Traditionally, pilaf is cooked in a thick-walled cauldron over an open fire. In urban conditions, instead of a cauldron, thick-walled dishes are used, best of all, a cast-iron pan with straight walls and a thick bottom, where the dish will warm up evenly. AT enamel saucepan with thin walls, pilaf is likely to burn.
Most main ingredient in pilaf - fig. The most suitable rice is strong, having medium-length grains that do not boil when cooked. Rice for cooking pilaf should be washed well in cold water, washing off the water so many times that it becomes almost transparent.
As far as meat is concerned, Eastern countries pilaf is made from lamb brisket, shoulder or back. In our latitudes, pork and beef are also used for pilaf. Veal is considered too tender and soft meat for such a dish.
An approximate calculation of products for cooking pilaf (10 servings) is as follows:
- meat 1.5 kg
- rice 0.5 kg
- carrots 1 kg
- onion 0.5 kg
- vegetable oil 450 ml
- spices 50 g
The basis of pilaf is zirvak, the preparation of which begins after frying onions, carrots and meat in a fairly in large numbers odorless vegetable oil and their subsequent stewing with spices. The order of laying products depends on the type of pilaf. Spices and salt are put after frying the ingredients and adding to them hot water. The zirvak should be stewed over low heat for 40 minutes to 1.5 hours - it is believed that the longer the pilaf is simmered, the better its taste becomes. A film of fat is formed on the surface of the finished zirvak, the foam disappears, the liquid becomes transparent. In addition, its taste has a hint of melted butter, fried meat, passivated onions and stewed carrots, with a spicy touch. Salt zirvak should be quite generous, it should turn out slightly oversalted.
During the preparation of lamb pilaf, instead of or together with vegetable oil, sometimes add fat tail fat, melting it into fat tail fat.
The traditional spices for pilaf are dried berries barberry, cumin (zira), often added spicy pepper, dry and fresh, garlic, basil, saffron, cilantro.
Dried fruits in pilaf should be pre-soaked in water, then slightly squeezed and added before laying rice.
In India sweet pilaf prepared as follows: pour dry rice into vegetable oil heated in a cauldron, fry until golden brown. Dried fruits and chopped spices are added: saffron, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, as well as sugar and salt to taste. The ingredients are fried for about 5 minutes. Then they are poured with hot water, covering a mixture of dried fruits and rice by 2 cm, brought to a boil and boiled over high heat until the water evaporates to the level of rice. Then tightly cover the cauldron with a lid and cook over very low heat until the rice is ready.
Pilaf is a dish of Uzbek cuisine, which is prepared both in Central Asia, and in the Caucasus and Russia. Thanks to the combination of meat, vegetables, rice and spices, pilaf is not only very hearty meal, because it provides the body with proteins, fats and carbohydrates, but also easy to digest. Everyone can cook pilaf, but before you cook pilaf correctly, you need to get a cauldron, because thanks to its design, rice is languishing together with meat in water and the risk of pilaf burning is reduced.
In order to cook pilaf you will need:
500 grams of meat (beef, pork, lamb);
800 grams of rice;
250 grams of fat or vegetable oil;
500 grams of carrots;
4 bulbs;
Salt, pepper, garlic - to taste.
First put the cauldron on the stove and turn on the fire. As soon as the cauldron warms up, cut into cubes pork or lamb fat and put it on the bottom. After cracklings form and a light smoke appears, remove the cracklings with a spoon or slotted spoon and put the washed and then chopped large pieces meat. You can also do without fat, for which just pour vegetable oil into a cauldron, warm it well, and then put the meat.
Stirring the meat from time to time so that it is evenly fried, does not stick to the bottom of the cauldron and does not burn, bring it to the formation of a golden crust.
At this time, peel the carrots and onions, rinse them under running water, and then cut the onions into rings, and chop the carrots into medium sticks.
Run cut into rings onion in ruddy meat, stirring, fry until the onion becomes golden. Then add the carrots, mix lightly and fry until lightly cooked. After that, pour the thoroughly washed rice into the cauldron, level it so that it lies evenly.
After that, boil drinking water and pour over the surface of the rice so that the water completely covers it and is higher than the rice on the phalanx of the finger and leave to cook under the covered lid. As soon as the water is almost evaporated, pierce the rice with a fork or knife to the bottom of the cauldron in several places, add the head of garlic, salt and spices and make the fire very weak. Under a tightly closed lid, bring the pilaf to readiness for a little over half an hour.
Ready pilaf should be put on a dish, put chopped pieces of pilaf meat on top and sprinkle with herbs or onions in vinegar. It is very tasty to serve salted or pickled cucumbers or pickled tomatoes with pilaf.
Before you cook pilaf correctly, rice can also be cooked separately by boiling it in salted boiling water until the grains become soft on the outside. Then throw the rice on a sieve and place in a deep pan, where there is already oil or melted fat. After that, the rice should be salted, covered with a lid and cooked over low heat for 40 minutes.
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Proper cooking of pilaf at home is quite difficult. Not everyone has a cauldron, and not everyone can afford to cook on fresh air. But still…
Cooking pilaf - theory and practice
(This long introduction can be omitted, immediately starting to view and cook the pilaf recipe, in which EVERYTHING IS CLEAR. However, the introduction describes important details about real pilaf, which will certainly come in handy ...)
When talking about pilaf, almost everyone has in mind the Uzbek version of this dish. Despite the fact that there are quite a few options for pilaf, the Uzbek one is still considered the most, real, correct, authentic. This is the same pilaf that is laid out on a large dish in a slide, large pieces of meat are laid out around, and in the center there is a head of garlic stewed right in the husk. This pilaf is so crumbly, fragrant, bright sunny color. And the most amazing thing is that it does not need a large set of products, but some knowledge is needed ...
Rice for pilaf
The most important part of cooking Uzbek, or rather, Ferghana pilaf consider choosing rice. So, rice called dev-zira growing in the Ferghana Valley. This rice is firm, low in starch, and is able to absorb a lot of water and oil while remaining crumbly. Rice varieties such as chungara, dastar-saryk, bark-koltak, bugday-gurunch, arpa-sholi, koniligi. But it is highly likely that such rice will not be found, then choose Spanish varieties of rice “for paella”. If they are not there, basmati remains - this is wrong, but still better than “Krasnodar” or “for risotto”. Basmati is a relatively non-starchy rice. The only caveat is that it cooks much faster than “flat” varieties - only 10 minutes. Rice varieties that contain a lot of starch are categorically not suitable for cooking pilaf - with them, pilaf will never turn out crumbly. Before cooking pilaf, rice must be soaked in slightly warm water for an hour and a half, after which they are washed in several waters.
Zirvak - non-cereal part of pilaf
As for meat, the traditional pilaf is made from lamb, but it also turns out very tasty from other meat. At home, lamb chicken is more popular - we will cook from it. The proportion of dry rice and meat for pilaf is one to one.To cook pilaf, they take quite a lot of carrots.. Carrots need one that retains its shape during stewing and does not fall apart, it must be cut into strips. Onion is also often added to pilaf - it gives the dish flavor.
Zira is considered the most important spice for pilaf.. In addition to zira, not very many spices are added - usually hot peppers, a head of garlic, barberry. Bay leaf do not put in pilaf.
Proper utensils for pilaf
Important is the choice of dishes for cooking pilaf. Ideally it should be cauldron. But, you see, not everyone has such dishes at home. And therefore, you can cook pilaf in a wok, a deep frying pan or a saucepan with thick walls.
A few words about pilaf technology
Rice cooking technology can seem confusing for a beginner. But once you cook pilaf a couple of times, and you will already do it without too much fuss. So, all the ingredients must be prepared in advance. Then the oil is heated, in which vegetables and meat will be fried.
When the zirvak is ready, spices are introduced and rice is added. But this is not the end: as soon as the rice is stewed, the process of cooking pilaf will continue: the pilaf is covered with a lid and allowed to ripen for half an hour, or even better - an hour. Only after that you will get that magical and unique dish that can be called " correct pilaf».
Cooking time: about 2 hours
Recipe Ingredients
- 400 grams of rice (basmati)
- 400-500 grams of chicken meat
- 300 grams of carrots
- 1 large onion
- 1 whole head garlic
- 75 ml refined vegetable oil
- a set of spices for pilaf, which includes cumin, red hot pepper and barberry
- salt, black pepper - to taste
How to cook pilaf
First of all, soak the rice in slightly warm water (45-50 degrees).
Now cut all the rest of the ingredients. Onion cut into half rings.
Cut the meat into large pieces.
Peel the carrots and chop into strips.
Now you can start cooking. First, pour the vegetable oil into the dishes and heat the oil over a fairly high heat - white smoke should start coming from it.
Gently fold the onion into the hot oil. You need to constantly stir the onion so that it cooks evenly. In just a couple of minutes, it should turn rosy.
At this point, send meat to the dishes.
It should also start to crust.
As soon as this happens, send the carrots to the dishes. Stir the contents, but do it very delicately and affectionately.
Fry everything for 5 minutes, then pour in 500 ml of water and add a whole head of garlic. This is the beginning of the final stage of the preparation of zirvak. Let it boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer the zirvak for 30 minutes.
After this time, remove the garlic and add salt and spices to the zirvak.
And then send the washed rice. Rice should not float in a large amount of liquid, otherwise the pilaf will not turn out crumbly.
As soon as you add rice, the fire should be reduced to a minimum, but so that the liquid still boils a little.
Another trick: so that the rice does not burn during cooking, stir it as if from above, without touching the meat and vegetables at the bottom, with light stroking movements.
After 10 minutes, when the rice is almost ready, form a hill out of it, put the head of garlic in the center, which was stewed in zirvak before.
Then cover the dishes with a tight lid, turn off the heat and leave to ripen for at least half an hour.
And when the pilaf is finally ready, take out the garlic and all the pieces of meat, and fluff the rice itself with a slotted spoon or spatula so that it becomes airy and light.
Place a pile of rice on a large dish, garnish its top with garlic, and arrange the meat nicely around. You can only add it vegetable salad and a cup of green tea - that's the whole feast. Bon appetit!
Many housewives limit themselves to cooking just a few dozen familiar dishes. Often they do not have enough time, energy, or desire to experiment. But in fact, many famous dishes It is quite possible to cook it yourself, you just need to follow the instructions. This also applies to pilaf that came to us from Asia. Let's talk about how to cook delicious pilaf at home.
real plov
To prepare a delicious Uzbek pilaf, you need to stock up on half a kilogram of meat (lamb, pork or chicken), half a kilogram of carrots and a third glass of vegetable oil. Also use one glass of rice, six cloves of garlic, salt and spices (suneli hops, barberry, etc.) and water.
Cut the carrot into long strips. Chop the onion into half rings. Cut the meat into medium pieces, it is best that it be fatty.
Prepare Zirvak - the basis for pilaf. Pour a third of a glass of vegetable oil into the pan, heat it well, add meat, carrots and onions there. Cook Zirvak for half an hour on the strongest fire. Keep the meat uncovered half the time and stir occasionally.
It is best to cook pilaf in a thick cast iron pan or in a thick cast-iron cauldron. The lid should fit snugly.
In the middle of cooking Zirvak, salt it and sprinkle with spices. Evaporate the mixture under the lid. You should get a slightly salty, richly carrot-onion billet.
After Zirvak has evaporated, add rice to it. Sprinkle directly on top and do not stir. Pour the contents of the pan (or pilaf) cold water so that it covers the rice a little. Cover the container with a lid and put on a fire of minimum power. Cook for about an hour without stirring or opening.
Approximately five to ten minutes before the readiness, stick garlic cloves (peeled or directly in the peel) on top. Wrap the finished pilaf in a blanket, so it will be saturated with aroma and taste as much as possible.
Pilaf City
To prepare such a dish, you need to stock up on four hundred grams of meat, a couple of medium carrots, three medium onions and, of course, spices. So on the market you can buy a special mixture for pilaf prepared by an Uzbek. Also use one hundred and fifty grams of sunflower oil, six cloves of garlic and three hundred grams of rice.
Rinse rice. Mix two measures of rice with three measures of water. Cook with a tightly closed lid until the water boils away.
Cut the meat into pieces and fry until golden brown in well-heated water with vegetable oil. Add carrots with onions, spices, and five to six cloves of unpeeled garlic to the pan. Add salt, mix and simmer under the lid for fifteen to twenty minutes.
Heat a large, thick-walled pot on a separate burner. Combine vegetables, meat and rice in it, mix gently and simmer for five minutes.
How to cook pilaf in a cauldron at home?
To prepare such a dish, you need to prepare fifty to one hundred grams of Chickpeas (Asian peas), one kilogram of carrots, one kilogram of rice, one kilogram of meat and one head of garlic. Also use a couple of onions and some vegetable oil.
Boil chickpeas until tender. Cut the carrot into strips, and the onion into half rings. Chop the meat into large pieces.
Heat up a pot with vegetable oil. Fry the onion in it until nicely golden. Add meat to the container, salt, fry and stew. Put boiled chickpeas in a container, add carrots and unpeeled garlic (remove only the top dirty shell from the garlic). Pour in spices (the best choice would be a mixture for pilaf).
Pour the mixture in a cauldron with water so that it is two centimeters higher than the rice. Cook over a fairly high heat, but do not cover with a lid. When the water level is equal to the level of rice, reduce the heat to a minimum and cover the cauldron with a lid. Cook until cooked, do not stir the rice, and do not open the lid.
Delicious, quick and easy pilaf at home
To prepare such a dish, you need to prepare four hundred grams of rice, four hundred grams of pork, one medium onion, one large carrot, half a glass of vegetable oil. Also use spices (for pilaf) and boiling water.
Rinse the rice well and dry. Do not cut the meat large pieces marinate if desired.
Warm up sunflower oil in a cast-iron skillet with high sides or in a cauldron. Fry meat in it. Cut the onion into cubes, and the carrot into strips. Add onions and carrots to the meat and fry until soft.
Pour dry rice into the pan and fry over high heat with occasional stirring. Rice should become translucent.
Pour the contents of the pan with boiling water from the kettle so that it is a centimeter higher than the rice. Add spices, salt, put garlic cloves if desired. Cover the pot with a lid and reduce the heat to low.
After all the water in the container boils away, pilaf can be considered ready.
Homemade plov- This excellent dish that will delight all households. And it is not at all difficult to cook it at home, you just need to follow the above recommendations.
The question has arisen: How to cook pilaf, which will definitely turn out delicious and so that the rice is friable? Pilaf - favourite dish in many families. There is no exact data on exactly where pilaf was first cooked. It is believed that India serves as its homeland, where today there is a huge variety of rice dishes, but many of them are vegetarian.
It is likely that meat, vegetables and spices were added to the rice dish already in Persia. We can only confidently say that the basic principle of cooking pilaf came to us from the East and was appreciated by the inhabitants of the Central Asian countries.
According to their recipes, we are preparing this wonderful dish to this day. As you know, there are many recipes for cooking pilaf. There are hundreds, maybe thousands. How to cook delicious pilaf?
You will also need a suitable container - a cauldron or other deep cast iron dish with thick walls and a bottom. This is very important - it is very difficult to properly cook pilaf in dishes with thin walls.
Each country, and sometimes each village or city of Central Asia has its own, unique and special way cooking this dish. Every family has its own recipe. Sometimes, the principles of cooking pilaf are radically different. The only thing in common between the cooking options is the combination of 2 obligatory components: cereal and zirvak (meat and vegetable part). classic ingredient rice favors, however, in some recipes, cereals such as barley, corn, wheat, sometimes even peas, may be offered. There are no special canons for the preparation of zirvak. It is recognized by many that pilaf should certainly be prepared from lamb, but cooking from other types of meat, fish and poultry is not excluded. Variable and a set of spices, vegetables, dried fruits.
So, how to cook pilaf properly at home? We reveal the main secrets!
See also the recipe for pilaf on our website:
- Pilaf in a slow cooker
- Pilaf with chicken
- Uzbek pilaf
- Pilaf in the microwave
How to cook tasty beef pilaf
Beef pilaf is a traditional dish Uzbekistan. Every housewife in this country perfectly prepares this dish, but in our country it is not often consumed. It is believed that pilaf is cooked very difficult and long, but there are various recipes, which allow you to cook it without making a lot of time and effort.
Ingredients for cooking beef pilaf:
- Beef - 200 g;
- Rice round - 300 g;
- Garlic - 3 cloves;
- Red pepper - 1 pc.;
- Tomatoes - 2 pcs.;
- Bow - 1 pc.;
- Champignons - 100 g.
Seasonings:
- Curry;
- Rosemary;
- Salt;
- A mixture of peppers;
- Olive oil.
Recipe for pilaf:
We start cooking with beef for pilaf. This meat is quite fatty and allows you to make the dish satisfying. We cut the meat for pilaf into large pieces with a diameter of about 4 cm. Lightly beat the beef with a hammer on both sides.
Pour a small amount into the pan olive oil and put the meat in here. Fry the beef for 5 minutes.
Cut mushrooms into thin slices. Tomatoes should be cut into large pieces, and peppers into small cubes. Add mushrooms to the pan with the beef. White mushrooms can be used if desired.
In the next step, pour out the red Bell pepper. It will add some sweetness to the dish.
Put the tomatoes in the pan. And fry for a minute.
Onion should be cut into large half rings. Pour it into a dish. We mix everything thoroughly.
For a dish like the right pilaf, it is very important to choose spices. The best combination will become curry, rosemary and a mixture of peppers. Pour the seasonings into the pan.
Fill the dish with water. It should completely cover the rice.
Simmer until the rice has absorbed all the water. Add liquid as needed. At the last stage, add a few cloves of garlic. It will complement the pilaf with a rich aroma.
The right pilaf with beef and vegetables is ready. This dish should be served with light vegetable salads.
Kazan pilaf - how to cook
For everyone who loves rice in any of its manifestations, I offer a recipe for a delicious low-fat pilaf. For its preparation, pork is not used, but boiled beef. Try it, you will definitely love this recipe!
Ingredients for cooking Kazan pilaf:
- 1 cup rice
- 100 g melted butter
- 600 g boiled beef
- 1 large onion
- 1 medium carrot
- 2 cups meat broth
- 100 g seedless raisins
- A pinch of zira
- Salt, pepper to taste
Preparation time - 80 minutes, number of servings - 6
Cooking correctly "Kazan pilaf":
Boiled beef cut into cubes.
In a cauldron or pan with a thick bottom, melt the butter and send our meat there.
My carrots, peel and cut into rings.
Put the chopped carrots on top of the meat.
Peel the onion and cut into rings.
Spread the onion rings evenly over the carrots.
We wash the rice and put it in a saucepan on top of the vegetables, it is advisable to try to do this evenly.
Pour into a saucepan meat broth, sprinkle everything with a pinch of zira, salt and pepper to taste. Cover the dish with a lid and simmer for 30-40 minutes over low heat.
We wash the raisins and pour hot water for 20-30 minutes.
When our pilaf is ready, drain the water from the raisins, squeeze and add to the rice.
We mix everything well and serve our pilaf to the table.
Bon appetit!
The author of the recipe "Kazan pilaf recipe with photo" Sandi
Recipe for a delicious classic pilaf
So, for about 10 servings you will need:
- 1.5 kg of meat (traditionally lamb, but pork, veal, beef can also be used)
- 1 kg carrots (choose juicy, orange, sweet)
- 450g butter (some recipes use fat)
- 1.5 kg of rice
- 0.5 kg onion
- hot pepper
- 50 g of spices and seasonings (traditionally used: zira, coriander grains, saffron, barberry, basil)
- You can add raisins and dried fruits if you like.
How to cook classic pilaf:
By classic recipe pilaf should be cooked on an open fire, on wood, in a thick-walled cauldron. But, if you cook pilaf at home, then a cast-iron pan with straight walls and a thick bottom is better, which will allow the rice to warm up evenly. In enameled or thin-walled dishes, pilaf will simply burn.
When choosing rice, give preference transparent variety, grain length - medium-long. Avoid popular Thai and Indian varieties like jasmine and basmati. Such varieties quickly boil soft and turn pilaf into rice porridge. Tajik (oshpar, devzira) and Uzbek rice are best suited. Italian rice, which is used to make paella, takes longer to cook, but at the same time, the pilaf turns out crumbly and fragrant.
Lamb is considered to be the best meat. Only this meat is able to give pilaf aroma and taste, with oriental notes. It is preferable to choose a lamb breast, but the shoulder blade, back part will also work. If the meat is with bones, then take 2 times more meat than required by the recipe. An excellent pilaf is obtained from beef or pork. Veal pilaf will not be so fragrant and satisfying, although many people like to cook it from veal.
How to cook? Secrets of delicious pilaf.
We will tell you the recipe for cooking unusually delicious pilaf. Try it, you will be delighted!
Very important for palatability pilaf has zirvak(meat part of pilaf). She is preparing for vegetable oil. Choose deodorized corn or sunflower oil. Aromatic sunflower oil is not suitable. Cut the fat tail fat into small pieces, melt over low heat, it is advisable not to mix. Make sure that the pieces of lard do not brown and do not overheat until completely rendered.
When choosing spices rely on your imagination and taste. Mandatory spices are cumin seeds, barberry berries and hot peppers. Cumin is sold in the market called jeera. Do not confuse cumin and cumin, which are similar in appearance but very different in flavor. The grains of cumin are much lighter and larger than those of cumin.
Traditionally, whole pepper pods are put in pilaf, however, if you do not like spicy dishes, then the grains must be removed from fresh pepper, rinsed under running water cold water inside and outside. Whole pods can be replaced with sharp ground pepper. In stores you can find a huge variety already ready mixes for cooking pilaf. But it is better to rely solely on your own taste.
Cooking pilaf on the stove starts with meat roasting before golden brown and then the onion is fried. If you have a small pot at your disposal, then it is better to fry the meat in small portions. In order for the meat to become golden in color and evenly fried, lay it out in small portions so that the distance between the pieces is at least 1.5 cm.
After roasting the meat start frying the onion until dark golden brown in the same oil. The onion should be cut into half rings. Then return the meat to the cauldron or pan, mix everything and heat for 5 minutes. To cooked meat and onions, add carrots, cut into cubes. Fry for 2 minutes, do not stir. After that, you can mix and fry all the products together for another 10 minutes, periodically stirring gently so as not to damage the carrots. Add spices and cumin, fry for 5-10 minutes until the carrots are soft. Pour boiling water over well-fried vegetables and meat so that the meat is covered by 2 cm, then add barberry, dried or fresh pepper. Simmer everything for 40-90 minutes over low heat. Make sure that the zirvak does not burn. Salt the broth 10-15 minutes before it's done so that it is a little salty. Zirvak is considered ready when all the water boils away and the oil becomes completely transparent.
After preparing zirvak, the most crucial moment comes - laying and cooking rice. Set the fire to maximum, put the head of garlic, peeled from the top husk, into the zirvak. Lay the pre-washed and drained rice in an even layer on top of the meat, try not to mix the layers. Pour boiling water in a thin stream so that the water covers the rice by 2 centimeters, let the water boil over the entire surface, then, reducing the heat, cook until the water leaves the rice. It's time to check the rice for readiness, it should be half cooked, but should not be crispy, otherwise add some water, let it boil away. Then put a plate that fits the pot on top of the rice, and close the pot tightly with a lid. Reduce the heat to a minimum, simmer the pilaf for 20 minutes. After that, remove the pan with the finished pilaf from the heat, carefully remove the lid so that the condensate does not get into the pilaf, then remove the plate, gently mix the pilaf. The dish must be served immediately, without allowing it to cool.
If you cook pilaf from ordinary rice (or any other), we will tell you how to cook pilaf correctly using the Azerbaijani recipe.
How to cook Azerbaijani pilaf?
It differs from Uzbek and Tajik in that the meat and vegetable part is cooked separately from rice. To prepare such pilaf is suitable any long-grain, quick-cooking rice. Rice, previously washed and drained, should be poured into salted, boiling water, then let it boil for 8-10 minutes until half ready.
The bottom of the cauldron must be greased with melted or butter, then lay out 3 layers of pita bread, each of them, carefully smearing with oil. Boiled rice is laid out on top of the pita bread in several layers, each of which is poured with melted butter and sprinkled with spices.
Rice laid out in this way must be poured on top with turmeric or saffron, diluted in a small amount of water. The cauldron must be tightly covered with a lid, put on slow fire and keep 30 minutes.
Make sure that pita bread and rice do not burn. As soon as the strong aroma of boiled rice spreads through the kitchen, it is considered to be ready. Rice is spread on a warmed plate, vegetables and meat prepared in advance are placed on top of it. In this way, you can cook pilaf with seafood and fish.
Answering the question of how to cook pilaf correctly, it should be noted that chefs are actively arguing about adding dried fruits and raisins to pilaf. Today, many culinary specialists are of the general opinion that prunes, dried apricots, raisins in small quantities slightly shade the taste of meat pilaf, but do not spoil it in any way. If you want to cook pilaf with dried fruits, then you need to add them before laying rice, after soaking them in water and squeezing a little.
In some recipes, the addition of dried fruits is not only desirable, but mandatory. For example, sweet pilaf prepared by Indians. Properly cooked pilaf should be crumbly, rice grains should be separated from each other
How to cook sweet pilaf?
To prepare it, dry rice is poured into a cauldron with hot oil, then it is fried until golden brown.
Dried fruits, ground sweet spices (cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, saffron), sugar and salt are added to taste. Everything is fried for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. It is important that the mixture does not burn. hot water pour the mixture so that the rice and dried fruits are covered by 2 cm. Bring to a boil, then cook over high heat until the water disappears under the layer of rice. Cover the cauldron tightly with a lid, reduce the heat to a minimum, cook until the rice is fully cooked. Serve hot. Pilaf will be appreciated not only by gourmets, but also by lovers of sweets. Bon appetit to you and your guests!
Together with pilaf, you can serve fresh herbs and salad from fresh vegetables.
Salad for pilaf can be prepared from any vegetable. However, there is a traditional salad, which is called the Right salad for pilaf.
For cooking right salad for swimming you will need:
- fresh tomatoes,
- sweet or hot peppers
- red onion.
Recipe for preparing the right salad for pilaf:
Tomatoes must be cut into thin slices, peppers into thin long strips, and onions into half rings. Stir, season with salt, let it brew for 15-20 minutes. Oil can be added if desired. However, in classic salad no need to add oil. This salad pairs perfectly with rice and meat.
Cook, experiment and have fun!
Pilaf with chicken and pork
People's favorite dish Central Asia, with a large variation of cooking - it's all pilaf. Every housewife and every nation gets its own, special, with its own zest.
Pilaf can be sweet, which is often served at wakes, and sometimes meat. You can take any meat, but it is desirable that lamb is present there, then pilaf has a unique aroma and perfect taste. But today I didn’t have anything except chicken and pork, and I decided to combine these 2 types of meat and make pilaf. And he succeeded, let me tell you.
We need to prepare the dish "Pilaf with chicken and pork":
- Rice round - 1 glass
- Salt pepper
- Chicken fillet
- Pork 200gr
- Onion -2 pieces
- Carrot 1 piece
- Sunflower oil
- Spices for pilaf
- garlic
Recipe for pilaf with chicken and pork:
We heat the cauldron, pour in a lot of oil so that the bottom of the pan is covered and heat it.
Cut the onion into rings, put in hot, boiling oil and fry until golden brown.
Carrots cut into long thin strips, spread together to the onion.
Roast the carrots well. Add finely chopped meat and fry it first on one side, and then after a few minutes on the other, do not stir it like in goulash. The meat should have a small crust, while the onions and carrots will lie aside, in the same cauldron. 
It's time to add our spices for pilaf, cumin, salt, pepper and a pod of red hot pepper.
We make a slow fire and deal with rice, it must be washed under water, holding it for literally 2 minutes. Immediately put our rice in a cauldron along with vegetables and meat, pour water, so that the rice is completely in the water.
We add salt on top, a little more seasonings, and leave, without interfering on a slow fire, to reach about 30 minutes.
At the very end, for 10 minutes, put a few cloves of peeled garlic, close the lid and leave it alone.
Readiness is better to check by taking a sample of rice, if it is soft, does not crunch on the teeth, then the pilaf is ready. You can leave for 15 minutes to walk pilaf with chicken, and you can safely serve it to the table.
Just before serving, pilaf with chicken should be mixed.
Bon appetit!
As you can see, according to our step by step recipes with a photo, it’s easy to cook pilaf.
