Proper cooking of pilaf at home is quite difficult. Not everyone has a cauldron, and not everyone can afford to cook outdoors. 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 it comes to 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 is the choice of 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 it is 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 leaves are 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, which can be called “the right pilaf”.
Cooking time: about 2 hours
Ingredients
- 400 grams of rice (basmati)
- 400-500 grams of chicken meat
- 300 grams of carrots
- 1 large onion
- 1 whole head of 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
Cooking
Large photos Small photos
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. To begin with, pour the vegetable oil into the dishes and heat the oil over a fairly high heat - white smoke should start to come 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 supplement it with a vegetable salad and a cup of green tea - that's the whole feast. Bon appetit!
Rice
This is the main stumbling block of all cooks who have ever cooked pilaf. Nevertheless, almost all of them agree that devzira rice is the best, as well as other Uzbek and Tajik varieties.
You can try to cook pilaf with other types of rice, but preferably not too starchy. And in any case, the rice should be washed well before laying (until the water is clear). This will wash away the starch dust and prevent the pilaf from sticking together. Cooks also advise soaking it in cold water for an hour or more.
By the way, instead of pilaf, you can use wheat, chickpeas, corn and mung beans. But that's a slightly different story.
Meat
Lamb is traditionally used for pilaf, but beef is also suitable. You can also use pork, although Muslim cooks are unlikely to forgive you for this. A chicken option is also possible, but it already has little in common with the classic Uzbek pilaf.
It is better to choose the meat of adult animals: it gives the necessary rich taste.
The meat must be cut into fairly large pieces, about 5 × 5 cm or a little more. You can fry meat in large, non-portioned pieces and grind it just before serving. It is believed that the larger the piece, the juicier the finished meat will be.
Vegetables
There are two main vegetables in pilaf: onions and carrots. Onions can be used. It is more difficult with carrots: in Central Asia, pilaf is often cooked with yellow carrots, but in its absence, the usual orange one is also suitable.
The main rule is not to grind. Onions are cut into rings or half rings, carrots are cut into large sticks about 5 mm thick. If you finely chop vegetables and meat, you will no longer get pilaf, but rice porridge.
Oil
For the preparation of pilaf, either odorless vegetable oil, or animal fat (tail fat), or both types together are used. At home, the easiest way to use refined sunflower oil.
No need to skimp: pilaf is a fatty dish. On average, 1 kg of rice takes about 200–250 ml of oil.
Spices
There is a lot of room for experimentation here. And yet, more or less traditional seasonings can be distinguished:
- garlic (slightly peeled and laid with whole heads);
- hot red pepper (laid with a whole pod);
- zira;
- barberry;
- ground black or red pepper.
You can also add thyme, coriander, suneli hops, saffron or other spices to your taste in pilaf. The easiest way is to use a ready-made seasoning mix.
Other Ingredients
In addition to the components listed above, pre-soaked chickpeas and dried fruits are often added to pilaf.
What dishes to choose
A cauldron, a cauldron and another cauldron. With thick walls. In it, the meat does not stick, and the rice cooks evenly and remains crumbly. It is best to use a cast-iron cauldron (especially if you cook pilaf on a fire), but aluminum will do.
A duck can be a good substitute for a cauldron. But a saucepan, a deep frying pan, a wok and other kitchen utensils will not give the desired effect, no matter how much you want it.
The basic principle of pilaf is as follows: first, zirvak is prepared (meat and vegetables fried in oil with spices and broth), and then rice is poured on top.
The standard proportion for pilaf is equal parts of rice, meat and carrots. The number of onions may vary, but be at least 1-2 heads. The same with garlic.
Heat up the pot and pour the oil into it. It should warm up well so that later the ingredients can brown quickly.
Next, the onion or meat is fried. If you are cooking pilaf with a lot of onions, you can fry the meat first. Spread it into the cauldron gradually so as not to bring down the temperature, and do not turn over immediately - otherwise it may begin to release juice.
Onions need to be fried until golden brown so that the finished broth gives color to the rice.
Tveda.ru
When the meat and onions are fried, carrots are laid. It is fried for several minutes until softened.
tveda.ru Then all the ingredients are poured with hot water. It should cover the meat by 1-2 cm. Garlic, red pepper pod, spices and other ingredients are put next. Everything is salted to taste (or a little more salt is added than you like: the rice will absorb it) and cooked over moderate heat for at least 40 minutes until the meat is tender.
tveda.ru After the zirvak is cooked, rice is laid. It is better to do this with a slotted spoon to distribute the rice evenly. From above it can be flavored with a couple of pinches of cumin - for flavor.
- Rice is drowned in the broth (if necessary, more hot water is added through a slotted spoon so that it covers the dish a little) and stewed open until the water is completely absorbed (about 20 minutes). Then the fire is turned off (if the pilaf is cooked on a fire, then by this moment the firewood should simply smolder), the cauldron is covered with a lid and the rice is left to steam for about 15–20 minutes.
- After laying the rice, the cauldron is immediately closed with a lid and the contents are stewed for about half an hour at a minimum heat, and then for about 10 minutes it comes without fire.
When the fire is turned off, wrap the lid with a towel: it will absorb the condensation and prevent it from getting into the dish.
Garlic and pepper are removed from the finished pilaf. If large pieces of meat were used for cooking, then they are also taken out, cut and spread on top of the mixed pilaf. If small pieces were used, you can mix the pilaf with them.
Pilaf is traditionally served on a large plate and topped with a head of garlic. This dish goes best with fresh vegetables.
tveda.ru Do you know other secrets of cooking pilaf? Share them in the comments.
Pilaf is not just a dish. This is a philosophy that every nation has its own. And therefore, with all the common ingredients, Uzbek pilaf differs from Tajik, and it can also be cooked in Azerbaijani, Bukhara, it can be with poultry, meat, and even with dried fruits. We will tell you how to cook pilaf according to all the rules, as well as adapt old national recipes for cooking in conditions and from products of traditional Russian cuisine.
You should start with this type of pilaf, as it can be considered a classic example, moreover, it is extremely common both in any cafes with an Uzbek bias, and in general in Russian kitchens.
So, Uzbek pilaf (it is also often called Ferghana pilaf) is prepared in such a way that the rice turns out to be friable, the rice does not stick to the rice. How to achieve this?
As the famous culinary specialist and connoisseur of national cuisine Stalik Khadzhiev assures, the volume of products is calculated based on the presence of rice.
Although an experienced culinary specialist usually does everything by eye, there is an exact recipe for Ferghana pilaf:
- 1 kg of rice;
- 350 g unsalted lard;
- 800 g of meat;
- 800 g carrots;
- 150 g onions.
Important! If you want to cook a real, even, say, authentic Ferghana pilaf, then look for yellow carrots, which you combine with an ordinary orange vegetable in a ratio of one to three. It roasts beautifully and looks good in the finished dish. If there is no yellow, then take the entire volume of ordinary carrots.
Such pilaf is prepared in a cauldron, but in the home kitchen you can take a thick-walled cast iron pan. A duck will do too.
Cooking:
- In a thick-walled cast-iron pan or cauldron over low heat, melt the lard.
- Heat it up well and put a couple of pieces of chopped meat. (It is cut into small pieces for Uzbek pilaf to fit in the mouth for one bite).
- After a minute, in hot oil, these pieces will be well fried, giving the fat the aroma of meat. Now they have to be taken out.
- Next, put the onion cut into half rings in the fat and fry over high heat to evaporate the water. After that, report the rest of the meat, salt and lay out a part of the carrots cut into cubes - first yellow. Salt it too and sprinkle with zira (zira is an obligatory ingredient in Uzbek pilaf).
- As soon as the carrots begin to fry, add the rest of it and mix everything. Let it fry a little. Then lay out the remaining vegetable, spices. In general, everything except rice, including those pieces of meat that were fried very first.
- Salt again, put a small pod of hot pepper, and add a teaspoon with the top of barberry, it will give the necessary sourness.
- Carefully pour hot boiled water along the edge of the cauldron or duckling, covering the meat and vegetables with it. Then, cover with a lid, leave for 40 minutes on the slowest fire.
- While zirvak is being prepared (this is the name of this rice dressing, it is the same for all cuisines where pilaf is cooked), we wash the rice. It is better to do this under running water to wash off the flour. If you don’t wash it off, you won’t get crumbly pilaf.
- Put clean rice in zirvak with a slotted spoon, salt at the rate of 1 tbsp. a spoon without a hill of salt per kilogram of rice.
- Put the washed whole head of garlic into the rice.
- Pour boiling water so that the water covers the rice on your finger.
- Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a minimum, cover the pan with a lid and wait for the water to evaporate. When the rice is almost ready, turn off the heat, cover the pot or cauldron with a warm towel or blanket and leave to rise for another hour.
- Open the lid, put it on an Uzbek flat plate, put a salad of thinly sliced tomatoes with onions next to it and enjoy!
Loose pilaf in a cauldron
In principle, the previous recipe is also suitable for a cauldron. All components of the dish are taken in the same proportion, prepared in the same sequence. The only difference is that the almost finished pilaf is covered with a lid, and after that the fire under the cauldron is completely extinguished. But the cauldron remains lying on the bricks of the oven, the bricks give their heat to the rice layer, bringing it to the condition. The lid of the cauldron is covered with a blanket and therefore in itself is an additional source of heat. In this form, pilaf comes, and it turns out well stewed - just like if you were cooking it in a Russian oven.
in Azerbaijani
The difference between Azerbaijani pilaf and Uzbek pilaf is that the meat in it is cooked separately from rice, and a special flatbread called gazmakh is used to prepare the rice part.
Here is how plov is cooked in Azerbaijan:
- Pick up products - 700 g of lamb, 200 g of pumpkin, five onions, 100 g of ghee, half a pomegranate, half a glass of raisins, a little water, turmeric and salt to taste. You also need to take an egg and flour 220 g for a dough for a cake.
- Rice is deliberately not indicated in the dosage - it is cooked separately, so you can take it at your discretion. We wash it under running water or change the water several times. Put in salted boiling water and cook until almost done. After that, we recline, rinse with cold water.
- We make gasmah: add an egg and very cold water to the flour, knead a very stiff dough. We roll it into a thin cake.
- We spread the cake along the walls and bottom of the cauldron.
- Put half of the rice on the cake.
- The second part of the rice is tinted with yellow, mixed with turmeric diluted in a spoonful of ghee and a teaspoon of boiling water (take a pinch of turmeric).
- Pour melted butter over the first part of the rice, put yellow rice on top, cover the cauldron with a lid and steam a little more at a minimum of heat until cooked.
- Meanwhile, in a thick-walled saucepan or frying pan, fry the pieces of lamb in oil or your own fat. As it turns red, put finely chopped pumpkin and onion, pour in pomegranate juice, add raisins, mix everything with salt and, pouring half a glass of boiling water, keep for half an hour under a lid over low heat.
- When all parts of the pilaf are ready, put rice on a large round dish, meat and vegetables on top of it, decorate everything with pomegranate seeds and immediately lay the gazmah - break the cake with your hands.
If you are afraid of unconventional flavors, you can do without pumpkin.
Tajik pilaf with lamb
The main ingredients in this pilaf are traditional: rice, onions and carrots. But the meat is only lamb. In addition, Tajik pilaf is made from special rice - this red cereal is called devzira, it is the best and highest quality of all “pilaf” types. However, quite good Tajik pilaf can also be prepared from ordinary Krasnodar round-grain rice.
The peculiarity of the preparation lies in the fact that, first, onion (2 heads) chopped in half rings is overcooked in vegetable oil, achieving a strong frying, then meat (600 g) is added. It is also fried to a noticeable crust. After that, put the carrots in bars (600 g), overcook again and then pour in half a liter of boiling water. The meat should be half-cooked, after that rice (600g) soaked in salt water is laid and boiled water is poured so that the water covers the surface a little. Spices - zira and garlic. Under the lid, pilaf is cooked for another half hour.
How to cook pilaf - a basic recipe with pork
If there is no cauldron on an open fire, lamb and barberry, this does not mean that you will not get a delicious pilaf for dinner. The basic recipe that always turns out is pork pilaf. It is prepared quickly and simply, it requires 400 g of meat in pieces, a couple of large onions and carrots, 2 cups of rice and five waters. And also salt, bay leaf, a few cloves of garlic, a pinch of cumin and a few peas of allspice.
Vegetable oil should be taken so much that it is enough to fry the meat. After frying the pieces quickly, add the onion. Slightly reducing the fire, fry it and add the carrots. After frying a little carrot, pour in a glass of water and simmer for ten minutes under the lid. Put spices, salt. The broth should be a little salty - in the future, the rice will absorb the salt. Next is the washed rice. Pour it through a slotted spoon with water at the rate of 2 cups of rice twice as many cups of water. Bring to a boil, put the garlic cloves, reduce the heat to a minimum and leave to languish under the lid for 40 minutes. After that, turn off the fire and wait the same amount of time until the rice rests.
How to cook pilaf with chicken?
In the same way, you can use chicken instead of pork. You can cook chicken pilaf even faster, because it takes very little time to stew meat and vegetables. It is necessary to fry medium pieces of chicken in oil, salt. Separately, fry the finely chopped onion and a little garlic, add the grated carrots, still stew a little and add to the meat. Pour washed rice, parsley, peppercorns on top, salt well again and pour boiling water over. Cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes until the rice is soft. If necessary, you can add boiling water.
Recipe for multicooker
Pilaf in a multicooker is the signature dish of many, usually a multicooker even has a separate program for cooking pilaf, and therefore the time is predetermined by the microprocessor.
The recipe below is for 4 servings:
- Cut 250 g of any meat into small pieces, chop 1 carrot into bars, and the onion into a cube;
- Pour a couple of tables into an open multicooker. tablespoons of vegetable oil, set the frying program with a time of 25 minutes;
- The oil will warm up - put the meat in a piece. You do not need to put everything at once, otherwise it will not fry, but will be extinguished;
- After 10 minutes, add carrots and onions;
- When the frying is over, add salt, spices for pilaf, a couple of cloves of garlic, put washed rice on top;
- Pour about half a liter of boiling water (the water should cover the rice a little, one and a half to two cm);
- Put the program "Pilaf";
- When the task is completed, open the lid, stick in a couple of fresh garlic cloves, pierce the rice to the bottom with a wooden stick and leave for another twenty minutes to reach the pilaf in the heating program.
With the addition of dried fruits
In a slow cooker, you can perfectly make a vegetarian pilaf without meat, as well as a sweet dish with dried fruits. Instead of meat, you need to put only vegetables or dried apricots with raisins, and reduce the frying time to 5 minutes.
Irina Kamshilina
Cooking for someone is much more pleasant than for yourself))
Content
Housewives often wonder, looking for recipes on how to cook pilaf at home, experimenting, practicing to make it tasty, crumbly, and it took a little time to cook it. In our age of diversity and availability of food products, household appliances, you can cook pilaf from the cuisine of any nationality or invent your own signature recipe for this dish.
How to cook pilaf
To cook a delicious pilaf, you need to choose the right kind of rice, meat, dishes. For example, Asian chefs argue that the best pilaf is the one made from lamb, with fat tail fat, on an open fire, in a cast iron cauldron, and only a man should cook. However, this does not mean that it is impossible to make a delicious pilaf from other ingredients at home. To date, there are many recipes that prove this.
What is needed for swimming
The classic real pilaf is made from lamb. Often use the brisket, ribs, shoulder blade or back of the lamb. However, other types of meat can also be used as a meat component: pork, beef and even poultry, as they do in the East, in Central Asia. This is a food with high nutritional value, so the type of meat directly affects the total calorie content.
According to the classic recipe, the Uzbek pilav is cooked on animal fat, for example, on melted lamb lard, rarely on unrefined vegetable oils. The pronounced smell and taste of vegetable oil can drown out the taste of other ingredients. Often, a mixture of animal and vegetable fat is used for frying, which increases the digestibility of products.
Spices are the key to the recipe. This is a kind of creative process, the combination of spices and spices completely determines the flavor. However, there is a basic set, which consists of barberry, hot pepper in a pod or in ground form. To make the dish fragrant, zira, suneli hops, garlic, thyme, and coriander are often added. Saffron is sometimes added to these spices, which gives the characteristic golden color.
In addition to meat and cereals, the composition includes vegetables, sometimes dried fruits. Traditionally, coarsely chopped carrots are added to the dish. In the Caucasus and India, this vegetable is not used at all. They also put onions, a whole head of garlic, previously peeled. The addition of dried fruits sets off the taste, in some recipes you can find dried apricots, prunes, raisins, figs. They are laid after frying meat and vegetables. Groats should be mentioned separately.
How to cook crumbly pilaf
For pilav to be tasty and crumbly, it is better to use long-grain varieties of cereal with a low starch content. Tajik and Uzbek varieties are ideal - alanga, scald, devzira, kenja. You can also use Arabic, Italian and Mexican rice to make paella. All these varieties are hard, practically do not lose their shape during prolonged heat treatment.
Other varieties are softer and may stick together during cooking. If you decide to use one of the soft varieties of rice groats, then you need to get rid of starch as much as possible, this will make the pilaf crumbly. To do this, rinse it, soak it in cold water, periodically changing the water. To diversify the taste, barley, wheat, corn and even peas can be used instead of rice.
Utensils for cooking pilaf
It is impossible to make the right pilaf in the "wrong" dishes. Traditionally, it is cooked in a cast-iron or heavy-bottomed aluminum cauldron. How to cook the right pilaf without the right utensils? In extreme cases, the cauldron can be replaced with a duckling or a pan with a thick bottom. Such dishes do not allow the grain to burn, it slowly languishes and cooks evenly, unlike enameled products, French braziers, wok pans.
Recipes for pilaf
The ideal pilaf recipe will depend on the taste preferences of each individual or family in general. At first, you can safely experiment with types of meat, vegetables, dried fruits, spices, spices, cooking utensils. Cookbooks with a detailed description of recipes and the presence of photos, corresponding sites, which also often provide an extensive catalog of photos and cooking options, can help with this. Over time, through trial and error, you will find the best recipe in your opinion or create your own culinary masterpiece.
Uzbek pilaf
- Cooking time: 2 hours 30 minutes.
- Servings: 10 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish: 210 kcal per 100 g.
- Cuisine: Uzbek.
Pilaf is considered a traditional dish of Uzbek cuisine. Lamb is used to create Uzbek or Samarkand pilav. Oriental people are famous for their hospitality, and the key point is the decoration of the table. This dish is perfect for a feast. The composition includes a large amount of vegetable oil, so it has a great nutritional value. You can decorate the dish with spices (barberry, garlic), then your pilaf will not differ from the photos on the Internet.
Ingredients:
- rice - 1 kg;
- lamb - 1 kg;
- carrots - 1 kg;
- sunflower oil - 300 ml;
- onions - 4 pcs.;
- dry hot pepper - 2 pcs.;
- garlic - 2 pcs.;
- dried barberry - 1 tbsp. l.;
- zira - 1 tbsp. l.;
- coriander (seeds) - 1 tsp;
- salt - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Rinse the rice in several waters, wash the lamb thoroughly.
- Peel the onions and carrots. Cut one onion into thin half rings, and carrots into finger-thick bars. Peel the garlic from the top husk without dividing into slices.
- Heat up the pot, then pour in the oil. When the oil is hot, put a peeled whole onion into the cauldron and fry it until it turns black, then take it out - you will not need it anymore.
- Then prepare the zirvak (base). To do this, fry the onion, then add meat to it, fry until a characteristic crust appears.
- Put the carrots, fry without stirring for three minutes, then mix everything, cook for another 10 minutes.
- Rub the zira and coriander with your fingers or a mortar and pestle, add to the zirvak, then season with barberry, add salt to taste.
- Reduce heat and cook until carrots are soft.
- Pour boiling water in a layer of 2 cm, put hot pepper, reduce heat and simmer zirvak for an hour.
- Drain the water from the cereal, put it in an even layer on the zirvak, then pour boiling water through the slotted spoon so that it covers the rice.
- After the water is absorbed, plant the garlic heads in the rice, cook until the rice is fully cooked.
- Turn off the stove, cover with a flat plate, and cover with a lid on top, let it brew for about 30 minutes.
Azerbaijani plov
- Cooking time: 1 hour 20 minutes + 2 hours.
- Servings: 6 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish: 280 kcal per 100 g.
- Purpose: for lunch, for dinner.
- Cuisine: Azerbaijani.
- Difficulty of preparation: difficult.
The recipe and technology differs significantly from the preparation of the Uzbek pilaf. Groats for this dish are cooked separately from vegetables, spices, in a separate bowl. The basis can be very diverse, for example, lamb, poultry, game, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits and even milk. Dried fruits, fruits, fresh herbs are often added to the recipe: mint, thyme, tarragon.
Ingredients:
- lamb - 700 g;
- long grain rice - 700 g;
- butter - 200 g;
- dried apricots - 150 g;
- raisins (pitted) - 100 g;
- dried prunes - 100 g;
- chestnuts - 100 g;
- onion - 2 pcs.;
- chicken egg - 1 pc.;
- turmeric - 1 tsp;
- salt - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Soak rice in cool water, add some salt, leave for about 2 hours.
- Cut the lamb into pieces weighing about 50 g. Boil in salted water, remove the resulting foam at the time of cooking.
- Rinse dried fruits under running water, then pour boiling water for 10 minutes. Make a cross-shaped incision on each chestnut. Blanch for 5 min. Drain in a colander, remove the skin under a stream of cool water. Throw the peeled chestnuts into fresh water and boil for 7 minutes. on slow fire.
- Peel the onions, cut into strips.
- Heat the pan, melt half of the available butter. Pour the onion, sauté until golden brown. Drain the dried fruits, add them to the pan, then add the meat. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the liquid evaporates quickly, then add boiling water if necessary.
- Drain the water from the rice container, boil in fresh lightly salted water, do not overcook. Throw it in a colander.
- In a separate container, mix 5 tbsp. l. boiled long rice with chicken egg, add a little turmeric.
- Melt the butter (leave a small piece of about 5 g), salt and turmeric in a separate bowl using a microwave or water bath.
- Lubricate a cauldron or thick-bottomed pan with the remaining butter, put the egg-rice mixture on the bottom. After a layer, lay out the rice grits, soak each layer with melted butter and spices.
- Create a small press with a plate, cover with a lid and simmer over low heat.
Tajik
- Cooking time: 2 hours.
- Servings: 6 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish: 230 kcal per 100 g.
- Purpose: for lunch, for dinner.
- Cuisine: Tajik.
The difference between the Tajik pilaf lies in a special variety - devzira. This is one of the simple recipes for cooking a spicy dish. Of the spices, only zira (cumin) is used. Pilav of Tajik cuisine is traditionally prepared from lamb, mainly from lamb sirloin. Such a simple but very satisfying dish will provide a good boost of energy throughout the day.
Ingredients:
- devzira rice - 600 g;
- lamb (fillet) - 600 g;
- carrots - 600 g;
- onion - 2 pcs.;
- garlic - 2 pcs.;
- zira - 1 tsp;
- vegetable oil, salt - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Peel the vegetables, cut the onion into rings, carrots into large strips.
- Soak the cereal in cold water for half an hour. Rinse lamb and cut into random pieces.
- Split the cooking container, pour in the vegetable oil and fry the onion, then add the meat to the onion. When the meat is golden on all sides, add carrots, fry until tender.
- Pour half a liter of boiled water into the frying pan, season well with salt, stick in the garlic and bring to a boil.
- Take out the garlic and pour in the pre-strained rice. Spread evenly and check that the liquid slightly covers it. Simmer over medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
- After 10-15 minutes, stick the garlic again and season with cumin. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer for another 20 minutes. on slow fire.
From lamb
- Cooking time: 2 hours.
- Servings: 20 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish: 145 kcal per 100 g.
- Purpose: for lunch, for dinner.
- Cuisine: Caucasian.
- Difficulty of preparation: easy.
A simple lamb pilaf without the addition of specific spices, vegetables and dried fruits is quick to cook, without losing taste and high nutritional value. Lamb is a fatty meat, so while cooking the dish, you need to control the amount of other sources of fat, otherwise one serving may exceed the daily allowance of this nutrient for the average person.
Ingredients:
- mutton stew - 1 kg;
- rice - 400 g;
- water - 2 l;
- carrots - 3 pcs.;
- garlic - 2 pcs.;
- onion - 3 pcs.;
- sunflower oil - 100 ml;
- ground red pepper, salt - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Heat the cauldron, pour in sunflower oil, fry the lamb over high heat.
- Peel the vegetables, cut the onion into half rings, carrots into strips or cubes.
- Send the onion to the meat, fry for 10 minutes, then add the carrots and simmer for 25 minutes. over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- Salt the contents of the cauldron, add red ground pepper and deepen the peeled heads of garlic in the center.
- Rinse the grain and spread evenly over the roast.
- Fill the dish with hot water so that the level is about 1 cm higher than the thick.
- Cover with a lid and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes.
From chicken
- Servings: 12 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish: 165 kcal per 100 g.
- Purpose: for lunch, for dinner.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty of preparation: easy.
In the wake of proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, chicken fillet has become one of the most popular dietary products. You can reduce calorie content and even out the balance of BJU with the help of the “correct” cereals and chicken meat. An easy chicken pilaf recipe will provide you and your family with a healthy and nutritious dish that can be safely consumed for lunch or dinner.
Ingredients:
- chicken (fillet) - 700 g;
- steamed rice - 450 g;
- carrots - 200 g;
- sunflower oil -150 ml;
- water - 1 l;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- garlic - 2 pcs.;
- ground red pepper, salt - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Split the cauldron, pour in all the sunflower oil and heat well.
- Throw chicken pieces into the cauldron in portions, fry evenly on all sides, then remove the finished pieces and throw in the raw ones.
- Fry the onion in the oil from under the meat, then add carrots and chicken to it, fry on medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Pour the mixture with hot water so that the level is about 1 cm higher than the thick, add peeled garlic cloves and ground pepper, boil for 10 minutes.
- Pour a spoonful of salt and lay out the washed cereal.
- Pour the whole mixture with boiling water and mix thoroughly, cover the cauldron with a lid and cook until the cereal is ready (about half an hour).
How to cook fruit pilaf
- Servings: 4 persons.
- Purpose: for breakfast, for lunch.
- Cuisine: Tatar.
- Difficulty of preparation: easy.
The fruit pilaf recipe comes from Tatar cuisine. In the classic version, in addition to dried fruits, white sugar (sweet spices) and wheat flour are added, but the taste of the dish will not lose at all without these components. Sweet fruit pilaf is suitable for children who do not really like cereals as a healthy dessert. Adults are not recommended to eat this dish for dinner - sweet foods are best consumed in the morning. The dish is cooked in a slow cooker or a saucepan with a thick bottom.
Ingredients:
- rice - 200 g;
- water - 200 ml;
- raisins - 100 g;
- prunes - 70 g;
- dried apricots - 70 g;
- figs - 70 g;
- carrots - 1 pc.;
- vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l.;
- turmeric - 0.5 tsp
Cooking method:
- Remove the skin from the vegetable. Cut the carrots into cubes or in any other convenient way.
- Pour vegetable oil into the bottom of the bowl, put the chopped carrots and raisins.
- Grind prunes, dried apricots and figs, put on top of raisins and sprinkle with turmeric.
- Fill with water with a small amount of dissolved salt.
- Turn on the multicooker in the "Pilaf" mode for 30-60 minutes. The speed of cooking the dish will depend on the type of cereal.
Pork
- Cooking time: 1.5-2 hours.
- Servings: 4 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish: 205 kcal per 100 g.
- Purpose: for lunch, for dinner.
- Cuisine: Uzbek.
- Difficulty of preparation: medium.
Pork is often used in Uzbek dishes. This is a type of fatty meat, so the nutritional value of a dish with the addition of pork is higher than other varieties. The recipe includes a standard set of vegetables and spices, but their combination with pork gives a completely different taste to the dish. Pilav with pork is best consumed at lunchtime, and for dinner - limit yourself to a light salad.
Ingredients:
- rice - 200 g;
- pork - 200 g;
- onion - 200 g;
- carrots - 200 g;
- vegetable oil - 40 ml;
- garlic - 1 clove;
- salt, black ground pepper - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Pour vegetable oil into a cooking container and chop well.
- Cut the meat into portions and fry evenly on all sides until cooked through.
- Cut the onion into half rings and place on top of the meat.
- You can cut carrots in any convenient way or grate on a coarse grater.
- Add carrots to the fry and simmer until tender.
- Pour the washed grain, pour the mixture with warm water. The level is two fingers above the thick.
- Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
- For 10-15 min. before the rice is ready, stick a clove of garlic for flavor.
- When the water has evaporated, turn off the pilaf, cover the pan with a lid and let the dish come to a boil.
How to cook pilaf without meat
- Cooking time: 30-60 minutes.
- Servings: 10 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish: 63 kcal per 100 g.
- Purpose: for lunch, for dinner.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty of preparation: easy.
Many wonder how you can cook pilaf without meat? Such recipes can be attributed to vegetarian dishes, they are prepared during the fasting period and people who follow a low-calorie diet. Low-fat pilaf can be given to children. Vegetables uncharacteristic for pilaf, for example, tomatoes, bell peppers, etc., are put to the grain of rice, so simple rice with vegetables is hidden under the prefix “without meat”. The time it takes to cook pilaf depends on the dishes and the type of rice.
Ingredients:
- rice - 400 g;
- carrots - 1 pc.;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- garlic - 3 cloves;
- vegetable oil - 20 ml;
- water - 2 l;
- salt, pepper - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Peel the vegetables, finely chop the onion, chop or grate the carrots.
- Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and sauté the vegetables.
- When the vegetables are significantly reduced in volume, add the grits and lightly fry.
- Pour the mixture with water, add salt, garlic, a mixture of peppers to taste.
- Simmer under the lid until the cereal is ready.
How to cook pilaf with long grain rice
- Cooking time: 60 minutes.
- Servings: 4 persons.
- Calorie content of the dish: 150 kcal per 100 g.
- Purpose: for lunch, for dinner.
- Cuisine: Russian.
- Difficulty of preparation: easy.
During cooking, the cereal should not lose its shape. For this, there are special varieties, for example, long-grain steamed rice. The grain is elongated and transparent. You can cook pilaf with poultry, pork or lamb. This variety goes well with a variety of vegetables and spices. Long-grain rice does not require special preparatory processes.
Ingredients:
- long grain rice - 200 g;
- chicken (fillet) - 200 g;
- water (broth) - 1 l;
- vegetable oil - 40 ml;
- carrots - 1 pc.;
- onion - 1 pc.;
- garlic - 1 clove;
- spices for pilaf, salt - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Peel the vegetables, rinse the cereal, fold in a colander.
- Heat up the pot and pour vegetable oil into it.
- Next, you need to cut the vegetables and chicken into portions.
- First fry the meat, remove it, then sauté the vegetables. Uzbek pilaf. Cook at home. Did you find an error in the text? Select it, press Ctrl + Enter and we'll fix it!
Discuss
How to cook pilaf at home: recipes
Real pilaf is a combination of flavors, juicy meat, delicious vegetables. Complex dishes present a certain mystery in terms of the implementation of recipes, but at the same time give chefs a lot of options for imagination.
The ability to cook traditional pilaf with different types of meat will help surprise even the most demanding and picky guests. 
How to cook pilaf
There is no single recipe for the right pilaf: even in Uzbekistan, it is prepared from several types of meat and often different oils are used to fry the base. There are unbreakable rules, without which the perfect dish will not work.
Important! In a real pilaf with meat, all components complement each other, but at the same time they do not merge into porridge and are distinct in shape and texture.
In a traditional dish, you do not need to use expensive or hard-to-get ingredients. Technology is the foundation. And if you do not follow its sequence, then the dish will be far from ideal.
Here are 7 nuances that will help you cook pilaf correctly:
- pilaf is cooked in or on a stove using a duckling, cauldron or other utensils with a thick bottom and walls that provide uniform heating;
- the ideal cooking mode is in a refractory dish over an open fire;
- The starch content in rice makes it sticky. Cooks choose different varieties, but they must be united by one condition so that the pilaf turns out to be crumbly - a minimum of starch and repeated washing of the cereal to a clear liquid;
- oil should be chosen only odorless - olive oil is suitable only for non-traditional recipes;
- spices - the basis, without which it is impossible to cook a real dish;
- the name of the broth for pilaf, in which meat and vegetables are cooked - zirvak (most often these two components are called that way);
- zirvak sets the aroma, taste and texture of pilaf, if it fails, the dish will turn into porridge.
An Uzbek dish is prepared from strict proportions of rice, meat and carrots. The remaining components reduce and increase to taste.
Important! The recipe includes 1 part meat, 1 part rice and 1 part carrots.
In rare cases, pilaf is prepared using 0.8 parts of carrots. At the same time, it must be cut into thin sticks or cubes.
How long the dish is cooked depends on the meat used and the method chosen. In the oven, baking pilaf will take an average of 40-60 minutes after frying zirvak. On the stove, the products are stewed from 20 to 30 minutes. Cooking on fire is the fastest. 
Cooked pilaf is served with vegetables and herbs. If this is a non-standard recipe, then sauces can be used. The classic Uzbek pilaf is not recommended to be seasoned with any additional sauces. 
Ingredients
The main components of the oriental dish are meat, vegetable oil, carrots, rice and onions. Of the traditional spices and spices, salt and zira (cumin) are used in any recipe. But a set of spices for pilaf is a real creativity.
Recipes can be invented independently, using matching components, or you can buy store-bought seasonings “for pilaf”. 
When choosing carrots, keep in mind that yellow has a sweeter taste: use about 30-40% of the yellow vegetable and 70-60% of the orange. However, not all markets can find this product. Taste the vegetable before cooking, bitter carrots will spoil the taste of the dish. 
rice selection
The composition of the Uzbek pilaf traditionally includes rice devzira (dev-zira). This product grows in the Fergana Valley - the "homeland" of the famous dish. 
It contains little starch, absorbs a lot of liquids and oils, and is quite hard. However, even with a large amount of fat, the cereal remains crumbly. Instead of devzira, you can use arpa-sholi, koniligi, chungara, dastar-saryk.
Despite the huge number of varieties, many cooks find ordinary Krasnodar or Altai rice no less tasty and suitable for pilaf.
A common problem is that long grain rice stays dry. Round, with proper preparation, boils well, does not stick together very much.
Varieties such as basmati or jasmine are also popular, and rice “for risotto” or “for paella” is used a little less often.
Meat selection
Traditionally, pilaf is made from lamb, but beef, pork, and various parts of chicken can be used.
Advice! When using pork or lamb, tail fat is taken instead of part of the oil. It gives the pilaf a classic flavor.
If beef is used, then meat is taken from the back leg or shoulder blade. The tenderloin has a good taste. Pork also has a very nice tenderloin, but no less tasty dish comes out of the neck and ribs with thin cartilage.
From the carcass of lamb, choose a ham, or other meaty parts. The shoulder blade is a leaner meat, but it is also suitable for the culinary tasks.
A little about spices
Seasonings are necessarily used in pilaf. Zira is amazing in that it goes with any type of meat. And chicken, and pork, and lamb acquire a spicy aroma and great taste with it.
Saffron, zira and barberry are used with any kind of meat. But not a single chef imposes a ban on the use of additional spices: amazing recipes arise in experiments. 
Remember that too much spice is not always good. Avoid more than 2-3 ingredients in spices if you are preparing such a complex dish for the first time.
Classic pilaf recipe
The main thing that is meant by different options for cooking pilaf is the use of unique sets of spices and different types of meat. There are not many technologies on how to properly cook pilaf according to the classic recipe.
Pilaf cooking technologies differ in slicing carrots and onion laying time (before or after meat).
At the same time, the first option is the least preferable: the dish turns out darker, and the onion almost always burns.
Crumbly pilaf with beef
To make pilaf delicious, it is not necessary to prepare for the fact that the recipe will be very complicated. The main thing in cooking any oriental dish is moderation in spices. An accurate and simple recipe for delicious pilaf begins with the selection of components:
- 1 kg of beef;
- 900-1000 g of rice;
- 350-500 g carrots;
- 250-300 g of onion;
- 1 st. sunflower oil;
- 2 tsp zira, 1 tsp. turmeric, 1 tsp salt;
- fresh garlic - 2-3 heads;
- barberry - 1 tbsp. l. optional.
Preparation begins with washing meat, rice and vegetables. First, the starch is washed out of the cereal, soaked in warm water for 20-40 minutes. Then the vegetables are wiped dry, peeled from the husk.
The meat is cut into large cubes, the onion is chopped into half rings, the carrots are cut into cubes or cubes. 
Garlic is peeled from the top peel, cut off about a quarter. The technology for making pilaf in this recipe is as follows:
- heat vegetable oil in a cauldron;
- spread the dried pieces of beef, fry for 5-7 minutes until golden brown;
- add the onion and fry for another 3-4 minutes until it becomes golden brown;
- add carrots, reduce heat to medium;
- when the vegetables become soft, add boiling water so that it barely covers the carrots;
- put garlic and prepared spices, reduce the heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes until the beef is soft;
- completes the order of adding rice components, it is distributed over the zirvak with a spatula, without stirring;
- pour hot water 2 cm above the cereal, bring to a boil over medium heat and evaporate the liquid;
- when there is no water left, the rice is raked up in a slide, the cauldron is covered and left on low heat for another 20 minutes.
After turning off the stove, let the dish brew for 15-25 minutes. 
Crumbly pilaf with chicken
When used for pilaf in a chicken recipe, you can deviate a little from choosing the usual ingredients. This dish cooks quickly and is very tender.
You can use a minimum of oil, as well as experiment with seasonings.
Components:
- 500 g of chicken (thighs, legs, drumsticks, or in combination with fillets);
- 400 g rice (you can try basmati);
- onion and head of garlic;
- 300 g carrots;
- 70 ml of oil;
- a set of spices - zira, salt and red or black pepper are required.
Start cooking by soaking the rice in warm water. The remaining components are washed and dried. Cut the onion into half rings, carrots into thick strips. The meat is cut into large pieces.
Further technology is standard:
- The oil is heated over high heat, as soon as the house appears, meat is added.
- The chicken is fried for 4-5 minutes until a crust, then put the onion to it.
- When the vegetable is browned, add the carrots, stir gently, after 4-5 minutes add spices, 400-500 ml of water, add the head of garlic.
- The fire is reduced to medium, when the mixture boils, make it minimal. Stew for another 30 minutes under the lid.
- Since the cereal was soaked earlier, and the meat was almost cooked by this moment, rice in pilaf with chicken does not need to be cooked for a long time. It is put to the finished zirvak, leveled with a spatula.
- Add a little more hot water, set the fire to maximum until the water boils a second time.
- As soon as seething begins, the power of the plate is reduced. Cook under an open lid.
- When the water has evaporated, cover with a lid, turn off the stove and leave the pilaf to infuse for 20 minutes.
Garlic is removed before serving, or placed on a plate in the center of the slide to look beautiful.
Crumbly lamb and pork pilaf
To cook delicious lamb or pork pilaf correctly, you can use the same amount of ingredients:
- 1 kg of meat pulp;
- 1 kg of rice;
- 800-1000 g carrots;
- 600 g of onion;
- 3-4 heads of garlic;
- 1 tsp zira;
- a mixture of peppers, turmeric - 1 tsp each;
- red fresh pepper - 1 pc.;
- oil - 200 ml;
- salt and barberry to taste.
You will also need boiling water to extinguish the zirvak. Rice is soaked 1-1.5 hours before frying, rinsing well with water. Start cooking:
- carrots are cut into cubes, onions - into cubes, half rings or rings;
- heat up a wok or a cauldron with oil;
- put in it pieces of meat, cut into cubes;
- barberry is soaked for 10 minutes, if used;
- fry lamb or pork over high heat for 5-7 minutes, add onions and fry for another 4 minutes;
- put carrots to the golden onion, fry over medium heat for 5-6 minutes until soft;
- garlic is prepared: peeled from the bottom, cut from above;
- water is added to the stewed zirvak, 2 tbsp. l. salt, seasonings, and hot peppers;
- pour water and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes;
- swollen rice is laid, leveling over zirvak, poured 1.5 cm above the level of cereals with water;
- when the liquid evaporates, reduce the fire to a minimum, cover with a lid and cook pilaf for another 20 minutes.
Garlic is added to rice, drowning, immediately after sending it to the cauldron. When the water almost boils away, you can make small indentations - through them steam escapes better, creating the desired effect. After cooking, insist another 40 minutes, turning off the fire and wrapping the cauldron with a closed lid with a terry towel.
Crumbly Uzbek pilaf at home
Uzbeks cook homemade pilaf from lamb. Recently, the inhabitants of the country are moving away from the canons, but the traditional recipe is made only from this meat. Here is the exact list of components you will need:
- 0.6-0.7 kg of meat;
- 0.6 kg of rice;
- 0.5 kg of onion;
- 0.5 kg of carrots;
- a head of garlic;
- 5 tsp mixtures of black pepper, cumin, paprika. This is the minimum set that can be supplemented with barberry and saffron;
- 60-70 g fat tail fat (mutton), or 150 ml refined oil.
Devzira rice is used in the traditional recipe, but long-grain basmati can be found in many sources. In fact, this product is not sufficiently boiled to take the desired consistency. Many cooks note such a mistake: even with a large amount of water and fat, rice remains dry.
Cooking process
To get the right pilaf, you can’t rush when preparing it. The process is divided into 3 stages.
The first is the preparation of oil or fat:
- if fat is used, then it is pre-melted;
- kazakh is well warmed up over high heat on the stove;
- add fat or oil - carefully, along the wall;
- the fire is immediately set to a minimum;
- oil cannot be boiled - it releases carcinogens, and products in such fat begin to be stewed, and not fried;
- when the fat begins to crackle and exude a light smoke, start frying meat and vegetables;
- if fat tail is used, then it is melted to cracklings, and then they are immediately removed.
This is the second stage.
Before calcining dishes, it is necessary to wash vegetables and meat, cut them.
It is impossible to chop and finely chop any components for pilaf. 
The second stage is the preparation of zirvak:
- not too small pieces of lamb are placed on the bottom of the cauldron, increasing the fire to strong;
- fry the meat until golden brown for 4-5 minutes;
- towel-dried onion, cut into rings, put to the meat and fry for another 3-4 minutes until golden brown;
- put a carrot to the meat, mix gently and fry for 5 minutes;
- add 2 tbsp. l. salt - zirvak should be oversalted, since the component is no longer added to rice;
- after 5 minutes, add the prepared spices.
Go to the third stage - you need to properly cook the rice.
When cooking pilaf, steam is used, not water.
This is the only way products combine aroma and taste:
As soon as the time is up, the stove is turned off and left under a closed lid for another 10-15 minutes.
It is important that the lid from the cauldron is used in the process, tightly fitting to the edges.
If the steam comes out a lot, then pilaf will not work.
Top secrets and tricks
Here are 6 more useful tricks and secrets that are not included in other recommendations. 
With them, an oriental dish will turn out tastier and easier:
- salt should be taken more than for cooking other dishes - rice will absorb excess;
- pour rice only with hot water, otherwise it will crack and remain hard;
- when washing the cereal, rub it in your palms - so the starch will quickly leave the grains;
- meat is cut into large pieces - it will fry and become juicy and tasty, small parts will dry out;
- they serve real Uzbek pilaf, following the advice of chefs, either on a common dish, pre-mixed, or in portioned plates;
- but no less interesting is the serving of ordinary pilaf, when rice is first laid out, then carrots and meat.
To avoid cooking mistakes, remember the most important rules: never stir immediately after adding rice, do not let vegetables burn, always rinse the cereal until the water is clear. The dish will remain very fragrant, but it will not be pilaf, but porridge. 
Video
A step-by-step video recipe is the best way to get acquainted with an oriental dish for a novice cook.
Authentic Uzbek plov - crumbly, fragrant, moderately spicy and spicy - complements the festive table and everyday lunch. If you master all the secrets and subtleties of preparing a classic dish, you can provide yourself with an inexpensive but delicious masterpiece to decorate the table for any occasion.
