There are few people who do not like pilaf, but not everyone knows how to cook it especially delicious. There is, of course, no single recipe for special pilaf, but using the experience of professionals, you can achieve amazing results in your kitchen.
Pilaf can be surprisingly varied. It can be both sweet and spicy, it all depends on the culinary preferences of the cook. Of course, the classic recipe includes an equal combination of meat, rice and carrots; there may be a little less onion. Meat can be used and pork, and beef, and chicken, and, of course, traditional lamb.
First of all, there must be the correct dishes, that is, a cauldron for cooking pilaf. In the first place among the cauldrons is cast iron, it makes it possible for the pilaf to languish during cooking. The second place is rightfully taken by aluminum, it is much lighter than cast iron. In Azerbaijan and Iran, for example, copper cauldrons are preferred. Modern non-stick coatings will not replace a real cauldron, in which case it is better to choose a rooster or a rooster, their thick walls imitate a cauldron.
We chose the dishes, now the second important step: you need to heat the oil in it, not sparing the volume. For a 5-liter cauldron, you need at least 2 glasses of vegetable oil, you can add fat tail fat and put onion cut into half rings into the hot oil. When the onion is browned, add the carrots and meat. In no case should carrots be grated, but cut into strips, large enough, about 4 cm long and 0.5 cm wide. As soon as the onions, meat and carrots are fried, it's time to add salt, about 2 tablespoons of tablespoons, four garlic heads, whole, only peeled from the husk. It is good to use Uzbek spices - a couple of teaspoons of barberry, one teaspoon of cumin, as well as turmeric or saffron. If you refuse spices, you will get Kazakh pilaf instead of Uzbek. Kazakhs believe that spices kill the real taste of rice with meat.
As soon as the meat acquires sufficient softness, take out the garlic and lay rice, well washed and pre-soaked in salt water. It takes about two hours to soak. Pour rice in a cauldron with water, about two centimeters above the rice level. Do not stir and cover until all the water is absorbed into the rice.
When the liquid is all absorbed, collect the rice in a heap, pierce in several places with a handle from a wooden spatula, put the heads of garlic that you removed earlier on top, and close tightly. It is necessary to simmer pilaf over low heat for about 30 minutes, or a little longer. And after stewing, we mix our pilaf, fish out delicious meat with carrots and onions from the bottom and put on plates, decorating with cilantro on top.
