Real Uzbek pilaf(Fergana) is very tasty dish which will leave few indifferent. However, the skill of its preparation borders on high art. This article tells how to cook pilaf in Uzbek correctly.

Ingredients

When adding water a second time, save on the amount used because you don't have to overcook the rice. What makes the taste so delicious is the lamb fat. The lamb is fried as vegetable oil, and in the fat that comes out of the meat. Try again and you'll be fine. This recipe has one extra ingredient, which is green, but trust me, that makes the dish amazing. There is an old Uzbek proverb: “If you are rich, eat plov; If you are poor, eat plov.”

Throughout Central Asia, this deceptively simple dish, based on lamb, rice, onions and carrots boiled in broth, accompanies every significant event in the life cycle. Later Azerbaijan also raised the prospects for recognition. And while Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have made no official announcements, the locals are also dedicated holiday dish.

The most ideal proportion, in which an excellent Uzbek pilaf is obtained: meat, rice and carrots - one to one. For cooking you will need the following products:

  • Meat (preferably lamb) - 1kg. Most of the pulp and a few ribs.
  • Rice (preferably dev-zira or basmati) - 1 kg.
  • Carrots - 1 kg.
  • Bulbs (medium) - 3-4 pcs.
  • Hot peppers - 1-2 pcs. (if not available, red pepper can be substituted).
  • Vegetable oil 250-300 g (refined). You can use tail fat.
  • Seasonings: barberry (you can do without) and zira (better black Uzbek).
  • Garlic - 2-3 heads.

IMPORTANT!

"No one wants to give themselves the right to be considered the birthplace of plov," said Sergei Rybakov, head of the International Parliamentary Commission on Science, Education and Culture of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Food sources note that versions of plov spread throughout Asia.

Turkish pilaf, Persian Polish and Indian pilaf - and even spanish paella- all associated with versions including dried fruits, paprika, garlic, tomatoes, beans and spices. Now residing in Germany, Derkembaev still works at the Bishkek Culinary School for Chefs and Hobbyists. There, he said, different ethnic groups happily came together to prepare plov, which he called a "cross-cultural dish" capable of bringing people from different backgrounds together.

In no case should you use prefabricated (factory) seasonings for pilaf from the store! They are not suitable for this dish. The main spice here is zira.

Training

Before you properly cook Uzbek pilaf, you need to pay attention to the cauldron. It should be perfectly clean and free of carbon deposits. The meat is cut into cubes with a side of about 3 cm (except for the ribs). It cannot be washed. It is better to wipe with a dry towel if something is horrible. Carrots are cut into strips about 1 cm wide (without any combines and graters). The onion is cut into half rings or rings. Rice is washed several times to clear water, salted and soaked again. To cook Uzbek pilaf, you will need a slotted spoon with a rigid handle.

Tashkent entrepreneur Gulnara Kadyrova also takes her very seriously. “Theoretically, one should practice the art of swimming for 15 years,” Kadyrova said. "People dedicate their lives to it." Kadyrova herself conducted several courses to help her master the dish.

“Pilaf is fried, boiled and steamed for two and a half hours,” she explained. In addition, you need to know how to choose rice and carrots. The first carrots of the season behave in one direction; later ones are different. Then there are many regional variations.


Zirvak

The cauldron needs to be heated as much as possible, and then pour refined oil into it. When it is well heated, you should throw a small onion into the container, fry it until dark brown, and then remove it. It will draw out everything negative from the oil and remove unnecessary odors. Then you can melt the fat tail fat (the roasts are removed from the cauldron). Then, at maximum heat (it is like this at almost all stages of cooking), the ribs are fried for 5-7 minutes and also removed. Next, the onion is fried until golden brown (the color of the pilaf depends on it) - it must give up most of the moisture. Then the meat is fried. The main thing is that it is fried at maximum heat, and not stewed. When the meat becomes rosy, carrots are laid and fried for about 15 minutes (you need to constantly stir). When the smell of pilaf comes out, it is ready. Next, you need to throw barberry and cumin into the cauldron (grind in the palms), pour boiling water over everything (to cover), throw pepper, whole heads of garlic (with peel), ribs and salt (it should taste slightly salty). This mixture is called zirvak. The fire is reduced, and the cauldron is left for 40 minutes.

Uzbek plov is characterized by cooking all the ingredients together in a traditional Kazan pot using cottonseed oil or sheep fat, except for Samarkand, where the components are prepared in separate layers. Customs and traditions surround the signature given at weddings, funerals and birthdays. Even business meetings in Central Asia are often held over a bowl of tea and a dish of plov.

In some regions of Tajikistan, people sing special songs and dedicate a dance to the pvod, which is especially appreciated when it has golden crust called a zerab. The atmosphere in which the dish is created is also vital. In Uzbekistan, a prayer is read before cooking plov to wish health to the household and their guests.


Final stage

After the expiration of the fire, the fire is added to the maximum, and then the rice is carefully laid out and leveled (drain the water). This is the most important point. Next, you need to carefully pour boiling water over everything so that the liquid covers the rice for about a finger and a half (the main thing is not to overdo it). The water will boil quickly, and the oil will be at the top. Very soon the moment will come when the liquid boils away. Rice then should no longer crunch on the teeth. You can add a few tablespoons of water if needed. Before covering with a lid, you can sprinkle Uzbek pilaf with raisins (for an amateur). Next, the cauldron closes tightly. Inside, under the lid, you can put another large dish for tightness. The fire is reduced to the "absolute minimum". After 20 minutes, Uzbek pilaf can be served.

It is very important what type of mood prepared pilaf. No kind of conflicts are allowed in the premises while the pilaf is being prepared, she stressed. It can also serve as a tool for communal or male communication, she continued. While women prepare pilaf for family events, it is the male prerogative to cook pilaf for big holidays, where more than 100 kilograms of pilaf can be cooked in a giant cauldron.

Indeed, Pilaf championships are regularly held in Uzbekistan, where they are treated as a visual sport. Once the time is set, they each prepare their way. General principle swimming is the same, but everyone has few secrets. Such championships are also popular only across the border in Tajikistan.

The most important and favorite dish Uzbek cuisine- pilaf. In the cities of Samarkand, Dushanbe, Khiva, Bukhara, pilaf is prepared according to its own unique recipe.

Many people cook pilaf at home, but not many people know how to make pilaf turn out to be pilaf, i.e. many people want rice to be crumbly, but in the end it turns out rice porrige with meat and vegetables...

But those who claim plov as their own are often suspicious of other countries' ability to prepare the dish. “In Uzbekistan, it is customary to think that people of a different ethnic group will not be able to prepare the right path,” Kadyrova said. Tajiks say they feel less bound by tradition.

In Tajikistan, chefs began to experiment with spices and added pomegranate, quince and lemon. This is done in order to distinguish the cook or canteen from others. But he added: “I believe that among ordinary people there is a consensus in Tajikistan that plov is both a Tajik and an Uzbek dish.”

And the secret is simple, you must definitely make a slide of rice after most of the water has boiled away. Turn down the fire. And with the help of a knife, make holes in the center and around the rice hill.

For pilaf, rice is needed not long-grain, but ordinary Krasnodar rice.

Authentic Uzbek plov

Ingredients for Uzbek pilaf:

  • 1 kg. lamb (I know not everyone tolerates lamb, so you can replace it with other meat, but the recipe for real pilaf is with lamb),
  • 150-200 g of sesame oil (I understand that this oil is expensive in Russia, and it is not sold everywhere, so it can be replaced with vegetable oil, but it tastes better with sesame),
  • 1 kg. Krasnodar white rice (not pressure cookers),
  • 4-5 pcs. medium carrot,
  • 4-5 pcs. medium bulbs of onion,
  • 20 g dried barberry,
  • 3-5 teaspoons of spices for pilaf (turmeric, zera, pepper, paprika, etc.)
  • garlic 4 heads.


How to cook a real Uzbek pilaf:

  1. To prepare a real Uzbek pilaf, it is necessary to cook it in a cast-iron cauldron.
  2. We cut the lamb into large pieces, lower it into a cast-iron cauldron with a red-hot sesame oil, the fire is big.
  3. Fry until golden brown.
  4. After we throw onion, cut into half rings and also fry.
  5. Next in line, carrots, chopped into large strips, are also fried.
  6. Here you can add 1 tablespoon of spices.
  7. Now add the dried barberry, stirring briefly, fry everything.
  8. Add to taste: salt, pepper, spices. We fall asleep rice, and add water to cover the rice by 1-1.5 cm (do not interfere!).
  9. We drown 4 whole heads of garlic in rice, previously peeled of excess scales (do not completely peel!) And washed under running water, cook over high heat until the water boils away.
  10. Next, we make a rice hill, in which we make holes on all sides with a knife. We reduce the fire and cover with a lid and so let the pilaf simmer for another 10-15 minutes. After the specified time, remove the cauldron from the fire, inhale the aroma by opening the lid of the cauldron, mix the contents and serve.

Many are interested in the question How much pilaf is being prepared?”, I answer 1-1.5 hours, along with frying meat, vegetables and cooking rice. If by this question you mean " How much to cook rice in pilaf“Then 40 minutes.

However, there can be only one winner for Kadyrov. “Unlike others, Uzbek plov is filled with great flavor and smell,” she said. According to Kadyrov, the secret ingredient is especially delicious carrot Uzbekistan. Vasilina Atoyants-Larina is a reporter based in Almaty.

Variations of Uzbek pilaf

The first feature You should not drink vodka after plov. You can drink it earlier, but under no circumstances. Only green tea and such is the tradition; A very sensible tradition, mind you, for only very healthy man can drink 40% alcoholic drink after a hard swim. In Central Asia, if not every person, then every second can cook pilaf, a little better, and even worse. But when you need to feed a whole crowd of guests, for example, at a wedding, you better call the oshpaz. The work of this master will cost a fortune, and he, in fact, does not prepare himself, but coordinates with his assistants.

If you do everything according to the recipe, then you will get a delicious crumbly pilaf.

Pilaf is served with achchik-chuchuk salad. These are thinly sliced ​​large pink tomatoes, onions, bell pepper and hot peppers for spiciness. You can green radish, thinly chopped and poured with oil.