Many Asian cuisines use meat, mainly lamb, goat or chicken, for cooking. Cereals also take a significant place, most often rice is consumed. The combination of these two components is the basis of pilaf. Tajiks prepare this dish with a lot of animal fat, spices and vegetables.
Tajik pilaf
To prepare this aromatic and truly extraordinary pilaf, you will need:
- 800 grams of lamb;
- 2 cups of rice;
- ¾ glass of melted fat;
- 5 carrot roots;
- 6 onions;
- ½ glass of raisins;
- 1 teaspoon of dried barberry;
- 1 bunch of dill;
- 1/2 glass of water;
- ground black pepper;
- salt.
First you need to peel the onions, then rinse and chop finely. Carrots should be peeled, washed well and cut into thin strips. The meat of a young lamb must be separated from the bones, cut off all films and cut into medium pieces, then hold a little in a bowl of water to remove blood.
Pour the required amount of water into the pilaf cauldron, put chopped onions, half carrots and pieces of lamb. Put everything on low heat and cook for about forty minutes.
Dry fruits of barberry must be ground in a mortar to powder and then add 1 teaspoon of the resulting mass to the broth. Kishmish should be thoroughly sorted out and washed, put the berries in a saucepan with the rest of the products. There you need to add the remaining chopped carrots, season everything with salt, pepper, and then add the rice, previously sorted and washed. Smooth the food in a cauldron, bring everything to a boil, then cover the cauldron tightly with a lid and cook pilaf until cooked.
Before the very end of cooking, you should make hollows with a spoon to the very bottom of the cauldron, then pour melted fat into them, close the cauldron again and now simmer the pilaf to the end. The finished dish must be loosened a little so that the rice crumbles better. First put rice in the plates, and then pieces of lamb, you can sprinkle the dish with chopped herbs.
Chicken pilaf
To cook chicken pilaf, you need the following products:
- 2 cups of rice;
- 1 glass of melted fat;
- 6 onions;
- 1 chicken (2 chickens are possible);
- 5 carrots;
- 4 glasses of broth;
- dill greens;
- black pepper;
- salt.
The prepared chicken carcass must be divided into 4 parts (chickens can be into two halves). Heat the fat in a cauldron, put the chicken in it and fry with chopped onions and carrots, frying time - 5-8 minutes. Toasted meat and fried vegetables must be poured with broth, if desired, you can replace the broth with boiling water, add salt and pepper, simmer over moderate heat for 30-40 minutes.
Thoroughly washed rice should be put in a pilaf cauldron, level the surface of the dish, bring to a boil and reduce heat. Then you need to cover the cauldron with a lid and do not stir, in this form, bring the pilaf with chicken to readiness. Loosen the finished dish with a chef's fork for greater crumbling.
