pilaf. Using a fork, make 3 holes to the bottom, into which we pour 1 cup of boiling water and add pieces of butter. Cover the pan with a lid and cook the pilaf for 20 - 25 minutes without stirring. Then mix everything and add salt to taste.

Rice 1 - 1.5 cups
Carrots - 3 pcs.
Onion - 3 pcs.
Meat - 600 gr.

Pilaf recipe No. 2

In a cauldron, sunflower oil is heated to a boil, finely chopped onion is added and fried until golden brown, then carrots, grated on a coarse grater, and meat are added. Fry everything while stirring ( don't turn down the fire). You can add pilaf seasonings to the meat. When everything is fried, pour washed rice on top and spread evenly without stirring. Pour water on top 2 cm above the surface of the rice. After the water boils, add salt. When the water is equal to the surface of the rice, close the cauldron with a lid and leave on low heat (or in the oven) for 30 minutes. Then open the lid, mix everything, and add salt if necessary.

To prepare pilaf you will need:
Meat 1 kg
Onion 1 kg
Carrots 1 kg
Rice 1 kg
Sunflower oil 300 gr.

Pilaf is considered a colorful dish of oriental cuisine. It is loved for its exquisite spicy taste and satiety. Many housewives prefer to cook pilaf from pork, but using lamb, chicken, veal and even fish is acceptable. Mushrooms are often added to the dish, which ultimately makes it richer. There are many secrets that help make rice fluffy. The result is a delicious grain-to-grain pilaf. Let's look at the basic recipes in order, highlighting the main thing.

Classic pork pilaf

garlic - 1.5-2 heads
rice (preferably steamed) - 670 gr.
carrots - 700 gr.
pork pulp - 0.9-1 kg.
sunflower oil - 180 ml.
onions - 450 gr.
chili pepper (capsicum) - 0.5 pcs.
seasoning “4 peppers” - 7 gr.
salt - 40 gr.
turmeric (ground), cumin - 3-5 g each.
barberry berries - 5 gr.
drinking water - about 1.7-1.8 liters.

Pour the rice into a bowl, fill with running water so that the liquid covers the grains. To obtain crumbly pilaf, washing must be done 5-6 times. This move will remove the rice flour, which glues the grains together.
During the rinsing process, crush the rice with your hands and drain the liquid. When the water becomes completely clear, leave the cereal on the sieve for a quarter of an hour.
Chop the carrots into long pieces (straws), peel the onion, and chop it in a convenient way. Pour oil into a cauldron, heat it, add the onion inside.
Remove the barberry berries from the branches, place in a colander, and rinse. Fill with water and leave to soak. At this time, rinse and dry the pork, chop into 4*4 cm pieces.
Add the meat to the fried onions, place the carrots on top, and smooth the contents with a spatula (do not stir!). Peel the garlic from the base and husk, and place the whole cloves into the cauldron.
Salt the ingredients, add chopped chili, soaked barberries and a mixture of peppers. Add ground turmeric and whole cumin. Boil drinking water and fill it with contents.
Simmer the contents under the lid for at least a quarter of an hour. After this period, place the washed rice grains in a wok (cauldron), smooth them over the meat and fry. Do not stir the mixture, otherwise the rice will not be completely steamed.
During the cooking process, press the grains against the main mixture with a spatula so that they are saturated with oily liquid and spices. If necessary, add more hot water, covering the pilaf by 1-2 cm.
After the water has been absorbed into the rice, make holes in the contents. This move will allow excess moisture to evaporate, leaving the dish crumbly. When the water is almost completely gone, make a mound of pilaf.
Set the heat to minimum, cover the cauldron with a lid and a warm towel. Simmer for 20-35 minutes until completely cooked. Sample the rice periodically. When serving, first lay out the grains, then the meat with garlic and stewed vegetables.

onions - 250 gr.
ground turmeric - 10 gr.
lamb pulp - 450-500 gr.
pork tenderloin -450 gr.
carrots - 240 gr.
vegetable oil - 75 gr.
long rice - 650 gr.
garlic - 10 cloves
laurel - 4 pcs.
ground pepper - 5 gr.
salt - 25-30 gr.
filtered water - in fact

To make the pilaf crumbly, the ratio of meat, rice and vegetables should be relatively equal. A thick-bottomed saucepan, cast-iron frying pan or wok (Kazan) is used as cooking utensils.
First of all, start washing the rice. Rinse it under the tap 3 times, then fill it with cold water and leave for 45 minutes. During this period, the starch will come out and the rice flour will be washed out.
Start preparing the vegetables. Chop the carrots into cubes and chop the onion into cubes or half rings. Rinse lamb and pork tenderloins and dry with paper towels. Cut the meat into 3-5 cm pieces.
Pour the oil into a regular frying pan and heat it until white smoke appears. Scald the meat on all sides until crusty; this move will retain the juice inside the pork and lamb.
After frying, transfer the oil and meat into a cauldron, and add the onions and carrots to the previous pan. Once golden brown, transfer the vegetables to the meat. If you wish, you can not fry the carrots, but stew them immediately in a cauldron.
Add spices, salt and chopped chili pepper. Mix the contents and compact. Drain the liquid from the rice and place it on top of the first mixture. Smooth the surface with a spoon.
Boil purified water and start pouring it into the cauldron along the wall of the dish. Make sure that the liquid covers the contents by only 1-1.5 cm. Bring the pilaf to the first bubbles at maximum power.
After boiling, reduce the temperature to between medium and minimum. Make holes in the pilaf with Chinese chopsticks so that the contents simmer evenly.
Cover the dishes and cook the dish for half an hour, periodically assessing the taste of the rice. When the specified period comes to an end, peel the garlic cloves and stick them into the composition at a certain distance from each other.
Wrap the cast iron cookware in a warm blanket or sweatshirt and leave it to “simmer” for 1-1.5 hours. During this period, the rice will be saturated with juice and seasonings, and the pilaf will become rich.

spices for pilaf - 20 gr.
dill and parsley (fresh) - 0.5 bunch each
olive oil - 60 ml.
chicken (preferably thighs) - 600 gr.
long steamed rice - 575 gr.
carrots - 230 gr.
onion - 280 gr.
drinking water - in fact

Rinse the carrots and chop them in a convenient way (slices, half rings, straws). Chop the onion, add to the carrots, add pepper and salt.
Fry the vegetables until golden brown in hot olive oil. Start cutting up the chicken. If possible, choose thighs, they are fattier. Chop the meat into pieces, removing the skin. You don't have to remove the bones.
Send the meat for frying, cook until golden brown (heat treatment lasts 5-7 minutes). Then add 170 ml. water, cover the dish with a lid, simmer the meat for another 5 minutes.
Place the rice in a bowl, cover with cold water, wait 20 minutes. Rinse the grains, removing the white coating (the water should become completely transparent).
Place the onion, chicken, and carrots into the cauldron. Press down with a spoon and place rice on top. Squeeze the contents with a spatula, add chopped dill and parsley.
Pour boiling water over the mixture, covering the grains by 1 cm. Cook the pilaf without a lid for 10 minutes, then make several holes in the dish for better evaporation of moisture.
After another 10 minutes of simmering, cover the cauldron with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Cook the crumbly pilaf for a third of an hour. When the water has evaporated, turn off the stove and wrap the dishes in a warm cloth. Infuse the dish for 1.5 hours.
If you wish, you can prepare chicken and mushroom pilaf. In this case, choose champignons, oyster mushrooms or chanterelles. Pre-wash, peel and fry the mushrooms. Then add them to the chicken.

beef pulp - 450 gr.
onions - 330 gr.
round rice - 200 gr.
vegetable oil - 60-80 ml.
laurel leaf - 4 pcs.
salt - 15 gr.
carrots - 250 gr.
black pepper (ground) - 5 gr.

Rinse the beef, pat the meat dry with napkins, or dry it in another convenient way. Chop into slices of the same shape (3-5 cm), boil in 1 liter. salted water. The duration of heat treatment is 25-30 minutes.
After 10 minutes of cooking, add bay and pepper. When the meat is cooked, pour the broth into a separate bowl; you will need it later. Remove the meat and place it in a cauldron.
Chop the carrots and onions, sauté the mixture in hot oil until golden brown, then transfer the vegetables along with the liquid into the cauldron. Wash the rice, scald the grains with boiling water, and drain. Add to meat and vegetables.
Fry the contents for 3 minutes, then pour in 270 ml. broth left over from cooking beef. Do not stir the contents, cover the cauldron with a lid, place on low heat, and cook until the broth evaporates.
Try not to open the lid for the first quarter of an hour after the start of simmering. After this period, make holes in the pilaf so that the liquid leaves evenly.
When you see grains appearing in the kernels, turn off the burner. Leave the cauldron on a warm stove, covering the dishes with a warm blanket or sweatshirt. Pilaf can be consumed after 1 hour of infusion.

steamed rice (preferably long) - 420 gr.
veal tenderloin - 480-500 gr.
seasonings for pilaf - 15-20 gr.
oil for frying - 130 gr.
salt - 15 gr.
onions - 300 gr.
garlic - 8 cloves
carrots - 250 gr.
filtered water - in fact

Wash the rice, place the grains in a bowl, pour ice water over it, and leave to soak for 1.5 hours. Rinse the veal and dry thoroughly, chop into cubes (about 3 cm in size).
Prepare the vegetables (washing, peeling), chop them. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the veal meat for 15-20 minutes. Stir constantly to avoid burning.
After the allotted time, add carrots and onions, sauté the contents for another 7-8 minutes. After this, add spices, salt, and stir. Turn off the stove and let the ingredients sit for 10 minutes.
Now carefully transfer the contents from the frying pan to the cauldron. Drain the rice and place it on top of the meat and vegetables. Press down with a spatula, do not stir. If desired, you can add salt by placing it on the grains in the same way.
Boil the water. Pour it in a thin stream along the edge of the dish. Make sure that the water covers the rice by 1.5-2 cm. Place the cauldron on the stove and wait for bubbles to appear. Next, reduce the burner to low.
Cover the dish with a lid and wait a third of an hour. During this period, the liquid will be absorbed into the grains, you will get a delicious crumbly pilaf. After the specified period, turn off the stove.
Make 5 holes in the contents with a spoon, wrap the dishes in a sweatshirt or thick blanket. Leave until the final infusion, then place on serving plates. Serve with garlic sauce and cabbage-carrot salad.
Some housewives prefer to cook veal pilaf with ripe tomatoes or tomato paste. In this case, the tomatoes are turned into puree and sautéed along with vegetables in a hot frying pan.

Pilaf is perfect for lunch or dinner. Consider the classic technology of the dish, serve it with vegetable salad and spicy sauce. Make pilaf from lamb or veal, add chicken, mushrooms, barberry berries, tomato puree. Experiment with spices, vary the amount of salt and water. Choose long steamed rice as a base (you can also use round rice).

Video: how to cook crumbly pilaf in a slow cooker

The history of pilaf has been going on since ancient times. Even epics and folk tales mention this Central Asian dish and tell how to cook pilaf with meat in a cauldron. They say that already in the 10th-11th centuries, during holidays or funerals, it was prepared from special rice called Devzir. This variety of rice is slightly different from regular rice. It absorbs water more strongly and its grains of rice are larger. And before cooking from it, it is soaked for two hours in slightly salted water so that the dish does not turn out too dry.

The most ancient epic, telling us how to cook pilaf with meat and its recipe, dates back to the 16th century. This dish was on the tables of both poor and rich families, although among the poor it appeared mainly on major holidays, while the rich ate it much more often. It was considered a healthy food during illness, after hard work, and in the cold season.

Currently, there are many options for preparing pilaf, but the main ingredients - rice and meat - remain unchanged.

Choosing lamb for pilaf

If you have already wondered how to cook pilaf with meat, then, of course, you know that traditionally this dish is prepared with lamb - fatty but tender meat with a specific taste and aroma, which reeks of the magical cuisine of the East. In order for the dish to turn out excellent, you need to know the principles of choosing a good piece of meat. Undoubtedly, you need to buy lamb at the market, fresh, not deep frozen, because in this case it will lose its aroma, become fibrous and not so tasty. The most ideal meat is fresh. Meat is called fresh when no more than three hours have passed since slaughter. But chilled is also acceptable, it will be no worse.

The most tender meat comes from very young lambs - those who are less than two months old, but lambs up to six months old have good meat, especially if they have been castrated. When choosing, pay attention to the color: good meat from a young animal will be pale pink. If it is dark or its color is uneven, this should alert you. Most likely, you are being offered meat from an old animal, either it is stale or frozen. Also pay attention to the fat: in a young animal it will be slightly yellowish or completely white, while in old rams the fat is yellow or with a grayish tint. Their meat will be stringy and fibrous, with a strong unpleasant odor. Smell the tenderloin. The meat of a young animal smells like fresh milk, while an adult has an unpleasant odor that you cannot overcome with any tricks.

Press with your finger: in fresh lamb, the pit will quickly disappear, and if it remains or is filled with blood, it means the meat was frozen. Before cooking, trim off membranes and excess fat from meat. You can soak it in milk - this will make the lamb more tender. And don’t forget about fat tail fat, it gives a unique aroma to the pilaf. Now you know which meat is best to cook pilaf with.

Beef, pork, chicken...

What meat is pilaf made from in the East? Of course, from lamb. But the recipes for this dish adapted to our region allow the use of other types of meat. Undoubtedly, if it is impossible to buy lamb among other types, choose beef. It is more similar in structure and texture to lamb, although it will not give that unique aroma. Keep in mind that older beef may remain dry, so try to choose meat that is lighter in color. Pork is also quite good: the pilaf will be fatty, as it should be, and the meat is easy to chew and cooks quickly. Chicken pilaf will be almost dietary, especially if you take fillet. But, made from chicken, this dish is likely to be a bit dry.

Utensils and cooking method

What and how to cook pilaf with meat? The best utensil for preparing pilaf is, undoubtedly, a cauldron, and cast iron is best, as it retains and distributes heat well along the walls. Aluminum will also work, although it is not as good. In a modern kitchen, of course, you can’t have an open fire, but how can you cook pilaf with meat in a cauldron without fire? This will no longer be the same pilaf that you can taste in Uzbekistan or Tajikistan. A gas stove is more or less suitable. On an electric stove, there is a high probability that only the bottom will heat up, which can lead to burning, which will ruin the dish. Can rice with meat cooked in a saucepan or slow cooker be called real pilaf? Still, real pilaf is cooked over an open fire, but there can be many variations in the modern world. The most suitable method of cooking in the kitchen is to put the frying pan or pan in the oven after frying the zirvak (meat, butter, onions, carrots, seasonings) and adding rice. This is how many Eastern women who moved to the city cook.

How to cook pilaf with meat correctly

To prepare this dish, you need to maintain two proportions - the ratio of oil to rice and the ratio of water to rice. Pour oil into a cauldron and heat it very well. It must be heated. By the way, the correct oil for pilaf is corn or cottonseed. Refined sunflower oil will not give any flavor. At first there will be black smoke, don't be alarmed, this is normal. When it turns white, it means that the oil has already been calcined and is ready for the further process of preparing pilaf. For 1 kilogram of rice you need to pour 200 grams of oil.

Fry the meat in well-heated oil. First of all, the meat needs to be prepared, that is, remove excess fat, all membranes, tendons and cut into cubes. The fire must be very intense. The meat should be fried, not steamed or stewed. When this happens, take it out of the oil so as not to overcook it. Now you need to fry the onion, which will give the pilaf a specific golden color. This should be done for ten to fifteen minutes. The meat can rest at this time.

When the onions are soft, add the carrots. It needs to be cut into small strips or, in extreme cases, into cubes, but under no circumstances should it be grated - it will simply dissolve in the pilaf and will not give the desired effect. Mix. The carrots should be fried along with the onions over intense heat. Spices are of great importance. They are always traditional for pilaf - cumin, saffron, barberry and paprika. When the carrots have become crispy, return the meat to the cauldron and mix vigorously, add spices and fry everything together. Add the cumin when we add the rice. Now we need to add water. A kilogram of rice requires one and a half liters of water. And we cook all this (butter, carrots, onions, meat and seasonings) for about half an hour, because the meat is still half-raw.

Rice laying

Now let's get to the main ingredient. When purchasing regular long grain rice, pay attention to the grains. They should not be matte white, but slightly transparent, glossy. Wash the rice thoroughly, changing the water several times. It is necessary to ensure that it becomes absolutely transparent, because if even a little rice flour remains, the grains will stick together and the result will not be pilaf, but porridge. There is a very important rule: after washing, rice cannot be left without water, that is, after washing, you must immediately put it in pilaf.

Salt zirvak in a cauldron to taste. It should be a little saltier than necessary, as the rice will take up some of the salt. We add one tablespoon of salt to every kilogram of cereal. Let it simmer for five minutes. Immediately before adding rice, drain the water and place the cereal in the cauldron. It is very important to remember here: never, under any circumstances, mix rice with zirvak. Pilaf does not tolerate this.

We level the rice, but do not interfere with the meat. Rub the cumin in your palms and sprinkle on top. We peel three heads of garlic from the hard skin, but do not divide them into slices. We stick the garlic in the center and on the sides into the rice - it will give a wonderful aroma. Now you need to wait until all the water has boiled away - this is the guarantee that the pilaf will be crumbly. We collect the rice from the side walls of the cauldron towards the center so that all the moisture that still remains steams the cereal, and thanks to the steam, the pilaf reaches readiness. Reduce the intensity of the fire. If there are a lot of coals, you can add a little water so that the pilaf does not burn.

Cover everything with a cup, and in half an hour the dish will be ready. Pilaf cooked over an open fire in the fresh air will never compare with the same dish cooked in the kitchen, but you should still know how to cook pilaf with meat in a pan.

Pilaf in a regular kitchen

You won’t light a fire in an ordinary kitchen in a city apartment. But you can cook good pilaf under these conditions. As they say, it doesn’t matter what kind of pan it is, it matters how good the cook is.

So, how to cook pilaf with meat in a pan? We will leave the ingredients the same. If you remove at least one component from pilaf, it will be a simple porridge. The proportions can be changed either upward, depending on the number of eaters, or downward. First, fry the meat in a frying pan. We bring it to half-ready. It is important that it is covered with a crust, so it will retain all the juices and will not be dry. When the meat is sufficiently fried, take it out and fry the onions and carrots in new oil.

Why change the oil? Since the fire does not cover the walls of the cauldron, as in the case of proper cooking, but only fries from below, the oil in which the meat was fried will darken. Place the meat in the pan. On top are fried carrots with onions and oil in which it was all fried. Add salt, pepper and seasoning for pilaf. You can assemble the seasoning yourself, adjusting the amount of spices, you can buy ready-made, but keep in mind that there is often little barberry in the ready-made one, and it is this that makes the rice porridge pilaf. Pour in washed rice (long grain, since Krasnodar short grain is good for porridges, it will not be crumbly), pour in water so that it rises about a finger above the grain. In the center we stick a head of garlic, peeled from the hard skin. Cover with a lid and simmer over very low heat for about an hour. Don't forget the main rule of pilaf - do not stir. But you can carefully poke holes with a knife or sushi stick. This guarantees that it will boil evenly around the entire perimeter of the pan.

If you have already cooked in a saucepan, then you should not have any questions about how to cook pilaf with meat in a slow cooker. We do everything the same, but the multicooker greatly simplifies the process, and also has an undoubted advantage compared to a saucepan - it does not burn.

Pilaf in the oven

People who have lived in the east for a long time or were born there often prefer to cook pilaf in a frying pan with high walls in the oven in an ordinary city kitchen. Why and how to cook pilaf with meat in a frying pan in the oven? There, the heat warms the walls of the frying pan as if cooking was taking place over an open fire. The principle of preparing and storing food is, in principle, no different from any other method. Only you can immediately fry meat with carrots and onions in this frying pan, and there is no need to transfer it to another dish. So, place the fried meat, onions and carrots, spices, rice, fill with water, stick in the peeled garlic, cover with a lid and put in the oven to simmer for about an hour. Pilaf connoisseurs say that when cooked in this way, it is not much different from when cooked over a fire.

How to prepare a recipe for vegetarians

If you cannot eat meat or are fasting, prepare pilaf without meat. Of course, you will hear that there is no pilaf without meat, but in our country pilaf is a dish made from rice with spices. Then you can prepare a version of it with dried fruits. For vegetarian pilaf, use raisins and dried apricots. Finely chop the dried apricots. You don’t need to steam them, just rinse them well, because they will cook together with the rice. You can also add a finely chopped green sour apple; it will add a refined and unusual taste. Of course, animal fat is inappropriate in such pilaf, so it is better to use corn, cottonseed or sunflower oil for frying. It must be refined, since unrefined has too strong a taste that will overwhelm the rest. If you know how to cook pilaf with meat in a frying pan, then you can handle this recipe.

Real Fergana pilaf: composition

When you want to learn how to cook pilaf with meat, you think that the recipe should be Uzbek, but in fact it is Fergana pilaf, which is prepared from special Devzir rice. This is a special variety, and cooking with it requires some skill. This rice has larger grains than regular rice, so it must first be soaked in salt water. So, what products are needed:

a kilogram of lamb (you are cooking real pilaf!);
kilogram of Devzir rice;
kilogram of carrots;
four onions;
three heads of garlic;
a couple of hot peppers;
spices and seasonings (barberry, salt, cumin, ground red pepper) to taste;
350 grams of fat tail fat.

Don't forget to soak Devzir before cooking.

Let's start cooking

Now we’ll tell you how to cook pilaf with meat based on the photo. Place finely chopped lard into a preheated cauldron. It should be well melted and fried. Take out the cracklings, and we will cook with lard. There is no need to add oil there anymore, since real pilaf is cooked with melted fat.

Place the onion in the boiling fat. It should become almost transparent, but be careful not to overcook, otherwise the bitterness of the burnt onions will spoil the taste of the dish. When the onion is ready, add the meat and fry until golden brown. We take out the meat and fry the carrots cut into strips in the same fat. As soon as it becomes soft, return the meat there and add water. Simmer over low heat until the meat is almost cooked.

Add spices, pepper, garlic and add rice. Pour in enough water to only be a couple of millimeters above the level of the rice. It's better to add it later than to end up with mush. Cook for about an hour over very low heat. Now we collect the rice into a mound without stirring. Place garlic and pepper on top, cover with a lid and leave for another twenty minutes. At the end of the time, mix everything, put it in a heap on a dish and invite everyone to taste it.