We all love a tasty meal, despite the fact that everyone has their own preferences. But there are dishes that everyone loves. They are the decorations of every table, not only on holidays, but also everyday. One such dish is pilaf. It is cooked in different ways. There are more than 1000 recipes. This dish is of Uzbek origin. The traditional pilaf includes seven components: rice, meat, onions, fat, carrots, salt and water.
A good cook should know all the properties of the products he uses. For this reason, let's talk a little about each component separately.
Rice contains minerals and vitamins. There are many varieties of rice, but the most commonly used are husked rice, polished (white) farin rice, steamed rice, quick-cooked husked rice, etc.
Meat is essential for nutrition and normal metabolism. All kinds of meat are used for pilaf - pork, lamb, beef, veal, horse meat, as well as chicken, turkey and pheasant meat.
Onion - it contains volatile, which kill bacteria and fungi. Onion also gives pilaf a pleasant aroma, which contributes to the normal secretion of juice in the stomach when eating. For pilaf, onions or leeks are usually used.
You can’t cook pilaf without oil, i.e. fat. For this dish, animal fats or vegetable oil are usually used. Fats increase the calorie content of food, and therefore they play the role of an energy source of the body. When adding fat to pilaf, one must take into account the fat content of meat.
In many countries, for example, in the Arab states and in India, carrots are not added to pilaf. But a real Uzbek pilaf cannot be without carrots. Carrots cooked in meat broth are considered a dietary dish.
Consider several types of pilaf: Uzbek pilaf recipe, loose pilaf recipe, pilaf with vegetables recipe.
Uzbek pilaf recipe. Cut the meat into small pieces and fry in a pot on very very hot fat. Depending on the fat content of the meat, you can add vegetable oil. Add the chopped carrots and onions and fry with the meat. Next, you need to pour all this with water and add salt, ground black and red pepper, and then bring to a boil. You can also add a few cloves of garlic to taste. At the next stage, you need to put the washed rice in advance in a pot with meat and carefully smooth the layer. When the water begins to boil, you need to pierce the rice with a knife to the bottom in several places and add a few tablespoons of water to these holes. Put the already closed pot on low heat for half an hour. After the dish is ready, without stirring, put it on a plate with a slide so that the pieces of meat are on top of the pilaf. At the end, sprinkle with raw chopped onions. And you can serve.
Loose Uzbek pilaf recipe. It is prepared in a cast-iron cauldron or in special dishes with thick walls. First, you need to separate the fat from the meat and throw the fat in boiling oil, and fry until it completely melts. Then put onion, then simmer and mark with them. After which we put everything in a pan. And in the same pan, along with spices, fry finely chopped meat. After its readiness, stew it a little more with carrots and onions. First you need to wash and dry the rice. Otherwise, pilaf will not be crumbly. Then only it can be added to the cauldron and evened out. Next, pour water. Add salt, close the lid and wait for the water to boil. After about 40 minutes, it will be ready, and only then can it be mixed.
Pilaf with vegetables recipe. We need one balazhan, vegetable oil, one onion, 250 g of champignons, two pieces of small zucchini, two tomatoes, 400 g of vegetable broth, 500 g of long-grain rice, 250 g of artichokes, saffron, salt, black pepper, dried chickpea, 250 g of peas, thyme, olives ( preferably pitted). Dip eggplant in oil and put on a baking sheet and cook in a very hot oven for 15 minutes. At the same time, fry the onions in a pan, then add the chopped champignons to it and cook until light brown. Then add zucchini, tomatoes, rice, vegetable broth, artichokes, saffron, eggplant and pepper. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Pour rice mixture into a small saucepan. Then put in the oven and cook for about 50 minutes, i.e. before the water evaporates. Then all this mass is cooked over low heat with chickpeas, thyme, olives and peas for 10 minutes. And now - the dish is ready.
Today we learned how to cook different types of pilaf: Uzbek pilaf recipe, loose pilaf recipe, pilaf with vegetables recipe.