Uzbek pilaf

Uzbek pilaf

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Pilaf is definitely a dish from the East.
But it’s difficult to say whose specific reward it is, as well as to name the traditional recipe for this dish. All that can be said is that pilaf is boiled rice. Tell me, what about carrots or meat?
But no, in some eastern countries these ingredients are not added at all, or the meat is cooked separately and served as an addition to pilaf. For now, we’ll prepare everyone the usual pilaf with meat and carrots, the recipe for which we asked our friends from Uzbekistan

Ingredients

general information

Total production time

1 h

Active production time

30 minutes

Complexity

Average

Number of servings

Kitchen

Step-by-step recipe with photos

Video recipe

Peel the onion and cut into thin half rings.

Pour vegetable oil into a cauldron or deep frying pan and heat it over high heat. Then add the chopped onion and fry over high heat for 7 minutes, stirring.

Cut the beef or lamb into small pieces, add to the onion and fry for 15 minutes, stirring.

Peel the carrots and cut into long but narrow strips.
Add to the cauldron, add salt and continue cooking over high heat for 10 minutes, stirring. After 10 minutes, add spices (cumin, barberry, turmeric, paprika and saffron) and add water (600 ml).

Peel the garlic from the top husk, DO NOT BREAK the garlic into cloves. We need a whole head of garlic. Add the heads of garlic to the cauldron, cover with a lid, reduce heat slightly (to the middle) and cook for 20 minutes. After the time has passed, remove the garlic, but do not throw it away.

Wash the rice well and add to the cauldron, add water. The rice should be covered by two centimeters with the broth.

Cook rice over medium heat for 25 minutes. We move the rice away from the walls, make small holes with a wooden stick, and mix in this way so that the rice does not burn.

After 25 minutes, put back the heads of garlic and cover with a lid. Cook over low heat until the water has completely boiled away

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How to cook pilaf in Uzbek style according to a step-by-step recipe with photos

My husband is a big fan of oriental cuisine. And my culinary experience before marriage was very moderate. I had to learn a lot from my mother-in-law, because at first we lived together. Specifically, she revealed to me the secrets of Uzbek pilaf, which amazed me with its simplicity and inimitable taste. The mother-in-law herself learned to cook from her own grandmother, and carefully wrote down all the acquired knowledge in an old notebook. In it, among other culinary masterpieces, a recipe for real Uzbek pilaf was found. So, housewives, arm yourself with notepads and pens.

How to cook traditional Uzbek pilaf - recipe with photos step by step

Ingredients

How to choose the right ingredients for pilaf

• Rice. For pilaf, it is best to use Devzira rice. But it is not everywhere. An excellent substitute for it would be steamed rice, basmati or special pilaf. The surface of the cereal must be ribbed, and the cereal itself must be free of specific flavor, GMOs and additives. Only long grain rice is suitable for making pilaf.
• Meat. An excellent option is lamb (breast or back). But the experience of almost all housewives states that any kind of meat will do, and Uzbek pilaf will turn out just as tasty if you cook it with pork or beef according to the same recipe. It is worth considering that pork pilaf can turn out to be the most fatty and high-calorie, while beef pilaf can be the leanest and driest. The main thing is that the meat is fresh and without a specific aroma.
• Carrot. It is very important to choose good carrots for a catchy juicy pilaf. Small, wrinkled, stale - will not work. Good carrots will release juice and give the dish a unique taste and wonderful color; bad carrots will ruin it. Believe my bitter experience. So, Uzbek lamb pilaf, below is the recipe with photos.

How to cook Uzbek pilaf at home

1. Prepare the vegetables. Peel the onions and carrots. Prepare the meat. If necessary, defrost everything in advance.
2. Prepare the cauldron.
   
   If this is not the case, no matter what kind of saucepan or deep frying pan will do, just be sure to have a thick bottom. Honored chefs say that Uzbek pilaf in a cauldron over a fire is real pilaf, and the recipe is approximately the same in all versions.
3. Place the cauldron on the fire and let it warm up. When the cauldron is hot, pour half the oil into it.
   
4. While the oil is heating, chop the meat.
5. Cut the carrots into strips.
   
6. Place the meat in hot oil, stir gently and leave to fry.
   
7. While the meat is frying, cut the onion into thin half rings or as comfortable as you like, just not very finely.
8. At this step, add 1 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. ground pepper. Stir the contents so that the onion is on the bottom and the meat is on top.
   
9. When the onions and meat acquire a golden color, add water to cover the contents one hundred percent. When the water boils, reduce the heat, cover the cauldron with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes.
10. Add carrots and simmer for another 15 minutes.
    
11. Add all the spices except turmeric and salt. Cover with a lid and leave for a couple of minutes.
12. Pour the rice into the cauldron and carefully level it out.
    
    Add remaining salt and turmeric.

Video recipe

How to prepare not just pilaf, but Uzbek pilaf, its recipe, serving method and classic salads you can find out by watching this video.

What to serve pilaf with

My family loves to eat pilaf with the freshest cucumbers and tomatoes. Some add salted and pickled vegetables in addition, while others prefer not to overwhelm the taste of this wonderful dish. In Uzbekistan, pilaf is usually served with radish salad with lemon seeds or onion and tomato salad Sachchik-Chuchuk.

Some tips for making

In order for making pilaf to take a minimum of time and you can create it simply, quickly and very tasty, take note of a few points:

1. Buy all products in advance. If you need to go to the market for meat, rice and seasonings, then the entire process of making pilaf will take significantly longer.
2. You can cook and cut meat and vegetables right away, so as not to be distracted from the manufacturing process later.
3. Grating carrots is much faster, but it’s better to cut them. Grated carrots will change the taste of the dish, not for the better.
4. If the onion for pilaf is cut very finely, it can burn in hot oil and spoil the entire dish. The best cut is a quarter half ring.
5. If you really want oriental exoticism, then you can prepare Uzbek pilaf with chickpeas. It is also called Fergana pilaf.

Fundamentally! If you have round rice for pilaf at home, it is better not to eat it. It will make a tasty rice porridge, and not the pilaf that you want to cook.

For lovers of diet food, chicken pilaf is perfect; it contains much fewer calories.

There are many other options for making pilaf, for example, sweet pilaf. This recipe is a godsend for lovers of both savory and healthy food.

Fergana pilaf in a cauldron from Stalik Khankishiev

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• Portions: 10
• Time: 2 hours
• Difficulty: medium
• Seal

In Fergana or Samarkand, everyone is sure that their particular pilaf is correct. In Krasnodar or Novorossiysk, on the contrary, not many people encroach on correctness - they say, this is not our southern Russian business. The popular LiveJournal blogger Stalic, who is also the creator of the book “Kazan, barbecue and other male pleasures” Stalik Khankishiev, with both his blog and his book, substantiates the insignificance of geography in the majestic business of making Uzbek pilaf. We present an adapted recipe for you - get creative.

Ingredients

• Lamb pulp 1 kg
• Baby back with ribs / excellent beef or veal 3-4 slices
• Fat tail lard 300–350 g
• Dev-jeera rice / other good medium grain rice 1 kg
• Reddish carrots 1 kg
• Medium onions 2–3 pcs.
• Garlic heads 2–3 pcs.
• Capsicums, reddish or greenish, 1–3 pcs.
• Zira, salt
• Barberry optional

Manufacturing

1. First, cut the carrots, and it is better to choose ripe, reddish, fairly large ones, and not very juicy and liquid young ones. Please note: it is unacceptable to grate carrots, even on the largest one, and it is unacceptable to chop them in a food processor. You need to cut specifically: take a well-sharpened knife, a comfortable spacious board, be patient and cut everything into long strips 3 by 3 mm.
2. Prepare the meat: cut it into 1.5-centimeter cubes, set the bone aside, and if you have back slices with ribs, then divide them, one rib at a time, and also set them aside.

The taste of the finished dish directly depends on whether the meat for pilaf is cut large or small: with a small cut, the meat is more willing to give its own taste to the oil, and the oil transfers it to the rice. Large pieces retain their own taste and are juicier. At the same time, the rice retains its taste.

Zira, or cumin, is often confused with caraway: in German, the name of the spice sounds like “Indian caraway.” Meanwhile, apart from their appearance, cumin and cumin have nothing in common: the first is used in meat dishes of Indian and Central Asian cuisine, giving them a thick, sweetish smell, the second is used in baked goods and vegetable dishes of European origin. Therefore, if cumin is as necessary in pilaf as rice or lamb, then there is nothing to add caraway seeds to it.

Uzbek-style pilaf (step-by-step recipe) is a common oriental dish. Step-by-step recipes for Uzbek-style pilaf with beef and pork

Uzbekistan has always been famous for its hospitality and delicious cuisine. The calling card of the country is Uzbek pilaf. This hearty and at the same time light dish can feed a huge number of people, which is why it is prepared for marriages, anniversaries and other holidays.

Uzbek-style pilaf (step-by-step recipe) - the main principles of production

The secret of real Uzbek-style pilaf is the selection of high-quality ingredients, especially rice, and the correct sequence of their addition.

So, to make pilaf you will need: devzira rice, carrots, onions, meat, preferably lamb, garlic, cumin, barberry, vegetable oil and table salt.

The carrots are peeled and cut into large strips. The more of this vegetable in the pilaf, the tastier it will be. Under no circumstances should you grate carrots for Korean salads. A thinly sliced ​​vegetable will simply dissolve in the pilaf during the manufacturing process, and this cannot be allowed to happen.

The onion is peeled, washed and chopped into large rings or half rings. Thinly sliced ​​onions fry faster, which means it’s easier to burn. Burnt onions in pilaf are not only not great, but also not tasty.

Now get to the meat. As a rule, you need to eat lamb or beef, but if you prefer pork, you can cook from it. The meat is washed, dried with cardboard napkins and cut into fairly large pieces. If you cut it finely, it will disintegrate into fibers, which is unacceptable for pilaf. The fat from the lamb is cut off and crushed into small pieces.

Pilaf can be cooked on a gas stove or fire. Induction and electronic cookers are not very suitable for this. Pilaf should be cooked over an open fire and only in a metal cauldron. Pots are not suitable for this. We cook pilaf, not rice porridge.

An empty cauldron is well calcined over high heat. Put lamb fat cut into pieces into it. Once the fat has rendered, the cracklings are removed with a slotted spoon. Add refined vegetable oil and calcinate. To find that the oil is hot enough, throw an onion ring into it. If the oil sizzles, add the rest of the onion. Fry it, stirring often, until a pleasant golden color.

Place the meat in the fried onion and fry it until cooked, stirring constantly. Once the meat is covered with an appetizing crust, add carrots. Continue to fry over moderate heat. The carrots should become soft. If you take a straw, it should bend, but not break.

Water is boiling in a kettle. The contents of the cauldron are poured with boiling water. This will be the base of the pilaf - zirvak. It is prepared only in the same sequence as described above. Cover the cauldron with a lid and cook for 40 minutes.

The rice is carefully washed to remove any debris. Remove the top leaves from the garlic heads, trying to keep the head intact.

After 40 minutes of boiling, add garlic, cumin and barberry to the cauldron. At this step salt is added. The broth should be slightly salted, because some of the salt will be absorbed by the rice. Stir and cook for another 20 minutes.

Fistfuls of rice are placed in the zirvak. Level with a slotted spoon. The water level should be two centimeters above the surface of the rice.

As soon as the rice is in the cauldron, I increase the intensity of the fire. This is done so that the water begins to actively boil and evaporate. The lid is not covered. Use a slotted spoon to slightly move the rice towards the middle so that the water evaporates more quickly. When the water in the holes does not gurgle, level the rice, cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Cook for another 20 minutes. Take out the garlic and stir the pilaf from bottom to top.

Garlic is separated into cloves. Uzbek-style pilaf (step-by-step recipe) is laid out on a large dish. Place garlic cloves on top.

Recipe 1. Uzbek-style pilaf: step-by-step recipe with beef

Ingredients

400 g long-grain parboiled rice;

250 g onions;

a teaspoon of barberry;

half a teaspoon of turmeric;

a teaspoon of cumin.

Manufacturing method

1. Peel the onions. Cut the thin skin off the carrots. Wash the vegetables thoroughly. Chop the onion into not very thin half rings. Place the carrots on a board, cut lengthwise into layers and chop into strips. Under no circumstances should you use a grater for this. You should get bars of medium thickness.

2. Trim the beef from veins and films. Wash under the tap and pat dry with cardboard kitchen towels. Cut the meat into fairly large pieces. Finely chopped meat will disintegrate into fibers during the manufacturing process.

3. Place a metal cauldron on the stove, pour vegetable oil into it and turn on high heat. Heat until light snow-white smoke appears. Place the onion in the cauldron and fry it, stirring occasionally so that it does not burn.

4. Once the onion turns golden, add pieces of beef to it. Continue cooking, stirring, for about 20 minutes. The meat should be covered with an appetizing crust.

5. Now add the carrots cut into strips. Pepper and salt. Stir and fry for another 10 minutes. Do not forget to stir so that the contents do not burn. Add turmeric, barberry and cumin.

6. Boil water in a kettle. Pour boiling water over the contents of the cauldron. Water must cover the meat and vegetables one hundred percent. Turn the heat down to moderate, cover the cauldron with a lid and simmer for 40 minutes. The meat will become tender, and the zirvak will be filled with the smell and taste of spices.

7. Wash the rice thoroughly. Change the water until it becomes clear. Place the rice in a sieve to drain excess liquid. Place the washed rice in a cauldron in small portions. Level with a slotted spoon. The broth level should be two centimeters higher than the rice. If it is not enough, you can add boiling water. Do not stir under any circumstances during this step. Cook over high heat until the liquid on the surface evaporates. Make a depression in the rice and place the head of garlic, peeled from the top leaves, into it. Then simmer for another 20 minutes on low heat under the lid.

8. Open the lid, take out the garlic, stir the pilaf from bottom to top. Place on a round flat dish and serve with the freshest vegetables.

Recipe 2. Uzbek-style pilaf: step-by-step recipe with pork

Ingredients

700 g pork pulp;

a pinch of dried tomatoes;

150 ml sunflower oil;

two large onions;

two large carrots;

Manufacturing method

1. Wash the rice thoroughly and remove any debris. Then fill it with water and set aside. Wash the pork pulp, dry it with kitchen paper towels and cut into fairly large pieces.

2. Place the metal cauldron on high heat. Pour sunflower oil into it. The amount of oil depends on the fat content of the pork. The fattier the meat, the less oil you will need. Heat the oil very well.

3. Place the pork in a cauldron and fry until it is covered with an appetizing crust.

4. Peel the onions and carrots. Wash. Chop the onions into half rings of medium thickness. Chop the carrots into fairly large strips. Add the onion to the meat and fry, stirring, until it is browned. Then add the carrots and cook for some more time. Don't forget to stir constantly.

5. Boil water in a kettle. Pour boiling water over the meat and vegetables so that it completely covers the contents of the cauldron. Add all the spices and salt. Stir and cook for another 20 minutes. Now it’s enough for the meat to become soft and for the ingredients to be saturated with each other’s smells and tastes.

6. Drain the rice into a sieve. When all the liquid has drained, place the cereal in a cauldron and smooth it out. If there is not enough broth, you can add boiling water. Do not stir. Cook over high heat until the broth has evaporated from the surface of the rice. Make a small depression and place a head of garlic into it, having previously removed the top leaves from it. Turn the heat down to low, cover with a lid and simmer for another half hour.

7. Remove the head of garlic from the pilaf and separate it into cloves. Stir the pilaf with a slotted spoon from bottom to top. Place it on a lovely ample platter. Place garlic cloves on top.

Uzbek-style pilaf (step-by-step recipe) – tips and tricks

Do not use frozen meat to make pilaf. It must be only the freshest.

Under no circumstances should you grate carrots. The bars should be of medium thickness.

In order for the pilaf to come out crumbly, the rice must be washed until the water becomes clear.

Do not mix rice with vegetables and meat during the cooking process.