Rice is the main component of the national dishes of the countries of Asia and the Caucasus and a favorite side dish in many other countries. You can also say that rice is a crop that goes well with different diets, for example, it is included in the diet of people who adhere to "separate meals". This is one of the foods that can be combined with meat, fish and poultry.
Rice recipes
Rice is available in long-grain, medium-grain and round-grain varieties. Its taste depends on the variety and method of preparation. But in any case, it is recommended to soak the rice for several hours in cold water. You can soak it several times just before cooking, draining the water so that the muddy all comes off. Cooks also advise frying the rice before cooking. This is done to make it crumbly and tasty.
The most famous rice dish is pilaf. There are many varieties of pilaf. Each nation has accumulated several recipes for preparing this delicious dish.
If rice is used as a side dish for meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, it will be delicious if you observe the proportion: you need to take twice as much water for 1 glass of rice. First, cook the rice to a boil over high heat, as it comes to a boil, reduce heat to low, season with salt and add butter.
For lovers of long-grain rice, we recommend Thai "Jasmine" and Indian "Basmati" rice, which are sold in chain stores. These rice varieties are suitable for preparing Thai dishes with vegetables and seafood, as well as for Uzbek or Caucasian pilaf.
In Azerbaijan, pilaf is also cooked on an ordinary day, but it is obligatory for solemn occasions, whether it be a national holiday, a wedding or a birthday. The main thing in the dish is rice, it is served with lamb with onions, chestnuts, raisins, dried apricot. All this is stewed in ghee, then cinnamon is added there. Rice, when boiled, is not cooked to the end, thrown into a large colander with small holes.
On the bottom of the cauldron, put what will later be the "crust". It is made either from flour, water and eggs, or a handful of boiled rice is mixed with egg and yogurt. Then they put rice and butter in layers, and on a small fire, while the lid of the cauldron is covered with a natural fiber towel so that the steam is absorbed into it. When serving, pilaf is poured with heated oil with saffron dissolved in it.
Uzbek pilaf recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of lamb;
- 50 - 60 g of fat tail fat;
- sunflower oil;
- 1 kg of carrots;
- 300 - 400 g of onions;
- 5 heads of garlic;
- cumin;
- coriander grains.
Peel, wash and cut the carrots with chopsticks in a section of 4 x 4 mm. Cut the onion into circles 2-2.5 mm thick. Leave 4 heads of garlic intact, remove only the top and the shell, peel 1 completely and divide into cloves.
Pour sunflower oil into a saucepan so that it covers the bottom with a layer of 1 cm and heat on very high heat until a piece of onion thrown into the oil turns black and smokes. Then toss in 4 cloves of garlic, hold for 3 minutes, fry and discard.
Then start the fat tail and fry until the cracklings, which are then pulled out, put the meat, previously washed and divided into portioned pieces, and fry it quickly until half cooked. When the water from the meat has evaporated, throw the onion, salt (take half of the salt) and fry.
When the onions are fried, put the carrots and salt a little again, bring to readiness, add the cumin together with the coriander grains (take the spices to taste). Then put the rice and cover with cold water so that a 1 cm layer of water is on top of the rice. After 5 minutes, put 4 heads of garlic in the rice so that the tails stick out. Cook the rice for 20 minutes under the lid. Remove the lid after 15 minutes if all the water has not evaporated.
