Pilaf is a quick and tasty recipe. How to cook pilaf in a hurry: quick recipes

Love pilaf, but there are no acquaintances who are worthy of him prepared would?

We bring to your attention the most simple recipe for delicious pilaf, which can cook at home. You just need to stock up patience and necessary ingredients.

How to cook pilaf. Cook at home

So let's move on to cooking delicious pilaf. First of all, wash, peel and cut carrots and onions.

Also cut the washed and dried cubed meat 50-60 grams each.

IN frying pan with high sides, or stewpan, pour oils, and heat it until smoking.

To the oil is saturated, And meat it turned out tastier, at this stage they throw it into the frying pan onion, fry, and throw away. We put meat and fry until light crust.

Add chopped onions and carrots. Fry over high heat for about 10 minutes.

After roasting reduce the fire, add pepper, cumin and washed and cleaned head of garlic. Garlic you just need to wash and peel, no need to divide into cloves, put entirely.

Now pour it into the frying pan boiling water so that there is meat completely covered with water, cover with a lid, and simmer over low heat for one hour.

Bye zirvak (base for pilaf, consisting of fried onions, carrots, And meat with spices) stewed, necessary rinse the rice several times until the water becomes perfectly clean.

After an hour, add rice in an even layer in the pan, without stirring with meat, and add boiling water so that the rice was covered in water by 1 cm. Cover with a lid, increase the heat and bring to a boil.

When pilaf boils, reduce the heat and cook without a lid until all the liquid is gone will be absorbed.

When the water is no longer visible, cover with a lid and preparing another 30 minutes.

Pilaf. Recipe

beef –500 g;
carrots – 200 g;
onion –150 g;
rice –300 g;
garlic – 1 head;
vegetable oil – 100 g;
zira – 1 teaspoon;
dried barberry – 2 tsp;
ground black pepper –0.5 tsp.

Everything is yours delicious pilaf ready. Be careful before eating mix with a big spoon. Now feel free to invite your guests and treat them homemade pilaf with pickled cucumbers. Bon appetit!

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Recently we cooked pilaf again. We were expecting guests and wanted to cook something delicious for them! And since this delicious Uzbek dish is always welcome at any table, without thinking for long, I decided to cook it.

To my surprise, two of the guests present said that they themselves now often cook it at home. And to my pleasant surprise, they said that they prepare it according to my recipes from the blog. They said that they had finally learned how to cook it, and now they always succeed without surprises.

Moreover, one of the guests expressed the wish that it would be nice to have several recipes in one article at once, so as not to waste time searching. Yes, time is valuable for everyone now.

Well, fulfilling my friend’s request, and myself being in high spirits, because pilaf is not only delicious to eat, but also great to talk about, I begin today’s story.

And we’ll start with, perhaps, the most popular one today. I also suggest using it as a basis for all subsequent recipes. In it I will describe in great detail the preparation for the cooking process, and the process itself, of course.

Therefore, if you cook according to the second or subsequent recipes, be sure to read the first one too. Everything is described in great detail.

It cooks quickly and always turns out delicious. And what is important, it is a fairly economical dish. And although the classic versions are prepared mainly from lamb and beef, this option is very popular among the people. I already have it on my blog, so choose for yourself which one you like best.

We will need:

chicken – 800 gr
onion - 400 gr
carrots - 600 gr
rice - 600 gr
garlic - 2 heads
vegetable oil - 0.5 cups
spices - cumin, coriander, rosemary
salt - half a tablespoon
ground red and black pepper - to taste

We will also need a cauldron and a slotted spoon, as well as a wooden stick; you can make a Chinese one. If you don’t have one, then prepare a spoon with a long handle; later I’ll tell you why we need it.

Preparation:

Cooking any of the dishes of oriental cuisine requires a special approach, and of course pilaf is no exception in this matter. You need to start preparing it without haste or fuss, always in a great mood, with enough free time.

It is also required to follow all cooking rules and maintain the required time at each stage of cooking. In general, the matter must be taken quite seriously and responsibly. Only this can guarantee the preparation of a real Uzbek dish exactly the way it is prepared in its homeland.

But I will say right away that the problem is completely solvable. There is nothing impossible about this. And when they say “that only an Uzbek can cook real Uzbek pilaf,” don’t believe it, it’s not true. Anyone can cook, especially those who really want it.

1. First, let's start with the chicken, because that's what we'll be cooking with today. To prepare this dish, it is better to purchase fresh or chilled chicken. Don't use just the breasts, or just the thighs, or the wings. It is best for the chicken to be whole. Different meats will give a richer, more intense flavor.

And you should remember that any pilaf will be tasty only if there are bones in the meat. This applies to absolutely any meat you plan to cook from.

Usually in Uzbekistan it takes 500 grams of rice, 500 grams of carrots and the same amount of meat. But I always put in more meat so that no one looks at each other and there is enough for everyone. As a rule, meat is eaten first.

But if you wish, take less meat.

2. Wash the chicken, dry it with a paper towel and cut it fairly large. If you cut it finely, then all the meat will be boiled, as it cooks quite quickly. It will be better if the pieces are kept whole

3. Cut the onion into thin half rings. To do this, you need to have a fairly sharp knife, otherwise it won’t work out thin. And it is important for us to cut it exactly so that the onion has time to evaporate during cooking, giving all the juice to the dish being prepared.

4. First cut the carrots diagonally, cutting them into long thin plates no more than 0.5 cm thick. And then stack several plates and cut them into strips. Try to cut the carrots carefully to avoid cutting yourself. When the stack is large enough, the knife can easily slip off. Therefore, to begin with, cut no more than 2 - 3 plates at a time.

So be patient and cut as expected.

The role of carrots is very important, it gives sweetness, juiciness, color and appearance. But if we grate carrots, we will not get the desired effect. Just like if you cut it into cubes or thick bars.

Yes, a whole science! But you have to try to master it if you want to eat delicious food!

5. Rice is also a special topic. Any store-bought rice will not work. Choose varieties of rice with an elongated shape; short-grain varieties are not suitable for making pilaf. Steamed varieties are good; they do not become soggy when cooked, and the rice turns out fluffy, as it should be.

You can often see such a picture at the bazaar in Central Asia; when buying rice, they taste it. So, if the grain is easy to bite into, then such rice is not suitable for pilaf; you can only cook porridge from it. The grain must be hard; it will definitely not boil or stick together.

Rice must be washed by placing it in a bowl until the water is clear. This will release excess starch and make the rice crumbly. Steamed rice varieties are washed fairly quickly. But some other varieties will need to be washed for 10 minutes or more.

In addition, such varieties are also left in water for a short time and allowed to lie down so that the rice swells and cooks faster.

6. You also need spices; without cumin it will not get the desired aroma. It gives a real smell and taste, without it the dish will not turn out truly Uzbek. Often they also add ground coriander. Barberry will also never be superfluous. Therefore, purchase them in advance.

7. Garlic is also added for flavor. There is no need to completely peel it and cut it into pieces. You just need to clean off the place where the roots were located, there may be remnants of soil there, and remove the top layers of the shirt. The garlic also needs to be washed thoroughly.

8. It is advisable to cook pilaf in a cauldron, this is how it turns out the most delicious. This occurs due to thick walls and uniform heating. If you don’t have a cauldron, you can cook it in a thick-walled frying pan with high sides. You won’t be able to afford a big campaign there, but you can easily feed your family.

It looks like everything has been prepared. You can start cooking.

Preparation:

1. Pour oil into a cauldron and heat it to a bluish haze. Don’t look at how much oil there is, don’t reduce the amount. There are also a lot of ingredients, and every part needs to be lightly oiled.

2. Carefully place the chicken parts into the cauldron so as not to get burned. To prevent the oil from splashing, the chicken should be dried. There is no need to salt or pepper it in advance. We need to achieve a quick golden brown crust so that the flesh inside remains juicy. For this we need maximum fire.

Fry the chicken until golden brown. Periodically stirring the contents with a slotted spoon.

3. Add onion and stir immediately. If it starts to burn, you can reduce the heat to medium and cook the onion until soft or golden brown.

4. Pour a glass of hot water and let the onions simmer for 10 minutes until all the water has boiled away. During this time the onion will become almost transparent.

5. Now it's time for the carrots. As we remember, it gives taste and color. To get a golden color, the carrots must be lightly fried so that they release their juice. There is no need to create a strong fire. Carrots should simmer rather than fry.

After sweating the carrots for about ten minutes, without forgetting to stir the contents of the cauldron, we move on to the next step.

6. Now is the time to add spices, salt and pepper. Stir, then stick two heads of garlic directly into the middle. Stick it in harder so that it doesn’t float up when we add water.

After this, we will no longer interfere with anything until the very end of cooking.

7. Lay out the washed rice in an even layer. Smooth it well over the entire surface.

8. Then a very important point, you need to fill it with water correctly. You need hot water, so boil the kettle in advance.

It is necessary to pour water into the cauldron through the holes in the slotted spoon. This simple step will allow the rice to stay in place. It is necessary that the carrots do not float. And if we pour water from the kettle directly onto the rice, a funnel will form and the carrots will immediately float to the surface.

9. You need to pour in enough water to cover the rice by 1.5 - 2 cm. Usually the index finger is the measure. If you put it in water (although it will be hot), then the first phalanx should be completely covered.

Let the contents boil over high heat, then reduce it to medium.

10. Wait until the water boils, let it simmer for 5 minutes, then taste the broth. While there is broth, you can salt it if there is not enough salt. When the broth boils away, it will be too late to add salt; the salt will not have time to disperse.

11. Cook the rice until almost done, boiling should occur evenly over the entire surface. Otherwise, the rice will be cooked on one side and may remain raw on the other.

During this time, there should be no liquid left on the surface. But she still remained inside. We need it to boil too, otherwise we will end up with ordinary porridge.

To do this, carefully collect a mound of rice. To do this correctly, you need to take a slotted spoon and collect the rice from the edge to the center. At the edges the rice was already completely cooked, but in the middle it was more difficult for it to get ready. Therefore, we will help him with this.

By moving the rice from the edge to the center, we seem to cover the raw center with the already cooked one. When the mound is ready, take a Chinese chopstick, or a spoon with a long handle, and make holes over the entire surface of the mound with rotational movements. They need to be done to the very bottom, which is why a simple spoon will not work, the length of its handle is simply not enough.

All the water that remains below us now has an outlet. And when leaving, she will simultaneously help the still raw rice reach the desired state. And for this to happen, and also for the bottom layer not to burn, the fire must be reduced to a minimum and the cauldron covered with a lid.

12. Simmer it like this for 15 minutes. Then turn off the heat and, without opening the lid, cover it with a towel so that steam does not escape through the holes. It will steam what is still not steamed.

Leave the dish in this state for about 15 minutes. Then open the lid, making sure that the condensation that has formed on the lid does not fall back into the cauldron.

13. Pilaf can be carefully mixed in a cauldron, then placed on a large dish. However, there are special types of preparation, and we will talk about them today, where it is not mixed, but laid out in layers. First there is rice, then carrots and the last layer is meat. Garlic tops it all off.

It has retained its appearance, but its taste has changed dramatically. Having given its aroma to the rice, it in turn absorbed all the aromas of the dish and its taste. Be sure to try it! He has both his fans and his opponents. Some people really like this garlic, and I am among them. And some people don’t understand this taste.

In any case, it has already done its job, and therefore, if you don’t eat it, just throw it away.

If you wish, you can leave the chicken pieces whole, or you can cut them into smaller portions, and someone will also remove all the bones. It's a matter of taste here!

14. Serve pilaf on a large flat dish, sprinkled with fresh herbs.

It is also usually served with a salad of fresh cucumbers and tomatoes with onions, seasoned with vegetable oil.

And no mayonnaise or ketchup! Real pilaf does not need any additives.

Otherwise, I have met people who ask him for this or that. Don't give! Delicious pilaf is so tasty that you can eat “even a spoon” unnoticed.

That's basically it! A lot has been written, I agree. But this is just so that everything is clear to everyone! Everything is happening faster!

Well, how do you like the recipe? Have you already felt how delicious it will be? And they felt correctly, it couldn’t be otherwise. Well, if you’re not tired, then move on to the next recipe.

Beef pilaf according to the classic recipe - “Fergana”

This classic recipe comes from Fergana, and therefore has the name “Fergana”

I’ll immediately explain why this particular recipe is a classic. Well, first of all, this is the most prepared recipe in Uzbekistan. It is prepared everywhere. Secondly, it is the basis of all others. Already on this basis, all other options are prepared, with the addition of many other ingredients. We will look at some of them today.

This recipe is described in great detail in one of my articles. And therefore today I will only briefly recall all the main provisions. If anyone wants to cook this recipe, please ask for a detailed description.

We will need:

lamb - 700 -800 gr
fat tail fat - 100 g
onion - 400 gr
carrots - 600 gr
rice - 600 gr
cumin - 1 teaspoon
spices - for pilaf (optional)
garlic - 2 heads (optional)
salt - 1 tbsp. spoon
pepper - to taste
greens - for sprinkling

Preparation:

This recipe also has a preparation step, which is the same as the first recipe. Here I will only briefly outline all the steps, and see the details above.

1. There is one feature here that should be discussed in more detail. The recipe should use bone-in meat and pulp. It is advisable to use lamb for this. But if you couldn’t find a good piece of such meat, then buy beef. It is very good if the meat is fresh or chilled.

Wash the meat on the bones and dry it. And cut the pulp into small pieces, 2-3 cm in size, no more.

We also need fat tail fat. With it, any pilaf becomes much tastier, more aromatic and healthier. It needs to be cut into cubes measuring 2 by 2 cm. But if you don’t have it, then use only vegetable oil. But in this case you will need to take 200 ml.

2. Now we need to cut the onion into half rings. Carrots in thin strips. Rinse the rice until the water is clear. And you can start cooking.

3. Place the cauldron on the fire and warm it thoroughly. Then reduce the heat to medium and add the chopped fat tail fat, evaporate it until it becomes crackling.

Then add vegetable oil.

4. Or immediately pour in the oil, heat it thoroughly until there is a bluish haze and carefully place the meat bones into the cauldron so as not to get burned. Fry them until golden brown over high heat. It is necessary that the juice is “sealed” in the meat so that it does not become dry. For this you need a big fire.

5. Add chopped onion and fry until slightly golden or soft.

6. Add chopped pulp. It must be placed evenly on top of the seeds and onions, but do not mix, otherwise the temperature of the oil will drop sharply. You can stir when the meat is warm, that is, after about 4 - 5 minutes.

7. Fry this meat too. Our oil is hot and it will fry quickly enough. It should also brown slightly.

8. And as soon as this happens, add carrots. We also give it a couple of minutes to warm up and only after that mix all the contents with a slotted spoon.

Fry the carrots over medium heat for 5 minutes, during which time they will soften slightly and brown.

In Uzbekistan, yellow carrots are specially grown; using them, the dish has a less sweet taste. Such carrots are very common there for making pilaf. Unfortunately, we don’t have such carrots, and we use our usual varieties.

9. Pour half the cumin into the contents and fill everything with cold water. It should completely cover the carrots, but no more. Cook over low heat for 30 minutes. During this time, the carrots will release juice, and the broth will acquire a pleasant sunny color. In the future, this will give a pleasant color to the entire dish as a whole.

What we have now achieved is called “zirvak” in Uzbekistan, that is, it is a kind of basis for pilaf. It gives color, aroma and taste to the whole dish. Therefore, “zirvak” must be tasty.

10. If you use garlic, then insert it between the seeds. By the way, there is one point here. It happens that at this stage the bones can already be easily removed from the meat. They take them out, putting the pulp back.

But you can leave it to remove later. That's what I do. Let them put more fat into the broth.

Also at this stage you need to add salt, pepper and spices. The only spices you can add are cumin (we have already added it) and ground coriander. Barberry is also good. If you have it, then feel free to add a whole tablespoon. It will be very tasty. The rice will have a slight pleasant sourness.

11. Place washed rice in an even layer over the entire surface of the zirvak. If the rice is not parboiled, then pre-soak it in lukewarm water for 20 minutes.

12. Add water through the holes in the slotted spoon so that it covers the rice to the height of the phalanx of the index finger, or about 1.5 - 2 cm. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat until the water does not boil, but only gurgles slightly. Taste the salt

13. After about 15 minutes, almost all the water should evaporate, and by that time the rice should be 90% ready. If for some reason it is still damp, you can add a little more hot water.

14. If the rice is almost ready, form a slide and make holes in it to the very bottom. Add the remaining cumin, rubbing it in your palms for flavor.

15. Set the heat to very low and simmer, covering the lid with a towel so that steam does not escape into the holes. It will steam well the rice that has not yet reached the desired state. Simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.

16. Then turn off the gas, do not open the lid. Let stand for another 10 - 15 minutes to allow the dish to rest.

17. After that, open the lid and carefully mix the contents directly in the cauldron. Use a slotted spoon for this. Take out the meat on the bones, remove the bones, and cut the meat.

18. Place the pilaf in a large flat dish. Place pieces of meat and whole garlic on top. Sprinkle with herbs.

19. Eat with pleasure!

Otherwise it won't work. We had a very tasty dish today. You can’t anymore, but you eat anyway, your hand involuntarily reaches for the spoon.

Eat, don't be afraid. This is such a healthy and completely balanced dish that there will be no harm from it. Only one benefit.

If you are not tired yet, then I move on to the next recipe.

Video on how to cook pilaf from beef and devzira rice

Devzira rice grows only in one place on our planet - the Fergana Valley in the upper reaches of the Syr Darya in sunny, hospitable Uzbekistan. It has a brownish-pink color. This is powder from the shell of threshed grain. When you wash the rice, the powder is washed off, but the brown grooves remain on the grain.

Thanks to this, you can distinguish whether it is real or not.

This variety perfectly absorbs water, all juices from vegetables and fats. And that’s why it turns out very tasty.

You can buy it on the market from knowledgeable people, or in expensive supermarkets. The last time I bought it to order at the market for 350 rubles per kilogram.

If you don’t have such rice, then it’s okay. You can also prepare it from regular long grain, preferably steamed. It will not boil over and the pilaf will turn out 100% crumbly.

How to cook pork pilaf so that the rice is crumbly

Pork pilaf? Excuse me, dear Uzbeks. I know that you do not cook pork dishes. But here in Russia they are prepared everywhere. Therefore, I will give the recipe so that if anyone wants to cook with pork, then let them do it correctly.

This summer I cooked for myself for the first time. It turned out very tasty! I prepared it at the request of a friend, one might say, in the field. It was a wonderful experience for me.

Today, in order not to repeat myself, I want to offer a completely different recipe, and cook it with mushrooms. Of course, it can be prepared not only from pork, but also traditionally for Uzbekistan - from lamb or beef. How it is prepared, by the way. After all, I want to give you the Uzbek recipe. It is prepared there in early spring, when the very first mushrooms begin to appear - morels.

When we lived in Samarkand, we went specifically to the mountains to get them. Once, in the local mountains called Amankutan, I found two huge morels, weighing a kilogram, or even more, each. Pilaf was cooked from one, right in the mountains during an overnight stay. Cooked without any meat. It was incredibly delicious!

We also grow morels, and whoever collects them in May can cook pilaf from them, it’s very tasty!

Although you can cook with absolutely all mushrooms, both fresh and frozen, and even champignons. And as you already understood, you can cook with or without meat. I'm cooking with meat today. If you decide to cook without meat, then simply remove it from the recipe, as if it were not there, and leave everything else unchanged.

For vegetarians and during Lent, this will be the most wonderful hearty dish!

We will need:

pork meat (or other) - 400 gr
mushrooms – 400 gr
carrots - 600 gr
onion - 250 gr
rice - 600 gr
ghee - 100 g
vegetable oil - 100 g
garlic - 1 head
cumin, coriander - 1 tbsp. spoon
salt, pepper - to taste

Preparation:

1. Wash the meat, dry it and cut it into pieces with a side of 3 - 4 cm. You can use both pulp and meat with bones, for example, ribs.

2. Rinse fresh mushrooms thoroughly and place in a colander to drain all the water. If the mushrooms are frozen, defrost them and dry them with a paper towel.

3. Cut the onion into thin half rings. Carrots - into strips. How to do this, see 1 recipe. Wash the garlic, remove the top husk and thoroughly clean the area where the roots were. We leave the head entirely and in the “shirt”.

4. Rinse the rice until the water is clear. If it is not steamed, but quite hard, then soak it in warm water for 20 minutes.

5. Heat the cauldron and pour vegetable oil into it, warm it until lightly smoking. Carefully place the meat in the oil so as not to burn yourself. To do this, you can use a slotted spoon.

6. Quickly fry the meat until golden brown. It should fry fairly quickly as the oil is hot. Quick frying gives a crust, thanks to which the juice is retained inside, and the meat does not turn out too dry.

7. Immediately add ghee and onions. Fry it until golden brown and soft.

8. Then add mushrooms. They should be cut into pieces large enough so that after cooking you don’t have to look for them. In addition, it should be noted that when frying, the mushrooms will decrease in volume by at least half. Fry everything together for 5 - 7 minutes.

9. Then add carrots, spices, salt and pepper. Stir and fry for 10 minutes until lightly browned and soft. We got a beautiful and fragrant zirvak. We add garlic to it, which we try to drown deeper into the thickness of the meat, mushrooms and carrots.

If necessary, reduce the heat; nothing should burn.

10. Add rice, spreading it out in a thin, even layer. We try to cover all the carrots with it so that they do not float when we add water.

11. Pour hot water through the holes in the slotted spoon so that it covers the rice by 1.5-2 cm, or on the phalanx of the index finger. Let it boil over high heat, then reduce the heat. After 5 minutes, try the broth; if you think there is not enough salt, then salt the broth evenly.

12. Evaporate all the water; the rice should be almost ready by then. If it turns out to be damp, you can add a little water.

If its readiness is 90%, then we make a mound, collecting rice from the edges to the center, making holes with a wooden stick to the very bottom. Then you need to reduce the heat to minimum, cover with a lid and put a towel on it so that steam does not escape from the cauldron. He must do his job and get the rice ready.

13. After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and leave the pilaf to simmer for another 15 minutes under the lid.

14. Mix the finished pilaf directly in the cauldron, do this carefully so as not to break the rice or damage the mushrooms. Then place it on a large flat dish. Sprinkle with herbs and enjoy eating!

Delicious and aromatic pilaf is ready! I hope you like it. I also hope that you understand how to cook it without meat? If you don’t understand, then ask in the comments, I will be happy to answer you!

Uzbek beef pilaf with quince

To avoid repetition with recipes, I want to cook this version of pilaf with quince, or it can be replaced with pumpkin.

This is a purely autumn cooking option. It is prepared when the quince or pumpkin absorbs all the sunlight and becomes tasty and aromatic.

I'm cooking today with quince - a beauty. But you can safely change the word quince for the word pumpkin, since the dish is prepared in the same way with both.

I have to tell you that it turns out incredibly tasty. To be honest, in our family we are so spoiled with different versions of this dish that for us it has long become just an everyday dish. But when I cook it with quince, it's always an event! Therefore, when the husband brought a large and delicious-smelling fruit from the market, he immediately said, “This is for pilaf.” And this was not discussed.

We will need:

lamb (beef) – 600 gr
fat tail fat - 100 g
quince - 350 -400 gr
vegetable oil - 0.5 cups
onion - 300 gr
carrots - 600 gr
rice - 600 gr
cumin - 1 teaspoon
ground coriander - 1 teaspoon
barberry - 1 tbsp. spoon
salt, ground black pepper - to taste

Preparation:

For preparation of ingredients and cutting, read the first recipe in detail. But here we will focus on the recipe itself.

1. We use either lamb or beef. You can also cook it with pork. In Central Asia they don’t cook this meat, but we can do it. Therefore, take the meat you want to cook with.

Again, you need pulp and you need meat bones. I'm using lamb again, and I also have fat tail fat in stock. If you don't have it, then cook in oil. But in this case you will need a little more than half a glass, specifically 200 ml.

2. Cut the meat into large pieces the size of meat bones. Cut the fat into small pieces.

3. We will cook in a cauldron. We heat it up, then add the fat and lightly fry it. You can fry until the cracklings are formed and then remove them. I want to preserve them for taste, and therefore I fry them only lightly, and then take them out into a separate plate.

Pour oil into a cauldron, heat it well and lay out the meat bones. Fry them until golden brown over high heat. Well-fried meat retains all the juices inside and cooks faster.

4. As soon as the bones are fried, add the pieces of meat and fat that you took out. Wait 3 minutes for them to warm up with steam, then stir and fry everything together, also until golden brown. It is important not to overcook the meat, otherwise the broth will later turn out dark, and this will cause the pilaf to be brown. And not only the color, the taste will also suffer.

5. Place onions in a cauldron. Wait 3 minutes again until it warms up and then stir it into the meat. Fry until it turns golden. Then pour hot boiled water and cook the contents until the meat begins to pull away from the bone.

It may take from 30 minutes to an hour. If the meat is young, it will cook faster. The time also depends on what bony parts of the meat you use. Some cook faster, others may take a little longer.

During cooking, the onion will also lose its shape and become like a puree. This is good, it will add its own flavor to the broth in which the rice will cook. The fat of the tail will also evaporate and become completely invisible.

6. While the meat is cooking, let's take care of the quince. It is good to have tasty ripe quince, preferably one that does not have an astringent taste.

It must be washed thoroughly, then cut into 4 parts and the core removed. Then cut it into small half-moon-shaped slices, 0.5 cm thick. If the fruit is large, as mine was, then cut each slice into two more halves.

7. Fry the slices in a minimum amount of vegetable oil until golden brown. Then place on a paper napkin.

It should be remembered that quince darkens very quickly when cut, so before frying it can be kept in cold water for a while. Then place on paper towels and dry. This way the slices will not darken and will remain a beautiful sunny color.

8. When the meat is ready, take out the meat on the bones and remove the bones. Send the meat back.

This must be done if you are preparing a dish for guests. If you are cooking for yourself, you can leave the bones. For example, we really like it when meat is laid out on the bones. And my husband always asks not to remove them ahead of time. I don't mind. After all, the pilaf will take another 40 minutes to cook, so the fat from them will increase even more during this time.

9. No matter what you do, it's time for carrots. Place it on top of the meat and let it sit for 2-3 minutes without disturbing it until it warms up. Then mix and simmer everything together for about 10 minutes. Make sure that the carrots do not burn. If your own juice and broth are not enough for this, you can add a little hot water.

10. Add cumin, ground coriander, salt and pepper to taste. We also add barberry. Thus, our zirvak is ready.

Barberry is used in all cooking options; it gives an excellent light sourness to the entire dish. It can be added either large black or smaller red, there is no difference.

11. By the time the carrots have softened slightly, the rice should be ready. The first recipe describes in detail how to prepare it, so I won't repeat myself.

Spread it in an even layer over the entire surface of the meat and carrots. And fill it with boiled water, pour the water through the holes in the slotted spoon so that the rice does not rise from the stream of water and expose the carrots, they should remain covered.

The water should be 1.5 - 2 cm higher than the carrots.

12. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce it, let it simmer for 5 minutes and taste the broth for saltiness. We add it if necessary. As long as there is water, it will spread it evenly over the entire surface of the cooking dish.

13. Bring the rice to 85-90% readiness; by then there should be no water remaining on the surface. We lay out the quince slices and assemble a mound so that the quince remains inside.

If water is not visible along the edges of the walls, then carefully use a stick to make holes in the slide all the way to the bottom. We try not to pierce the quince. When you hit a piece with your stick, go around it. In this case, you need to rotate the stick; it will push the entire quince aside.

Close the lid and cover it with a towel to prevent steam from escaping into the cracks.

14. Reduce the gas to a minimum and simmer for 10 -15 minutes. Then turn off the gas, there is no need to open the lid, and let it sit for another 10 - 15 minutes.

15. Then carefully mix the contents and place on a large dish. Place the pieces of meat on top of the finished dish.

16. Now you need to sprinkle the pilaf with fresh herbs and serve to the admiration of all those present. Enjoy eating!

And there will definitely be pleasure and admiration! Crispy rice, stewed carrots and quince, with the aroma of cumin, the additional sour taste of barberry, the light taste of fat tail fat, which carefully envelops literally every grain of rice! It's just such magic! Complete enjoyment of taste and aroma. I don't even know what could be tastier!

Here, there are only 3 recipes, and the article is no longer small. This is pilaf! Either not write about him at all, or write from the heart, and that means a lot! There is no other way! A special dish that requires special treatment!

If you are ready to get more recipes, then I am ready to share them further!

Delicious Samarkand pilaf

I can’t leave today’s selection without this delicious recipe. This is my favorite. Maybe because I lived in Samarkand for a long time, or maybe because I learned to cook the dish according to this recipe, or maybe because it is simply the most amazing and beautiful pilaf I have ever known.

I have already described in great detail in one of the articles how it is prepared. And therefore, you will find it and be able to cook it.

A distinctive feature of this option is that after cooking, the rice is not mixed with all other ingredients. It is laid out on the dish in layers, just as it was prepared. Rice is laid out first, then carrots and meat and garlic are laid out last.

The carrots are not fried, but steamed. Thanks to this, the color of the dish remains light, the carrots have a rich, bright color and the same rich stewed taste.

The meat is cut into large pieces; meat with bones is always used. Before placing in a dish, the bones are removed and the meat is cut into small pieces.

Served with coarsely chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, fresh herbs and green onions.

If you like to cook pilaf and have never cooked it this way, then be sure to cook it! Believe me, it's worth it! You will like it, I'm sure!

Wedding Uzbek pilaf with peas and raisins

Well, what would a wedding be without pilaf? The entire wedding in Uzbekistan is judged by what kind of pilaf it was. Therefore, in order to prepare it correctly and tasty, they invite special masters who have extensive cooking experience. And this despite the fact that all the men and women present at the wedding know how to cook it.

To make the life of young people happy and rich, pomegranate seeds, Uzbek peas, and raisins are added to pilaf. Each ingredient is symbolic and means, for example, that there are many children in the family, that wealth and abundance live in the house, that love is a constant and faithful companion. Barberry is also placed, which means good health and longevity.

Dried apricots and chopped boiled eggs can also be added.

Due to the large number of components, it is important that everything in the pilaf is balanced, so that none of the ingredients stands out from the overall taste.

Today I propose to prepare pilaf with all the ingredients, but you can prepare it according to this recipe using only chickpeas, or only raisins, or pomegranate.

We will need:

lamb or beef meat - 700 gr
tail fat or vegetable oil - 200 g
hard grain rice, devzira variety – 600 g
onion - 250 gr
garlic - 2 heads
carrots - 600 gr
raisins – 100 gr
chickpeas - 100 g
barberry - 50 gr
pomegranate – 1 piece (200 g)
zira - 1 tbsp. spoon
salt - to taste

Preparation:

1. Chickpeas should be soaked in advance, preferably even a day before cooking. During this time, you can change the water a couple of times. During this time, the peas should double in size. When you bite into it, it will no longer be hard and should be chewable.

2. Cook the meat. It should be washed, dried and cut into large pieces of 150 - 200 grams. Cut the tail fat into small cubes, measuring 2 by 2 cm. If there is no fat, then prepare vegetable oil. You can also use 100 grams of butter and 100 grams of fat.

3. For wedding pilaf, a special variety of rice is used, which is called devzira. This variety is specially grown for its preparation. It is quite rare and expensive. It grows in only one place in the Fergana Valley of sunny Uzbekistan. This is large, elongated rice, which is covered with a layer of pink powder. That is why it is called the pink pearl of the East.

This rice is not polished, thanks to this it retains all its nutritional properties and has a lot of vitamins and microelements. And it is also quite hard, and therefore it will not stick together during the cooking process and will remain crumbly.

If you have such rice, then this is already luck. Delicious pilaf is guaranteed to you. Unfortunately, even in markets in Central Asia you can easily run into fakes. Therefore, you need to have special knowledge and the ability to choose it.

Since it is very hard, it must first be soaked for several hours in lightly salted water.

If there is no such rice, then you can use steamed rice, which is sold in every store; in this case, you just need to rinse it thoroughly until the water is clear. It is not necessary to soak it.

4. Cut the onion into thin half rings, the carrots into thin strips, 3 cm thick and 5 - 6 cm long.

5. Sort through the raisins and barberries, removing their sticks. And we start cooking.

6. Place the cauldron on the fire and warm it up thoroughly. Add the tail fat and evaporate it until there are cracklings, then remove them with a slotted spoon.

If you use oil, pour it in and heat thoroughly.

7. Fry the meat in oil; after frying, you should get a golden brown crust. Add half the cumin and 1/3 of the onion and continue to fry, stirring occasionally with a slotted spoon. Fry both meat and onion over high heat until the onion is also browned.

8. Place carrots on top of the onions, level them over the entire surface, but do not mix. Then the peas, from which all the water had previously been drained and rinsed in clean water. We also don’t mix it.

9. Then turn a layer of raisins, which, in turn, are evenly sprinkled with barberries. Add garlic.

10. Fill the contents with cold water, pouring it through the holes in the slotted spoon so that the layers do not mix. You need so much water that it only half covers the layer with peas. Add salt to taste.

Let the water boil. Then reduce the heat to low. Leave to simmer for 40 - 50 minutes. During this time, the meat and peas will be almost ready, and all the components will steam well and release all their flavor into the zirvak.

11. Add a little hot water, let it simmer for 5 minutes and carefully remove the meat. We try not to greatly disturb the layers.

12. Increase heat to maximum and spread rice in an even layer. Add salt.

Sprinkle some cumin. Add water as needed; it should cover the rice by 1 cm. Remember that it must be added through the holes in the slotted spoon.

13. Bring to a boil. Make sure that it is uniform over the entire surface. If the boiling is uneven, the rice will cook as well. Cook until all the water has evaporated. By this time, the rice should be 85 - 90% ready.

If this is the case, then put the meat back into the cauldron, while lightly pressing it into the rice.

14. Mix the remaining onion with the remaining cumin and place on top. Then cover tightly with a lid, you can cover the top with a towel to be sure so that no steam escapes, and leave to simmer over very low heat for 20-25 minutes.

15. Open the lid. Carefully remove the top layer of onion into a separate bowl. Place the meat on a cutting board and cut it into pieces or slices, as you prefer.

16. Place pilaf in the form of a mound on a large dish. First, you can carefully mix it in a cauldron, or you can put rice first, and only then peas with raisins and carrots on top.

Carefully place pieces of meat on top. Sprinkle generously with pomegranate seeds.

17. Serve the onions in a separate bowl as an appetizer. Also serve fresh vegetables, herbs and green onions.

18. Eat with pleasure!

This is such an interesting and delicious recipe!

And here is another recipe for holiday pilaf, which is prepared in a completely different way.

In addition to the recipes offered today, there are many more recipes that are simply impossible to offer all in one article! For example, pilaf can be prepared with cabbage rolls made from grape leaves.

To do this, they are first prepared, then placed on a thick culinary thread in the form of a necklace.

Pilaf is prepared according to the same scheme as, for example, Fergana, classic. Only after preparing the zirvak, first lay out a necklace of grape leaves and cook them until ready for about 40 minutes. Then take out and add rice. When it is 80% ready, add the cabbage rolls again and simmer with the lid closed for another 10-15 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let it simmer for another 10 - 15 minutes.

Using the same scheme, you can prepare a dish with small bell peppers. It also turns out quite tasty.

There are also options and variations depending on the area where it is prepared. For example, Bukhara pilaf, which is prepared with raisins, or Kokand, or Khorezm, which takes a whole day to prepare. Well, or the above-mentioned Samarkand and Fergana options.

In general, if you understand what is being done during the cooking process, you can prepare any pilaf. And now I will try to give the basic provisions for all types and varieties.

You should always approach the preparation of this dish only with a good and positive attitude
cooking does not tolerate fuss and haste
All ingredients should be prepared in advance - cut vegetables, wash and prepare rice, put spices on hand, boil water. It is not advisable to be distracted by these things while cooking. Requires maximum concentration on the cooking process itself
For cooking, it is advisable to have a cauldron, or a thick-walled dish with high walls. Only in such a container will the heat be distributed evenly and the dish will turn out as it should. In ordinary dishes, for example, rice will cook faster near the walls and remain raw inside. It will be difficult to move and cook it; by then the rice at the sides will be boiled.
The meat used is mainly lamb or beef. Also prepared from chicken. Well, we also cook with pork.
If you have the opportunity to stock up on fat tail fat, then do it, you won’t regret it. It makes any pilaf twice as tasty. Plus it's also healthier.

In order for the meat to be tasty, it must be fried over high heat so that it quickly “seals” and becomes covered with a golden brown crust. For this reason, the meat is not pre-salted; this will not allow you to get a quick crust, the juice will leak out and the meat will not be tasty.
The onion must be cut into half rings very thinly. The onion gives juice and taste; during cooking it becomes pureed and is completely invisible in the pilaf. Do not cut onions into cubes for cooking.
Carrots cannot be grated, cut into cubes or thick slices. Although the word “cannot” is probably not entirely correct, it is possible, but this is not how they cut it for pilaf. Carrots should be cut into strips 5–7 cm long and no more than 0.5 cm thick.
To prepare a delicious and authentic Uzbek dish, you must have cumin, or it is also called cumin. Without it, pilaf cannot be prepared.
Coriander can also be used as a spice; these are ground cilantro seeds. The dish is also very tasty with the addition of barberry.

rice for pilaf should be long-grain, it’s good if it says steamed on the package. This rice does not stick together and turns out crumbly. The grains should not be chipped; when bitten, they should not break easily.

It is better not to use round-grain varieties. They contain a lot of gluten and are good for boiled porridges, but not for pilaf.
When cooking rice, do not stir it, otherwise it will turn out to be porridge.
the best type of rice for cooking pilaf is devzira. It is not sold in stores; it can only be bought in markets in Uzbekistan. And then, you can easily be deceived. Before buying it, read on the Internet how to choose it correctly.
Each type of rice requires a certain amount of water when cooked. This can only be determined experimentally.

What to do if all the water has boiled away and the rice is not ready yet?

- add a little hot water, and if holes have already been made in the pot, then you can add water directly into them so that the rice steams evenly.

What to do if the rice is already cooked, but there is still a lot of water left?

- open the lid and turn up the heat. Using a slotted spoon, you can slightly move the rice away from the wall so that the hot walls help the water evaporate faster.

In this case, you need to be careful so that nothing burns at the bottom.

boiling while cooking rice should be uniform over the entire surface of the cauldron, otherwise it will cook unevenly
After the pilaf is completely ready, open the lid so that the condensation that has accumulated on it does not fall back into the cauldron. There is no need for excess water in rice.
Do not serve the dish with mayonnaise and ketchup. Also, do not serve it with salads with mayonnaise.

Cooking pilaf is akin to art. Therefore, in order to create a real culinary masterpiece, you need to study. And you can only learn by preparing it, gradually honing your skills each time. Then you will begin to notice all the nuances and comprehend all the subtleties.

That seems to be all. The article turned out to be great and I hope it is useful for you. Write in the comments if you found it useful? Have you learned anything new in preparing this delicious Uzbek dish? And also write if everything worked out if you prepared it according to one of the recipes. If something didn’t work out, don’t despair, write, describe what didn’t work out and I will help you. Next time it will definitely work!

And also share with your friends. I will be grateful for the likes you give.

Well, I'll leave it at that. All the best to you, and bon appetit to those who cooked pilaf today!

Do you want to cook the kind of pilaf that always turns out? Then follow this recipe and the pilaf will be simply delicious! This recipe will allow you to learn how to cook pilaf so that the rice remains crumbly, the pilaf does not burn and does not turn into porridge. At the same time, very little active time is spent when you have to be in the kitchen and cook. Pilaf, after some preparation, prepares itself, and you just wait and relax.

If you don’t know how to cook it yet, you will definitely learn. Of course, there are a huge variety of pilaf recipes, and everyone will tell you that the correct one is the one they know. Yes, everyone is essentially right. Some people cook this way, some others differently. I propose a certain averaged basic recipe for pilaf, which is most suitable for the majority of people who cook on a gas or electric stove. I understand that pilaf on an open fire, with raisins, barberries, peas and fat tail fat, may seem more authentic to some.

Yes, it’s possible, but where can you get a huge wok, an open fire, lamb and barberries to cook pilaf for dinner? I think that this is not available to everyone. At home we usually cook regular pilaf, although it’s kind of sad to call it regular. After I learned how to cook it, it is now a very tasty and wonderful pilaf. Try to cook it too, I’m sure everything will work out!

Products for cooking pilaf

Rice – 2 cups;
Meat – 400 grams;
Onions – 2-4 pcs.;
Carrots – 2-4 pcs.;
Bay leaf – 3 pcs.;
Garlic – 3 cloves;
Sweet peas – 3 pcs.;
Zira – 1/2 teaspoon;
Salt - to taste;
Vegetable oil - for frying;
Ground black pepper;
Drinking water – approximately 5 glasses.

Pilaf recipe

First we need a piece of meat. In this case, I had access to pork, but pilaf is very tasty from beef or lamb. The meat must be thoroughly washed and films removed if necessary.

Now cut the meat into small cubes. I like it when the meat in pilaf is cut quite finely, but sometimes you want larger pieces. Basically, cut it however you like.

Place the meat in a preheated pilaf cauldron with vegetable oil. Vegetable oil can be replaced with lard or fat that is available to you.

Stir the meat in a cauldron and quickly fry it over high heat until crusty. It is not at all necessary to simmer it and wait for it to cook inside - now all we care about is the golden brown crust.

Peel the onions, wash them well and cut into large half rings. When the meat is fried, place the onion in the cauldron with the meat, reduce the heat slightly to medium. Then mix everything well and fry the onions until light golden brown.

Peel the carrots, wash and cut into small cubes. If someone thinks that carrots for pilaf should be cut into strips - please! I just prefer small cubes. They spread throughout the pilaf and it seems to me that this makes the pilaf taste better. Add carrots to the cauldron with meat and onions and simmer briefly over medium heat.

Salt everything well, add spices: bay leaf, pepper and cumin. If any of you uses other spices for pilaf, use them. For example, I don’t always put cumin - it has some special oriental aroma. It makes pilaf seem richer to me, but I don’t always want that. Apparently it depends on everyone's eating habits and taste preferences.

After adding salt and spices, stir and pour in a glass of drinking water. Bring it all to a boil and reduce heat. You have got a zirvak - this is the name of the base for pilaf. Some call the base for zebra pilaf, etc. - these are already local variants and dialects.

Boil the zirvak for a short time, about 5 minutes, over low heat with the lid of the cauldron slightly open, then carefully (while it’s hot) try a little of the broth - it should be slightly salted. This saltiness should be enough for the rice and water added afterwards.

Then rinse the rice thoroughly. Ideally, you should wash all the flour out of it and the water should become clear during the washing process. Now carefully place the rice in the cauldron on the zirvak, carefully distributing it over the entire surface, but do not mix! Take a slotted spoon or a plate and pour drinking water onto the rice at the rate of 4 cups of water per 2 cups of rice. Less rice means less water. Water in the zirvak is not taken into account. Be sure to pour in the water carefully so as not to mix the rice with the meat. Rice should lie in one top layer on the zirvak.

Close the cauldron with a lid and bring to a boil over maximum heat.

Traditional cooking of pilaf is a whole ritual in which there is no place for haste. But a fire, a cauldron, a long-simmering zirvak - such luxury is available only on holidays, on special occasions.

And the daily realities of life force us to come up with less time-consuming options for preparing pilaf. So how to make delicious pilaf in a hurry? Feelgood opens the curtain on the world of fast cooking.

Method one: separate pilaf

Traditional pilaf involves cooking meat, rice and zirvak in one vessel. But if you cook the main ingredients separately, you can save a lot of time! While the rice is cooking on one burner, you can fry meat and vegetables on the next one. The already prepared rice must be thrown into a colander, allowed to drain and added to the container where the almost finished meat and vegetables are simmering. Mix the ingredients thoroughly, keep on medium heat for another 5 minutes and the dish is ready. You can safely serve it!

Cooking time for separate pilaf is 25 minutes. And this is the fastest recipe from FeelGood's arsenal.

Method two: with poultry

Everyone knows that cooking chicken or turkey takes much less time than tougher lamb or beef. Someone will say, what kind of pilaf with poultry is this? But FeelGood would like to remind its readers: the main ingredient in pilaf is rice, not meat. And if you choose the right variety, then it doesn’t matter what ingredients you supplement it with.

So, it’s better to cook pilaf with poultry from traditional Devzira pilaf rice. Why is it necessary to use Devzira rice for pilaf:

It perfectly absorbs fat, water and spices;

Always crumbly and velvety after cooking;

Increases several times after cooking;

Thanks to the creamy brown powder it has a unique taste and malt aroma.

You will need 0.5 kg of devzir rice and the same amount of chicken (or turkey) fillet. While the rice is soaked, start frying the meat pieces with traditional vegetables and spices. Then drain the rice, rinse thoroughly and add it to the container with zirvak. Fill with water so that it rises 1 cm above the level of the rice. Cook until the liquid has evaporated.

Cooking time for pilaf with poultry meat is 40 minutes.

Method three: lazy pilaf

Another way to save time on cooking pilaf is to use minced meat instead of meat. Please note that FeelGood does not offer any compromises when choosing and preparing rice. Since such experiments can result in the preparation of sticky, undercooked porridge. In order for pilaf to remain pilaf - a crumbly, aromatic oriental dish, it is important to follow all the rules for choosing and preparing rice. But you can experiment with meat.

Let's return to the recipe for pilaf with minced meat.

Soak the rice in water for half an hour. During this time, we sauté onions and grated carrots in sunflower oil. Add a spoonful of tomato paste, 100 grams of water and simmer everything together for a little while.

Wash Devzira rice from TM “Zhmenka” thoroughly several times until the water is clear, then drain it. Mix rice with stewed vegetables.

Then, in a thick-walled saucepan or casserole dish, place layers of rice - minced meat, rice - minced meat. Pour boiling water in a ratio of 1:1. We put it on the fire and, when it boils, add a few cloves of chopped garlic, salt, pepper and spices that you like. Now you can stir everything and reduce the heat. Cover with a lid and cook until done. After turning off the heat, let the pilaf stand covered for a while. All remaining moisture will be completely absorbed into the rice. So the lazy pilaf is ready! Just as crumbly as real pilaf with meat. Bon appetit!

Housewives often wonder, look for recipes on how to cook pilaf at home, experiment, practice so that it is tasty, crumbly, and takes little time to cook. In our age of diversity and availability of food products and household appliances, you can prepare pilaf from the cuisine of any nationality or invent your own signature recipe for this dish.

How to cook pilaf correctly

To prepare delicious pilaf, you need to choose the right type of rice, meat, and dishes. For example, Asian chefs claim that the best pilaf is the one made from lamb, with fat tail fat, over an open fire, in a cast iron cauldron, and should be cooked exclusively by a man. However, this does not mean that you cannot make delicious pilaf from other ingredients at home. Today there are many recipes that prove this.

What is needed for pilaf

Classic real pilaf is made from lamb. Brisket, ribs, shoulder, or back of lamb are often used. However, other types of meat can be used as a meat component: pork, beef and even poultry, as is done in the East and Central Asia. This is a food with high nutritional value, so the type of meat directly affects the overall calorie content.

Uzbek pilaf, according to the classic recipe, is prepared with animal fat, for example, melted lamb fat, and rarely with unrefined vegetable oils. The strong 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.

The key to the recipe is the spices. This is a kind of creative process, the combination of spices and herbs completely determines the flavor. However, there is a basic set, which consists of barberry, hot pepper in a pod or ground. To make the dish aromatic, cumin, suneli hops, garlic, thyme, and coriander are often added. Saffron is sometimes added to these spices, which gives it a characteristic golden color.

In addition to meat and cereals, the composition includes vegetables and 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 add onions and a whole head of garlic, previously peeled. The addition of dried fruits enhances the taste; in some recipes you can find dried apricots, prunes, raisins, and figs. They are added after frying meat and vegetables. Cereals should be mentioned separately.

How to cook crumbly pilaf

To make the pilaf 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, oshpar, devzira, kenja. You can also use Arabic, Italian and Mexican rice to make paella. All these varieties are hard and practically do not lose their shape during prolonged heat treatment.

Other varieties are softer and may stick together when cooked. If you decide to use one of the soft varieties of rice, then you need to remove as much starch from it as possible, this will make the pilaf crumbly. To do this, you need to rinse it, soak it in cold water, periodically changing the water. To diversify the taste, instead of rice you can use pearl barley, wheat, corn and even peas.

Utensils for preparing pilaf

It is impossible to make the right pilaf in the “wrong” container. Traditionally it is prepared in a cast iron pot or aluminum cauldron with a thick bottom. 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 simmers slowly and cooks evenly, unlike enamel products, French fryers, and woks.

Pilaf recipes

The ideal pilaf recipe will depend on the taste preferences of each person or family in general. At first, you can safely experiment with types of meat, vegetables, dried fruits, spices, herbs, and cooking utensils. Cookbooks with detailed descriptions of recipes and photographs, as well as corresponding websites, 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.
Number of servings: 10 persons.
Calorie content of the dish: 210 kcal per 100 g.
Cuisine: Uzbek.

Pilaf is considered a traditional dish of Uzbek cuisine. To create Uzbek or Samarkand pilaf, lamb is used. Eastern people are famous for their hospitality, and table decoration is key. This dish is perfect for a feast. The composition includes a large amount of vegetable oil, so it has 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 and wash the lamb thoroughly.
Peel the onions and carrots. Cut one onion into thin half rings, and carrots into finger-thick slices. Peel the garlic from the top husk without dividing it into cloves.
Heat the cauldron, then pour in the oil. When the oil is hot, place the peeled whole onion in the cauldron and fry it until it turns black, then take it out - you won’t 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.
Add the carrots, fry without stirring for three minutes, then stir everything, cook for another 10 minutes.
Grind the cumin and coriander using 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 in a 2 cm layer of boiling water, add hot pepper, reduce the heat and simmer the zirvak for an hour.
Drain the water from the cereal, place it in an even layer on the zirvak, then pour in boiling water through a slotted spoon so that it covers the rice.
After the water is absorbed, plant garlic heads in the rice and cook until the rice is completely cooked.
Turn off the stove, cover with a flat plate and cover with a lid, let it sit for about 30 minutes.

Azerbaijani pilaf

Cooking time: 1 hour 20 minutes + 2 hours.
Number of 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 are significantly different from preparing Uzbek pilaf. Cereals for this dish are prepared separately from vegetables and spices, in a separate bowl. The base can be very diverse, for example, lamb, poultry, game, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits and even milk. Dried fruits, fruits, and 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 (seedless) – 100 g;
dried prunes – 100 g;
chestnuts – 100 g;
onions – 2 pcs.;
chicken egg – 1 pc.;
turmeric – 1 tsp;
salt - to taste.

Cooking method:

Soak the rice in cool water, add a little salt, and leave for about 2 hours.
Cut the lamb into pieces weighing approximately 50 g. Boil in salted water, skim off the resulting foam during cooking.
Rinse the dried fruits under running water, then pour boiling water for about 10 minutes. Make a cross-shaped cut on each chestnut. Blanch for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and remove the skin under running cool water. Place the peeled chestnuts in fresh water and cook for 7 minutes. over low heat.
Peel the onions and cut into strips.
Heat a frying pan and melt half of the available butter. Add the onion and 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, add boiling water if necessary.
Drain the water from the container with rice, boil in fresh, lightly salted water, do not overcook. Drain in a colander.
In a separate container, mix 5 tbsp. l. boiled long rice with a 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.
Grease a cauldron or thick-bottomed pan with the remaining butter and place the egg-rice mixture on the bottom. Then lay out a layer of rice cereal, soak each layer with melted butter and spices.
Create a small press using a plate, cover with a lid and simmer over low heat.

Tajik

Cooking time: 2 hours.
Number of servings: 6 persons.
Calorie content of the dish: 230 kcal per 100 g.
Purpose: for lunch, for dinner.
Cuisine: Tajik.

The difference between Tajik pilaf lies in its special variety - devzira. This is one of the simple recipes for preparing a spicy dish. Of the spices, only cumin (cumin) is used. Pilav of Tajik cuisine is traditionally prepared from lamb, mainly from the loin of lamb. This 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;
onions – 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 the lamb and cut into arbitrary pieces.
Crack 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 the carrots and fry until done.
Pour half a liter of boiled water into the roast, season well with salt, stick in the garlic and bring to a boil.
Remove the garlic and pour in the pre-strained rice. Spread evenly and make sure the liquid lightly covers it. Simmer over medium heat for 10-15 minutes.
After 10-15 minutes, stick the garlic in again and season with cumin. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer for another 20 minutes. over low heat.

From lamb

Cooking time: 2 hours.
Number of servings: 20 persons.
Calorie content of the dish: 145 kcal per 100 g.
Purpose: for lunch, for dinner.
Cuisine: Caucasian.
Difficulty of preparation: easy.

Simple lamb pilaf without the addition of specific spices, vegetables and dried fruits is quick to prepare, without losing its taste and high nutritional value. Lamb is a fatty meat, so when preparing a dish you need to control the amount of other sources of fat, otherwise one serving can exceed the daily requirement of this nutrient for the average person.

Ingredients:

stewed lamb – 1 kg;
rice – 400 g;
water – 2 l;
carrots – 3 pcs.;
garlic – 2 pcs.;
onions – 3 pcs.;
sunflower oil – 100 ml;
ground red pepper, salt to taste.

Cooking method:

Heat a 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.
Add 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 ground red pepper and push the peeled heads of garlic into the center.
Rinse the grain and distribute evenly on top of the roast.
Fill the dish with hot water until the level is about 1 cm above the grounds.
Cover with a lid and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes.

Chicken

Number of 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 the calorie content and even out the balance of BZHU with the help of the “correct” cereal and chicken meat. An easy chicken pilaf recipe will provide you and your family with a healthy and nutritious dish that can be safely eaten for both lunch and 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:

Crack the cauldron, pour in all the sunflower oil and heat well.
Throw the chicken pieces into the cauldron in portions, fry evenly on all sides, then remove the cooked pieces and add the raw ones.
Fry the onion in the meat oil, then add carrots and chicken to it, fry over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Fill the mixture with hot water so that the level is about 1 cm higher than the grounds, add peeled garlic cloves and ground pepper, boil for 10 minutes.
Add a spoonful of salt and add the washed cereal.
Pour boiling water over the entire mixture 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

Number of servings: 4 persons.
Purpose: for breakfast, for lunch.
Cuisine: Tatar.
Difficulty of preparation: easy.

The recipe for fruit pilaf 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 first half of the day. The dish is prepared 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:

Peel the vegetable. Cut the carrots into cubes or any other convenient way.
Pour vegetable oil into the bottom of the bowl, add chopped carrots and raisins.
Chop prunes, dried apricots and figs, place 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.

From pork

Cooking time: 1.5-2 hours.
Number of 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 cuisine. 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. It is better to eat pilaf with pork 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, ground black 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.
Cut the onion into half rings and place on top of the meat.
You can cut the carrots in any convenient way or grate them on a coarse grater.
Add carrots to the roast and simmer until done.
Pour in the washed grain, fill the mixture with warm water. The level is two fingers above the thicket.
Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
In 10-15 minutes. Before the rice is ready, stick in 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 cook.

How to cook pilaf without meat

Cooking time: 30-60 minutes.
Number of 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 people wonder how you can cook pilaf without meat? Such recipes can be classified as vegetarian dishes; they are prepared during the period of fasting and by people who adhere to a low-calorie diet. Low-fat pilaf can be given to children. Vegetables that are not typical for pilaf are added to the rice grain, for example, tomatoes, sweet peppers, etc., so the prefix “without meat” hides simple rice with vegetables. The time it takes to prepare the pilaf depends on the utensils 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 have significantly reduced in volume, add the cereal and lightly fry.
Fill the mixture with water, add salt, garlic, and a mixture of peppers to taste.
Simmer covered until the cereal is ready.

How to cook pilaf with long grain rice

Cooking time: 60 minutes.
Number of 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. There are special varieties for this, for example, long-grain parboiled rice. The grain is distinguished by its oblong shape and transparency. 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 any 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, and drain in a colander.
Heat a cauldron 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.
Return the chicken to the prepared vegetables, add rice, add water or broth and let the mixture boil.
Reduce heat, cover the cauldron with a lid and simmer until done.