There are many varieties of pilaf, technologies for its preparation. Only in Uzbekistan there are, for example, about the same number as large cities. But there are two main options for its preparation: classic and folding, which was prepared most often on holidays.
In the classic version, everything is quite simple: the dish is prepared in one cauldron. In this case, onions, carrots and meat are fried over high heat in a large amount of vegetable oil. Then they are stewed with the addition of spices and salt in a small amount of water, to which, after a while, washed rice is added. The technology for making folding pilaf is different, in this case the rice is initially prepared separately and only then mixed with meat.
To prepare folding pilaf, rice is soaked for 6-8 hours in warm, slightly salted water. This is done to remove the gluten from the rice grains, the starch that makes rice stick together when cooked. After soaking, the rice should be rinsed again and boiled in plenty of water. Water is required at the rate of 1 kg of dry rice per 6 liters. When cooking, rice should be put in boiling water, wait until it boils again, reduce the heat to medium and cook for another 6-8 minutes until half cooked. Then drain the water and rinse the rice in cold water to stop the cooking process.
Pilaf meat is also prepared separately. In some cases, it is simply boiled with onions and carrots, cut into large pieces, in a small amount of water with the addition of salt and spices. In some, only meat is boiled first, and then it is added to fried onions and carrots and also fried a little with spices and salt until golden brown. Water is not added to meat prepared for folding pilaf.
When semi-finished products - boiled rice and meat - are ready, folding pilaf is collected in one cauldron. A couple of tablespoons of ghee is placed on the bottom of it and lined with a piece of thin pita bread. Instead of lavash, you can make kazmakh - a thin flat cake made of raw dough mixed with an egg in water or kefir. You also need to put ghee on top of it. Then a layer of boiled rice is laid out, meat is placed on top of it and again covered with rice. Top rice is poured with Indian saffron infusion and ghee. It will take a lot of it for 1 kg of rice - about 400 g.
After that, the cauldron is placed on fire and simmered rice over low heat under a tightly closed lid for another 1.5 hours. So that the moisture evaporating from the rice does not drain back into the cauldron, the lid is placed on a towel that lies on top of the cauldron. It will at the same time perform the function of a seal.
After the pilaf is ready, it is laid out on a large dish and served with a salad of fresh tomatoes or a salad made from sliced half rings and scalded onions with the addition of pomegranate seeds and herbs.
