there is a lot of cooking in Uzbekistan different types pilaf, for example in Samarkand it is prepared with peas and is not very fatty, in Tashkent you can find pilaf with barberry and quince and very coarsely chopped pieces of meat, etc. in general there are many recipes for cooking and they are all *CORRECT* in their own way
I was taught how to cook pilaf by an old Bukharian Jew, I don’t know what type of pilaf I’m cooking for - that’s why I just call it - Uzbek pilaf
so let's get started...
we will need
1.carrot -1 kg
2.bow-3 heads
3.2 heads of garlic
4.2 hot green (or red) peppers
5 salt cumin (Cumin)
6. and of course meat - keep in mind that Uzbek pilaf is prepared only from lamb!
we need about 1.5 kg of lamb, preferably with bones
7.and lamb fat(preferably fat tail) -150g,
Fat, of course, can be replaced with sunflower oil (olive oil is not suitable), which is heated until a bluish haze forms.
8.1 kg rice
at the beginning we peel the carrots and onions, as you have already noticed from my previous posts, I am lazy in small things, and where I can make the work easier, I always use all sorts of kitchen gadgets.
In short, I cut the carrots and onions using a special grater
For conservatives, I’m giving you a specially enlarged picture. Look for yourself - everything is perfect
cut the meat and fat into small pieces up to 2 cm
Now comes the stage which, if you have the opportunity, is best done on the street, or with the windows wide open.. (.my wife kicked me out onto the roof)
We must render the lamb fat, or if you don’t have it, calcinate the sunflower oil.
heat the cauldron, pour about 100-150 grams of sunflower oil into it, wait until a bluish smoke appears above the oil and add pieces of lamb fat there
fry it until golden brown
remove the resulting greaves onto a plate (they are quite edible, but this is not for everybody - I, for one, don’t like it...) and fry the bones in the resulting fat until they have a stable golden color. Already at this stage you can add a pinch of salt and cumin when frying the bones stir periodically
we extract the bones from the fat, they have already done their job - they gave their juices to the fat.
Now add the onion cut into rings
a few words about onions - at the beginning it may seem that there is too much of it..., but this is not the case. Strangely enough, in pilaf the onion is not felt at all, it seems to dissolve and is not visible visually
When frying, all the water should evaporate from the onion, the readiness of the onion is determined appearance - he gotta go gold
at this stage I went down into the house and continued cooking on a regular gas stove. We set the fire to maximum - the fat should boil
pour meat into the cauldron
fry it for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally
add carrots
stirring vigorously, fry it for about 10 minutes. The finished carrots should be soft, if they are hard and have no smell, then you haven’t cooked them through
the moment has come when we add water. This is a very important moment, the fact is that if you pour more water than necessary, you will get rice porridge with meat, if less, the rice will not be cooked and will be tough.
One of the basic laws of cooking rice says that for one serving of rice you need to take at least one and a half servings of water. But there are many other small important nuances - for example, the variety of rice. Each variety takes on its own amount of water during cooking.
in general, I took 1.2 liters for 1 kg of rice cold water using this device
pour water into the cauldron and let it boil, the water level above the meat should not exceed 1-2cm
Well, we got what the Uzbeks call ZIRVAK
When the zirvak boils, we add garlic and pepper.
Before adding, check the pepper, it must be perfectly whole, otherwise the pilaf will be very spicy and garlic Peel off the skin a little and remove the rhizome.
reduce the heat and cook the zirvak for 25-30 minutes, the zirvak begins to cook slowly, gaining taste and color.
we have half an hour to prepare the rice
Regarding rice, I can say that in my experience it is better to take pilaf round rice
it absorbs fat better.
the rice must be washed
until the water becomes clear,
pour rice warm water and put it aside
Meanwhile, our zirvak has reached condition
we taste it for salt and add salt so that it tastes too salty. Then use a slotted spoon to remove the garlic and pepper onto a separate plate so that they do not interfere with us.
Increase the heat under the pot to maximum and carefully transfer the rice into it with a slotted spoon, from which the water has previously been drained,
Level the rice, ensuring uniform boiling around the entire circumference of the cauldron.
Attention- Under no circumstances should you mix rice with zirvak!!!
Using a slotted spoon we stroke the rice, making circular movements from the edges to the middle, and we build, as it were, a small hill
Zirvak is gradually absorbed, and there is another important nuance here
As the zirvak is absorbed into the rice, you need to gradually reduce the heat so that the meat and carrots do not burn on the bottom.
when the zirvak is completely absorbed, it’s a good idea to do one more control check - rake the rice a little and take a couple of grains of rice for testing - the rice should not crunch on your teeth. If you detect the slightest hardness, pour half a glass of hot water onto the surface of the rice, level the mound and collect the rice again from the edge to the middle, giving the water the opportunity to fall inside. After this, dig a “hole” in the middle of the rice layer, carefully place the garlic boiled in the zirvak there and Bell pepper... and carefully bury them, again building a mound of rice. Sprinkle the rice with cumin crushed in the palm of your hand and close the cauldron with a lid, turn the heat to low. Let it cook for another 5-8 minutes, turn off the heat, wrap the lid with a towel and leave the pilaf to cook for another 25 minutes.
When the pilaf has arrived, carefully remove the pepper and garlic, mix everything thoroughly and put it on a dish (lyagan), put the garlic and pepper on top.
If you did everything right, then the rice should look like this
Pilaf is a very fatty food, so you need to wash it down with green tea, and I don’t recommend any cold drinks other than vodka.
Bon appetit everyone!
Hi all!
Do you like pilaf from Uzbek cuisine? I think so, since you are reading and searching delicious variations preparing this delicious dish. And I want to please you today various recipes its preparations.
I already wrote earlier that about Uzbek cuisine I know it firsthand - after all, I’m 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 Uzbek author, I counted about 50 of him different options. 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 general rules cooking 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, is making the right choice varieties of rice. 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, for example, India or Vietnam, is not suitable for crumbly dish. 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 get a fragrant tasty dish.
Oil and spices. Uzbek cooks originally used cotton unrefined 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. So don't bother searching cottonseed oil, and cook in 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, enamel dishes absolutely cannot be used. Here it is better to fork out more and buy a normal cast iron boiler. Cooked in the right dishes, You'll get wonderful dish, which 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 large dish- lyagans. 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 to the table you can put a salad from fresh cucumbers and tomatoes - personally, I really love pouring the wonderful 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 help you prepare a fragrant dish and delight 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 of him.
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, it pre-separates fat from the skin from 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.
We wrap the lid of the cauldron 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.
Pilaf - a traditional dish oriental cuisine, the most famous and delicious food, 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 meal.
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 food, osh (pilaf) has its own general principles and cooking features that 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 It 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 pilaf (it taste qualities this does not spoil them at all) cook 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 long grain rice with a small content of starch. Firm varietal rice with transparent grains is dense, does not boil over and absorbs water perfectly.
Oil also plays a leading role in the production of pilaf, since it is it that absorbs odors and adds flavor to the future dish. Oil in classic pilaf They use 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 (can be 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. Cooking zirvak for pilaf correctly is a real art, since the aromatic characteristics, taste and appearance future dish.
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 in 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. Covered with meat and bones 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 made 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:
You need to pour into the multicooker cup olive oil.
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 crust. 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.
The pan must be tightly closed with a lid, reduce the heat and cook the pilaf until full preparation rice and evaporation of water.
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 needs to be cut big 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 a certain 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.
Uzbek pilaf - crumbly, fatty, with meat, carrots, onions, aromatic spices and a whole head of garlic. Everyone tries to cook, but they admit that people from the east make pilaf better.
Maybe there is some secret recipe pilaf, which is known only in the east, which is passed down from father to son. And which they will never tell us? Maybe it's the seasoning? Or is it the wrong meat and rice? Or is it about the dishes, the famous cauldron?
I think a little bit of everything. Most often, people from Uzbekistan simply forget to clarify a few small details, without which the pilaf does not turn out so tasty. Below I will describe what I noticed. And perhaps you can suggest points that I missed. Then we will prepare delicious pilaf!
Notes
- If you have fat tail fat, then we cook with it. Of course, fat tail fat must first be melted in a cauldron. If you don’t have it, then cook with vegetable oil (ideally with grape seed oil).
- Rice should be taken with low starch content. The color of this rice is not white, but transparent. It needs to be soaked in advance for a couple of hours and then rinsed well. If you are lazy and want pilaf, then take steamed rice. But I personally do not advise: the more industrial processing of a product, the lower its the nutritional value. And even harmful. Fast, simple, but not healthy carbohydrates, do you know.
- Cut the meat into good pieces, 4-5 centimeter sides each. And fry at high temperature - this way it will be juicy, as it will be “sealed”. If you have a small cauldron with a thick bottom, then fry one or two pieces at a time.
- Chop the onion coarsely, otherwise it may burn. If you put the onions in the cauldron first and then the meat, you can burn the onions. It's better the other way around.
- We cut the carrots into fairly large strips, because grated carrots will either burn or boil into mush. We don't need this at all.
- Carrots and meat are not mixed in a cauldron, because it will burn, and because it is tradition (and tradition is because it can burn). If you really want to stir, then first let the carrots simmer on top of the meat for about 10 minutes, and then you can stir.
- You can use different seasonings for pilaf. The classic set is salt, pepper, curry, cumin (jeera), black barberry and turmeric. If you don’t want to bother, buy it at the market ready mixture(just ask what it’s made of; if you have half of the above ingredients, take it).
- Zirvak, this magical primary boiling mixture of meat, spices, vegetables, a semi-finished product that precedes real pilaf, should not boil too much, otherwise the broth will be cloudy and the rice cloudy broth absorbs poorly.
Video recipe for pilaf
I have also selected videos for you from masters of cooking pilaf. Watch them.
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Uzbek pilaf - crumbly, fatty, with meat, carrots, onions. Recipe for Uzbek pilaf with aromatic spices.
Ingredients
(check all available)- 300 g lamb
- 300 g clear rice
- 300 g carrots
- 100 g vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion
- 1 head of garlic
- 2 tsp cumin (jeera)
- 2 tsp barberry black
- 0.5 tsp turmeric
- 0.5 tsp curry
- Salt
- Pepper
- Preparation: 30
- Cooking: 180
- Servings: 4
Preparation
1.
2.
Cut the meat into large cubes, 4-5 centimeters each. Onion - in thick half rings. Remove the peel from the garlic head so that the head does not fall apart.3.
Cut the carrots into large strips (to speed up the process, teach your significant other to do this)4.
Take a cauldron, or a thick-walled cast iron pan - a duck pan. If there is fat tail, then render the fat. No - pour in the oil and heat it well until it smokes. This will remove impurities in the oil.5.
Gently fry the lamb pieces in this oil. Temperature is important here, so if you have a small cauldron, fry 1-2 pieces at a time. Fried - removed.6.
When all the meat is fried and removed, put the onion in the cauldron and fry until golden brown.7.
We are returning the meat. Salt (about 1 tsp) and pepper (half a tsp). Mix. Reduce heat and add carrots.8.
Simmer for 10 minutes until the carrots wilt. And cumin spices (rubbed in your hands), curry, barberry and a pinch of salt. After this, you can stir lightly if you want. Then pour boiling water just above the carrots and reduce the heat - the zirvak should simmer quietly. Simmer until the meat is cooked – 40-50 minutes.9.
When the meat is ready, place the rice on top. Let's level it out. Stick a head of garlic into the center. Sprinkle with turmeric and pour boiling water one centimeter above the level of the rice. In principle, the task is not very simple. It is important not to destroy the layers of our future pilaf. That's why hot water It’s good to carefully pour into a large tablespoon. And not in one place, but in a circle.10.
Taste for salt and add more salt if necessary. Rice loves salt. But let's not get carried away! Close the lid and cook for another 15 minutes.11.
We take the lid, wrap it with a kitchen towel (so that the steam does not drip back into the cauldron) and cook for another 10 minutes, until all the water is absorbed into the rice and towel.
Pilaf is served in a large dish, which is called “legan” in Uzbek, laid out in a heap, and decorated with a head of garlic on top. They put everything on a table covered with a tablecloth - this is “dastarkhan” in Uzbek. Achchik-chuchuk salad is served along with pilaf (salad recipe below). I didn’t have a legan dish, so I used our Latgalian ceramics. I think it turned out great! I tried something very similar in an Uzbek restaurant.
To prepare delicious Uzbek pilaf at home, you don’t have to be a professional cook. It is enough to have a desire. We will teach you how to cook real Uzbek pilaf. Uzbekistan is a country where Uzbek pilaf is prepared almost every day in absolutely all cities of the republic. Uzbek pilaf recipes and cooks’ own secrets of preparing pilaf are passed down from generation to generation. We present to your attention the following recipes:
Classic Uzbek pilaf
The recipe for real Uzbek pilaf is quite simple and includes ingredients that can be found at any grocery market. You can cook with different meats, but we will now consider the option with lamb.
- Meat (lamb) - 0.5 kg. (can be beef or pork)
- Vegetable oil (the best option is cottonseed oil, but sunflower oil is also very tasty) - 0.5 cups.
- Rice - 2 full glasses, devzira or laser variety. (pictured is pilaf with devzira rice).
- Onions - 2-3 pcs.
- Carrots - 4-5 pcs.
- Zira, salt - to taste.
This step-by-step recipe will teach you how to prepare Uzbek pilaf recipe. It will be equally tasty with lamb or beef, or even pork.
If the oil is not refined, then heat it and cool it a little so that it does not splash while adding meat.
All photos are clickable, click on photo to enlarge.
Place the chopped and washed meat pieces in a cauldron and fry over medium heat on both sides. While the lamb is frying, we cut the onion into half rings, add it to the meat and continue frying for 5-10 minutes.
To prevent the meat and onions from burning, you need to stir them periodically.
Before cooking, chop the carrots into strips. As soon as the onions have acquired a golden color, put the chopped carrots in the cauldron and pour boiling water over them. Salt and add seasonings or peeled and washed barberries, raisins and cumin. Cover with a lid and simmer over low heat for 25-30 minutes.
While the base is being prepared, we sort and rinse the rice several times until the drained water is clear.
As soon as the carrots are cooked, add the rice, level the surface with a slotted spoon and, if necessary, add boiling water.
Remember that an excess amount of water will turn Uzbek pilaf into a banal rice porridge. Therefore, there should be just enough liquid to cover the rice by 4-5 mm.
Increase the temperature to high and cook the palam. That's what it's called in some regions of the country. As soon as the rice has absorbed water, you need to turn the top layer over with a slotted spoon, separate the rice from the walls of the cauldron and make deep punctures with a spoon so that the remaining moisture evaporates.
Then reduce the gas (electric stove) to a minimum, close the lid tightly and let it simmer for 5 minutes. After turning off the stove, do not remove the lid for another 10 minutes to allow the dish to be filled with the aroma of seasonings.
It is advisable to take a large dish for pilaf so that it fits on the dish in the form of a slide. First we lay out the rice, then a layer of carrots and onions and then the meat cut into small cubes on top.
That's how it turned out real pilaf, which will be even tastier if served with an Uzbek salad.
There are several types of salads that pilaf goes with. Here are some of them.
Salad "Achuchuk"
Ingredients:
Wash and peel the vegetables; there is no need to peel the tomatoes. Cut into a deep bowl. Add salt, oil and stir. Also, instead of oil, you can season the salad with kaymak, sour cream or kefir. Whoever likes it!
Radish salad
1 medium-sized radish, peeled and washed. Rub it on coarse grater, add finely chopped green onions. You can add a little salt.
Onions with vinegar
1 onion chop into rings, season with vinegar and serve.
Bon appetit!
