How to cook tasty and crumbly pilaf. Crumbled pork pilaf three recipes on the stove, in a slow cooker and in a cauldron over an open fire

What ingredient plays a leading role in pilaf?

If anyone thinks that it is meat, then this is a delusion.

There are pilaf recipes (and there are many of them!) that do not include meat.

In some cuisines of the world, there are quite traditional recipes for pilaf with fish, vegetables or fruits.

In addition to spices, there is one more component for any type of pilaf - rice.

True, this type of cereal is often found in recipes in combination with other cereals and even legumes, but, nevertheless, it is rice that is considered to be the main ingredient of pilaf in world cooking.

Rice is one of the oldest and main grain crops on the planet, so it is not surprising that its varietal diversity has reached its peak, including with the participation of breeders. It follows that by growing rice for thousands of years and constantly improving its quality characteristics, humanity sought to achieve certain specific properties that would correspond to the same specific criteria for its culinary processing.

Particular attention is paid to rice cultivation in Asian countries, where climatic conditions are more consistent with this. We will not list the countries that grow them and the varieties of rice, since the lists will be very long and it will be difficult to remember all the information at once. If desired, all known names of rice varieties and their main characteristics can be found on the World Wide Web. It is important to understand and remember that the friability of pilaf, as well as its taste, depend on the type of rice chosen.

How to prepare crumbly pilaf - basic technological principles

It would also be a mistake to consider that a dish containing rice and one of the listed components (meat, fish, vegetables, fruits) can be called pilaf. But it must be taken into account that the technology for preparing pilaf does not come down to a single method, which is most known and popular in the CIS countries, the recipe for preparing Uzbek pilaf that is remembered by many. By the way, due to its popularity, Uzbek pilaf has also acquired many additional options, both in terms of the cooking technology itself and the ingredients included in its composition. Every cook who has at least once tried to reproduce in his kitchen, somewhere in Ukraine, the Baltic states or Kamchatka, for lack of the right type of meat or set of spices, a variety of rice, and, finally, the “correct” cauldron in which the famous Fergana pilaf in Uzbekistan, made my own amendments to the recipe.

There were recipes for pilaf made from pork and Krasnodar rice, from shrimp and basmanti rice, and many other experimental recipes. This is not to say that these recipes were unsuccessful. Provided that certain technological conditions for preparing pilaf are met, they have every right to exist. It should also be noted that the very concept of “Uzbek pilaf” is very vague, because, like any nationally revered dish, it is prepared in each city and village of Uzbekistan in its own way.

What should pilaf be like? This dish has its own history, which lasts in time on par with the most ancient civilizations of the planet, so it would be wrong to say that only the inhabitants of Fergana or Samarkand, the people of Turkey or India are right.

Each national cuisine has its own cooking features, but all of them are aimed at achieving one result, uniform for all types of pilaf: rice, the main component of the dish, should be crumbly. This is the general and characteristic feature that distinguishes pilaf from rice porridge, with meat or something else.

So, let's summarize. The first condition for preparing crumbly pilaf is the type of rice, its properties, or more precisely, the hardness of the grain and the starch content in it. The second condition is the technology of heat treatment of rice.

To fulfill the first condition, it is necessary, at a minimum, to know the range of rice, its biochemical composition and which pilaf recipe uses one or another type of grain in traditional cuisine. It is extremely difficult to cover this issue in one short article. But, as for fulfilling the second condition, some practical techniques for preparing fluffy rice can be mastered in your home kitchen.

Every housewife has noticed that if you throw a spoonful of starch into cold water, the powder clumps into hard lumps. Exactly it also coagulates the starch contained in rice. This is why rice is soaked before cooking. Under running water, while washing rice, the water becomes cloudy. This is starch, and it sticks the rice together, turning the pilaf into a viscous porridge. After the grain remains in water for a long time, it becomes hard and will no longer become viscous when cooked.

On the Internet you can find expert advice who suggest soaking rice at a temperature of 60ºϹ. What can I say? If you have additional time for laboratory experiments to monitor the maintenance of such a temperature, a thermometer, then you can, in order to gain additional experience, try this method, and at the same time imagine an ancient Persian doing this activity, who had neither the Internet nor a thermometer, but Avicenna’s pilaf recipe, meanwhile, has survived to this day. Of course, how to manage your time is a personal matter for everyone, but it’s still much easier to soak the rice in ordinary, cold water for at least two hours and not sit over it with a thermometer, like over a sick child.

Stewing rice in fat additionally covers the grains with a shell that retains moisture inside: they achieve softening and readiness by steaming the moisture absorbed during soaking under a fatty film, increasing in size, and the same film additionally prevents the rice grains from sticking together.

The word "pilaf" goes back to Sanskrit and its literal meaning is boiled rice. But, in modern language, the technology for preparing pilaf is rather stewing, since the cooking process is generally considered to be heat treatment at the boiling point of water, and all known pilaf recipes indicate slow heat treatment of rice, below 100ºϹ. By the way, at the boiling temperature of water, the starch will begin to separate from the rice grains, which will certainly turn the pilaf into an ordinary porridge.

But nevertheless, there are technologies for preparing pilaf in which the rice is first boiled until half cooked and such techniques cannot be rejected, since they appeared thousands of years ago, long before the recognition of cooking as a science, and they are much older than Uzbek cuisine. Such methods of preparing pilaf are still used today, for example, by modern Indian women who carefully preserve the traditions of one of the most ancient Asian cultures. Separate preparation of the meat and cereal parts of pilaf is also characteristic of Azerbaijani, Turkish, Iranian and Arab cuisine. It seems that pilaf is, after all, boiled rice, as it was originally called.

In order not to waste time and combine the study of theory with a more interesting practical part, we will consider different techniques for preparing crumbly pilaf using examples of traditional recipes from some national cuisines.

1. How to cook crumbly pilaf: “biryani” with chicken or Indian pilaf

A mixture of spices for pilaf can be purchased in specialized stores, as well as ghee. Indian pilaf uses the meat of a whole chicken, but in some provinces of India only chicken breast is eaten. The quantities and ratios of ingredients required are as per the original recipe, but given the Indian passion for spices, make adjustments at your own discretion.

Ingredients:

Chicken 0.5 kg

Basmanti – 500 g

Ghee (clarified butter) 400 g

Onion, chopped 450 g

Tomatoes 0.4 kg

Ginger root 50 g

Natural yoghurt (no sugar) 150 ml

Garlic 40 g

Celery leaves, chopped 70 g

Turmeric 2-3 g

Mint leaves, chopped 50 g

Biryaani Masala (spice mixture for pilaf) 45 g

Cooking method:

Heat the oil in a cast-iron, deep frying pan or in a saucepan, and fry very finely chopped onion in it until golden brown, adding a little salt. Collect the fried onions with a slotted spoon and place them in a separate bowl for a while. Place the prepared chicken meat in a saucepan. Fry one side over high heat, then turn over, lower the heat, and simmer the meat over low heat until it begins to fall off the bone. Cover the saucepan with a lid. If necessary, add a little water for simmering, but at the end of simmering there should be no liquid left in the saucepan.

Remove the bones from the chicken, place the pulp in a saucepan, add chopped tomatoes (without skin), chopped ginger and garlic, spices

Pour at least 3 liters of water into the pan, salt it and cook the washed rice, lowering it directly into cold water until half cooked and, after draining the water, spread it on a wide dish to cool.

In a clean saucepan, place the prepared onions, rice and stewed chicken in layers: half the chicken pulp; half the rice; half of the fried onion; chopped celery; mint. Now repeat the layers, starting with the rest of the meat. Season each layer you lay out with spices.

Place the pan on low heat and heat the biryaani for 10-15 minutes.

2. How to prepare crumbly pilaf: Fergana or Uzbek pilaf

Many dishes of Uzbek cuisine are a shock to modern dietetics. In particular, pilaf is prepared using a large amount of animal fat, which helps produce more fluffy rice, but has a negative effect on digestion. The only way out of this contradiction is a fruit dessert. Moreover, the dessert must include fruits or berries with a high content of vitamin C, which promotes the breakdown of fats: pomegranate, barberry, pineapple, cranberry. A good addition to fatty pilaf would be a salad with plenty of parsley. What vegetable oil should I use? In the homeland of Fergana pilaf, cottonseed oil is used, but even there it is considered far from perfect, so replace it with a more neutral taste or choose a nutty flavor that goes very well with rice.

Ingredients:

Devzira rice, unpeeled (red) 300 g

Carrots, yellow 350 g

Cumin (grains)

Barberry

Dill (seeds)

Coriander (grains)

Sesame, ground

Rayhon (basil)

Garlic 2 whole heads

Fatty lamb 0.5 kg

Vegetable oil 100 ml

Cilantro seeds

Preparation:

Rinse the rice thoroughly using cold running water and soak it in cold water for at least two hours. Cut the onion into large rings, juicy and ripe carrots into small cubes. Cut the lamb with layers of fat into medium-sized cubes. Prepare the garlic in advance by clearing the heads of the upper scales and cutting off the roots so that the white sections of the cloves are visible from below.

If you don’t like the presence of whole spice grains in a dish, then grind them in advance. It is better to add barberry fresh, but due to the difficulty of purchasing, use dried berries.

Start preparing the dishes. Place a thick-walled, preferably cast-iron, saucepan over medium heat and heat it before pouring in the oil, which needs to be heated until it begins to smoke slightly. Throw the onion into this oil and do not stop stirring until the onion turns brown and immediately send the prepared meat into the boiling fat, which must be brought to half-cookedness, add carrot sticks, salt and prepared spices to it, switch the heat so that the pilaf remains in state of languor. Try zirvak - it should be over-salted and spicy in taste, taking into account the further addition of rice and water.

Pour in the prepared rice and cover it with 3-4 cm of boiling water. Make a hole in the rice in the center of the pan to allow steam to escape through the hole. The pilaf cannot be mixed anymore. If everything was done correctly before, it will not burn. Place garlic on top of the rice, distributing the heads evenly over the surface, sprinkle the pilaf with barberries and simmer. Cover the saucepan with a lid and turn off the oven when the water has not completely evaporated. In this state, the pilaf must be kept for at least thirty minutes. When serving, the pilaf is not stirred, but turned over, after removing the heads of garlic and then placing them in the center of the dish.

3. How to cook crumbly pilaf: Arabic pilaf with vegetables

Each dish has its own name, depending on the ingredients and method of preparation: “couscous”, “matlyuba” and this list of transliterated words can be continued by the number of Arab countries and the variety of ingredients. Arabic pilaf differs from Indian pilaf in its smaller range and quantity of spices used.

Arabic pilaf is the general name for an assortment of rice dishes, traditional for Arab countries, where, as in Asian cuisine, there is also pilaf made from lamb, beef, poultry and fish. The cereal part of Arabic pilaf can be rice in combination with other types of cereals, nuts, dried fruits, and vegetables. The technology for preparing pilaf consists of separately preparing rice, which is boiled or fried, and the meat part of the dish, which is also fried, boiled or stewed with vegetables, then combined with rice and other types of cereals when serving the dish.

Ingredients:

Chicken 2.2 kg

Black pepper 10 g

Carrots 400 g

Refined oil (for frying chicken)

Tomatoes 300 g

Tomato sauce (spicy) 50 g

Peas, green (or corn) 350 g

Ghee 180 g

Dried coriander

Garlic 30-40 g

Preparation:

Wash the tarred and gutted carcass and place it in a saucepan to cook, covering it with cold water. Skim off the foam that has risen until the broth is transparent, then add a small onion, roots, and bay leaf. When the chicken is ready, remove the meat from the bone and chop the flesh.

Wet the rice (it is better to do this overnight) Or use steamed rice, soaking it 2 hours before cooking. Wash and cook in salted water. Drain through a colander or sieve and rinse with cold water. Heat oil in a saucepan, pour saffron brewed in a small amount of boiling water into it and add rice. Heat the rice in the oil, stirring well until the rice is evenly colored.

Heat the vegetable oil, add chopped garlic, ground cumin and coriander grains, a cinnamon stick, and pepper into a frying pan. Fry the chicken pieces until golden brown and temporarily transfer to a plate. During frying, add butter before finishing for taste.

Sauté finely chopped onions and carrots in melted butter (50-60 g), also adding salt and spices, pieces of tomatoes, previously blanched and peeled, and spicy tomato sauce. Place fried chicken into the prepared vegetables and simmer until the sauce begins to boil and remove from the stove.

Place ghee (70-80 g) in a clean bowl again and heat it. First boil fresh green peas in the marinade, adding salt, sugar and lemon juice, and fry frozen ones in oil immediately (you can do this without defrosting) until the moisture is removed. If you want to add corn, you can use canned corn, or pieces of fresh, sweet corn, milky ripeness.

Combine the cooked parts of the pilaf, placing them on a dish in layers. Rice - below, peas and corn on top, meat can be served separately or placed on top of the dish.

4. How to prepare crumbly pilaf: “balykly yanakhly-ash” - Turkmen fish pilaf

In Turkmenistan, pilaf is also prepared on weekdays and holidays. Festive pilaf - camel meat, lamb, beef and pheasants or regular chicken - on weekdays. The difference between meat pilaf is the minimum of spices. Actually, other than salt, other flavoring additives are rarely used. In the Caspian regions, pilaf with fish is often prepared. This is a very unusual and tasty combination. Of course, the fish must be chosen correctly: it must be fatty, from the “noble” species, at a minimum - pike perch, catfish, but better - sturgeon species.

Ingredients:

Pike-perch fillet 1 kg

Sesame oil 250 g

Rice (steamed) 0.5 kg

Sour cream 300 g

Carrots 350 g

Pomegranate juice 300 ml

Black pepper (ground and peas)

Fennel seeds

Bay leaf

Parsley root and greens 50 g each

Dill leaves

Preparation:

Cut the prepared fish fillet into large pieces and lower it into boiling water, add a small part of the onion, bay leaf, chopped parsley root and boil until half cooked. We take out the fish and put it in a saucepan, strain the broth. Season the fish with spices, part of the saffron, salt, pour sour cream and simmer until cooked.

Wash the rice and pour boiling water for half an hour. Pour sesame oil into a cast iron pan and heat it. Throw in the chopped onion, fry, add carrots, cut into large strips. When the carrots become soft, pour the fish broth into the bowl, let it boil and throw in the rice, strained and washed in cold water, simmer in moderate mode until tender, seasoning with salt, saffron, the second part of the spices and herbs.

Place the rice in a deep dish, pour over the pomegranate juice and serve the fish in sour cream.

5. How to cook crumbly pilaf: Greek pilaf

The ancient shores of Hellas gave the world many wonderful discoveries, but Greece has never been the birthplace of pilaf. But the ancient Greeks were famous shipbuilders and travelers. Historians and archaeologists are still discovering traces of the most ancient navigators on the planet in the most seemingly unexpected places, given modern technical capabilities.

Rice in Greece is also not a traditional agricultural crop, but Greece knows how to surprise, and Greek pilaf is no exception in this sense. Actually, the technology for preparing rice in Greek cuisine is no different from its preparation in Arab countries. The only noticeable difference is the traditional Greek herbs. Greek cuisine is familiar with the variety of rice varieties, but preference is given to the only variety in the world that grows only at the foot of the Himalayas.

Ingredients:

"Basmanti" 400 g

Carrots 120 g

Dates 70 g

Leek 100 g

Thyme 30 g

Oregano 10 g

Chicken drumstick 900 g

Olive oil 100 ml

Saffron 1 g

Lemons 200 g

Sour cream (or cream) 180 ml

Preparation:

Wash the meat, dry it with a napkin and rub it with salt and pepper. Fry the legs in hot oil until crispy. Separately saute the onion, cut into half rings, and coarsely grated carrots. Add chopped dates, fried drumsticks to the vegetables and pour the broth all together. Season the stew with spices, saffron brewed in boiling water, salt, lemon juice and the fresh zest of two lemons. Place the rice soaked in water into the pan. If necessary, add hot broth so that the rice is completely covered, cover the pan with a lid and simmer until the moisture evaporates and the rice becomes soft. Pour in the cream, sprinkle with chopped herbs, wrap the pan tightly with a thick towel and let stand for a while.

6. How to cook crumbly pilaf: Azerbaijani pilaf - “sebzi govurma” with chestnuts

Ingredients:

Basmanti rice (or long grain, steamed) 500 g

Veal 300 g

Turmeric 10 g

Lemon juice 25-30 ml

Dried cherry plum (or prunes)

Onions 200 g

Dried apricots 80-100 g

Melted butter

Lavash (ready)

Preparation:

This type of pilaf is prepared in parts, and then everything is assembled into a common dish.

Heat ghee and fry the onion, cut into thin rings, adding turmeric.

Cut the veal into small pieces and boil it in salted water. For flavor, add a small, whole onion. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and place in a saucepan with onions, washed cherry plums (or prunes) and peeled chestnuts. Pour the broth over everything and simmer until the chestnuts are soft, covering with a lid. Then remove the lid and let half of the water evaporate. Set the gourma aside.

Rinse the rice. Pour cold water into the pan to cover the rice, add salt and lemon juice. After an hour, drain the water and boil the grains in plenty of boiling water until soft. Remove the water again. Place saffron in 50 ml of boiling water, brew it and pour the infusion over the rice, stirring thoroughly.

Coat the pita bread with butter and place on the bottom of a ceramic pan. Place rice on top, cover the pan with a lid and bake for 1.5 hours at 150ºϹ.

Wash the dried fruits and steam them in a frying pan, adding a little water, add 10-15 g of oil to shine the fruit when the water has evaporated. Remove from pan.

Gather the prepared pilaf ingredients: place rice on a large dish, around it - fruits and chestnuts, pieces of fried lavash. Separately place a dish with govurma.

The good thing about pilaf is that vegetarians can eat it without adding stewed meat to their plate.

If you don’t have the right type of rice to cook pilaf, don’t be upset and don’t rush to go shopping. Any type of steamed rice is suitable for this, and you can steam it very simply: wash the rice and soak it in cold water. You can do this the night before and leave the rice in the water in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, drain off any unabsorbed water and heat a dry cast-iron frying pan. Place the rice in it and simply dry it, stirring constantly and gently with a wooden spatula.

Pilaf is considered a colorful dish of oriental cuisine. It is loved for its exquisite spicy taste and satiety. Many housewives prefer to cook pilaf from pork, but using lamb, chicken, veal and even fish is acceptable. Mushrooms are often added to the dish, which ultimately makes it richer. There are many secrets that help make rice fluffy. The result is a delicious grain-to-grain pilaf. Let's look at the basic recipes in order, highlighting the main thing.

Classic pork pilaf

• garlic - 1.5-2 heads
• rice (preferably steamed) - 670 gr.
• carrots - 700 gr.
• pork pulp - 0.9-1 kg.
• sunflower oil - 180 ml.
• onions - 450 gr.
• chili pepper (capsicum) - 0.5 pcs.
• seasoning “4 peppers” - 7 gr.
• salt - 40 gr.
• turmeric (ground), cumin - 3-5 g each.
• barberry berries - 5 gr.
• drinking water - about 1.7-1.8 liters.

1. Pour the rice into a bowl, fill with running water so that the liquid covers the grains. To obtain crumbly pilaf, washing must be done 5-6 times. This move will remove the rice flour, which glues the grains together.
2. During the rinsing process, crush the rice with your hands and drain the liquid. When the water becomes completely clear, leave the cereal on the sieve for a quarter of an hour.
3. Chop the carrots into long pieces (straws), peel the onion, and chop it in a convenient way. Pour oil into a cauldron, heat it, add the onion inside.
4. Remove the barberry berries from the branches, place in a colander, and rinse. Fill with water and leave to soak. At this time, rinse and dry the pork, chop into 4*4 cm pieces.
5. Add the meat to the fried onions, place the carrots on top, and smooth the contents with a spatula (do not stir!). Peel the garlic from the base and husk, and place the whole cloves into the cauldron.
6. Salt the ingredients, add chopped chili, soaked barberries and a mixture of peppers. Add ground turmeric and whole cumin. Boil drinking water and fill it with contents.
7. Simmer the contents under the lid for at least a quarter of an hour. After this period, place the washed rice grains in a wok (cauldron), smooth them over the meat and fry. Do not stir the mixture, otherwise the rice will not be completely steamed.
8. During the cooking process, press the grains against the main mixture with a spatula so that they are saturated with oily liquid and spices. If necessary, add more hot water, covering the pilaf by 1-2 cm.
9. After the water has been absorbed into the rice, make holes in the contents. This move will allow excess moisture to evaporate, leaving the dish crumbly. When the water is almost completely gone, make a mound of pilaf.
10. Set the heat to minimum, cover the cauldron with a lid and a warm towel. Simmer for 20-35 minutes until completely cooked. Sample the rice periodically. When serving, first lay out the grains, then the meat with garlic and stewed vegetables.

• onions - 250 gr.
• ground turmeric - 10 gr.
• lamb pulp - 450-500 gr.
• pork tenderloin -450 gr.
• carrots - 240 gr.
• vegetable oil - 75 gr.
• long rice - 650 gr.
• garlic - 10 cloves
• laurel - 4 pcs.
• ground pepper - 5 gr.
• salt - 25-30 gr.
• filtered water - in fact

1. To make the pilaf crumbly, the ratio of meat, rice and vegetables should be relatively equal. A thick-bottomed saucepan, cast-iron frying pan or wok (Kazan) is used as cooking utensils.
2. First of all, start washing the rice. Rinse it under the tap 3 times, then fill it with cold water and leave for 45 minutes. During this period, the starch will come out and the rice flour will be washed out.
3. Start preparing the vegetables. Chop the carrots into cubes and chop the onion into cubes or half rings. Rinse lamb and pork tenderloins and dry with paper towels. Cut the meat into 3-5 cm pieces.
4. Pour the oil into a regular frying pan and heat it until white smoke appears. Scald the meat on all sides until crusty; this move will retain the juice inside the pork and lamb.
5. After frying, transfer the oil and meat into a cauldron, and add the onions and carrots to the previous pan. Once golden brown, transfer the vegetables to the meat. If you wish, you can not fry the carrots, but stew them immediately in a cauldron.
6. Add spices, salt and chopped chili pepper. Mix the contents and compact. Drain the liquid from the rice and place it on top of the first mixture. Smooth the surface with a spoon.
7. Boil purified water and start pouring it into the cauldron along the wall of the dish. Make sure that the liquid covers the contents by only 1-1.5 cm. Bring the pilaf to the first bubbles at maximum power.
8. After boiling, reduce the temperature to between medium and minimum. Make holes in the pilaf with Chinese chopsticks so that the contents simmer evenly.
9. Cover the dishes and cook the dish for half an hour, periodically assessing the taste of the rice. When the specified period comes to an end, peel the garlic cloves and stick them into the composition at a certain distance from each other.
10. Wrap the cast iron cookware in a warm blanket or sweatshirt and leave it to “simmer” for 1-1.5 hours. During this period, the rice will be saturated with juice and seasonings, and the pilaf will become rich.

• spices for pilaf - 20 gr.
• dill and parsley (fresh) - 0.5 bunch each
• olive oil - 60 ml.
• chicken (preferably thighs) - 600 gr.
• long steamed rice - 575 gr.
• carrots - 230 gr.
• onion - 280 gr.
• drinking water - in fact

1. Rinse the carrots and chop them in a convenient way (slices, half rings, straws). Chop the onion, add to the carrots, add pepper and salt.
2. Fry the vegetables until golden brown in hot olive oil. Start cutting up the chicken. If possible, choose thighs, they are fattier. Chop the meat into pieces, removing the skin. You don't have to remove the bones.
3. Send the meat for frying, cook until golden brown (heat treatment lasts 5-7 minutes). After this, add 170 ml. water, cover the dish with a lid, simmer the meat for another 5 minutes.
4. Place the rice in a bowl, cover with cold water, wait 20 minutes. Rinse the grains, removing the white coating (the water should become completely transparent).
5. Place the onion, chicken, and carrots into the cauldron. Press down with a spoon and place rice on top. Squeeze the contents with a spatula, add chopped dill and parsley.
6. Pour boiling water over the mixture, covering the grains by 1 cm. Cook the pilaf without a lid for 10 minutes, then make several holes in the dish for better evaporation of moisture.
7. After another 10 minutes of simmering, cover the cauldron with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Cook the crumbly pilaf for a third of an hour. When the water has evaporated, turn off the stove and wrap the dishes in a warm cloth. Infuse the dish for 1.5 hours.
8. If you wish, you can prepare chicken and mushroom pilaf. In this case, choose champignons, oyster mushrooms or chanterelles. Pre-wash, peel and fry the mushrooms. Then add them to the chicken.

• beef pulp - 450 gr.
• onions - 330 gr.
• round rice - 200 gr.
• vegetable oil - 60-80 ml.
• laurel leaf - 4 pcs.
• salt - 15 gr.
• carrots - 250 gr.
• black pepper (ground) - 5 gr.

1. Rinse the beef, pat the meat dry with napkins, or dry it in another convenient way. Chop into slices of the same shape (3-5 cm), boil in 1 liter. salted water. The duration of heat treatment is 25-30 minutes.
2. After 10 minutes of cooking, add bay and pepper. When the meat is cooked, pour the broth into a separate bowl; you will need it later. Remove the meat and place it in a cauldron.
3. Chop the carrots and onions, sauté the mixture in hot oil until golden brown, then transfer the vegetables along with the liquid into the cauldron. Wash the rice, scald the grains with boiling water, and drain. Add to meat and vegetables.
4. Fry the contents for 3 minutes, then pour in 270 ml. broth left over from cooking beef. Do not stir the contents, cover the cauldron with a lid, place on low heat, and cook until the broth evaporates.
5. Try not to open the lid for the first quarter of an hour after the start of simmering. After this period, make holes in the pilaf so that the liquid leaves evenly.
6. When you see grains appearing in the kernels, turn off the burner. Leave the cauldron on a warm stove, covering the dishes with a warm blanket or sweatshirt. Pilaf can be consumed after 1 hour of infusion.

• steamed rice (preferably long) - 420 gr.
• veal tenderloin - 480-500 gr.
• seasonings for pilaf - 15-20 gr.
• oil for frying - 130 gr.
• salt - 15 gr.
• onions - 300 gr.
• garlic - 8 cloves
• carrots - 250 gr.
• filtered water - in fact

1. Wash the rice, place the grains in a bowl, pour ice water over it, and leave to soak for 1.5 hours. Rinse the veal and dry thoroughly, chop into cubes (about 3 cm in size).
2. Prepare the vegetables (washing, peeling), chop them. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the veal meat for 15-20 minutes. Stir constantly to avoid burning.
3. After the allotted time, add carrots and onions, sauté the contents for another 7-8 minutes. After this, add spices, salt, and stir. Turn off the stove and let the ingredients sit for 10 minutes.
4. Now carefully transfer the contents from the frying pan to the cauldron. Drain the rice and place it on top of the meat and vegetables. Press down with a spatula, do not stir. If desired, you can add salt by placing it on the grains in the same way.
5. Boil the water. Pour it in a thin stream along the edge of the dish. Make sure that the water covers the rice by 1.5-2 cm. Place the cauldron on the stove and wait for bubbles to appear. Next, turn the burner down to low.
6. Cover the dish with a lid and wait a third of an hour. During this period, the liquid will be absorbed into the grains, you will get a delicious crumbly pilaf. After the specified period, turn off the stove.
7. Make 5 holes in the contents with a spoon, wrap the dishes in a sweatshirt or thick blanket. Leave until the final infusion, then place on serving plates. Serve with garlic sauce and cabbage-carrot salad.
8. Some housewives prefer to cook veal pilaf with ripe tomatoes or tomato paste. In this case, the tomatoes are turned into puree and sauteed along with vegetables in a hot frying pan.

Pilaf is perfect for lunch or dinner. Consider the classic technology of the dish, serve it with vegetable salad and spicy sauce. Make pilaf from lamb or veal, add chicken, mushrooms, barberry berries, tomato puree. Experiment with spices, vary the amount of salt and water. Choose long steamed rice as a base (you can also use round rice).

Video: how to cook crumbly pilaf in a slow cooker

Eat folding method, in which you simply boil as much salted water as possible in a large saucepan so that the rice grains do not stick together during cooking, and then throw the cooked rice into a sieve, let the water drain and season the rice with oil.

This method is good for folding pilafs- according to the recipe, the rice is usually not cooked until it finishes cooking in a cauldron with other ingredients.

My favorite way is different. If you follow the rules exactly, you will succeed easily. There are few rules here, only two main ones:

• rice to water ratio
• cooking time.

Rule #1: proportions

Take any container that can be used to measure both rice and water: a glass, a mug, a ladle, a bowl. Measure out 1 such container (usually called a “piece”) of rice and fill it with 1.5 containers (parts) of boiling water. If you have, say, 2 cups of rice, then you will need 3 cups of boiling water and so on. To be even more sure of the future crispness, fry the rice in melted butter (with spices, if possible) before pouring boiling water over it.

Take a large pan so that the rice does not “run away”. Even if you cook only 2 cups, a three-liter pan will be just right.

Rule #2: time

The cooking formula is as follows: after boiling, cook the rice without opening the lid - not even once - for exactly 12 minutes. First 3 minutes on high heat; 7 minutes on medium and 2 minutes on low. Immediately remove from heat and - without opening - wrap in a blanket or thick towel for another 12 minutes. All is ready.

How to cook round rice

Round rice is tender, starchy, and absorbs a lot of liquid. It shouldn’t be crumbly; it’s not for nothing that they cook porridge and make puddings from it. This rice does not need to be rinsed. It is usually filled with water in a ratio of 2 parts rice to 1 part water and boiled until all the water is absorbed, and then add milk or cream, or coconut milk, as well as sugar, spices and other additives - as required by the recipe. Usually the amount of liquid is about 2 more parts.

How to cook brown rice

Brown (brown, unrefined) can be any type of rice. And depending on the variety, you must select the cooking method. But there will always be two important differences: the amount of water and the cooking time. Rice that is not peeled from its thin shell (bran), of course, takes longer to cook and requires more moisture. Both of them are about a third more. Be sure to read the instructions on the package - only the manufacturer knows exactly how this particular rice is processed and how best to cook it.

How to cook wild rice

Wild rice is actually not rice at all, but an aquatic grass whose grains are very similar in shape to rice. These grains are quite dense, so for a mixture with regular rice - and most often for solo packages - they are pre-steamed.

Typically, this rice is cooked in a ratio of 1 part rice to 3.5 parts boiling water. Wild rice usually takes at least 35 minutes to cook. I think the folding method for wild rice is quite convenient, you really can’t go wrong. Just in case, check the cooking time on the package.

How to cook rice for pilaf

The ideal rice for our most popular Uzbek pilaf grows in the same place where it is prepared, that is, in Central Asia. And it is sold in markets, by weight. Different varieties are suitable: alanga, sanam, chungara, lazar, and, of course, devzira. Any type of rice must be washed very thoroughly - so that the draining water is completely clear - and then soaked for 2-3 hours in slightly salted warm water. The water must cover the rice completely, otherwise it will break into pilaf. Further cooking instructions are usually detailed in the recipe for the pilaf itself.

You can cook pilaf from other varieties of rice, both long-grain (basmati) and medium-grain (Kuban). But the conditions for preparing rice for pilaf remain the same.

How to cook sushi rice

Only special rice is suitable for sushi; it is most often written on it - “rice for sushi”. What we call “Japanese” is also suitable.
First, rinse the rice in 5-6 waters until the water is completely clear. Fill with cold(!) water in a ratio of 1:1 plus another 10% water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover with a lid and cook for 13-14 minutes without lifting the lid. Then wrap the pan in a blanket or thick towel for 30-40 minutes.

Transfer the rice to a large, unvarnished wooden bowl (the crust that forms on the bottom of the pan is not used for sushi). Place the warm rice in the center, pour in all the dressing prepared according to the recipe, spread the rice with a spatula, then gather it back into the center together with the dressing - and so on 4 times.

Leave for 10-15 minutes. When you make rolls, the temperature of the rice should be 32-34 °C, not colder.

Note: If you do not have a wooden utensil, reduce the amount of dressing by a third compared to what is specified in the recipe.

Today we will learn how to make pilaf crumbly, or simply, how to make Uzbek pilaf at home.

Surely many housewives know how to make pilaf, but sometimes it turns out sticky and lumpy. Moreover, novice housewives, young girls - they still do not know how to cook pilaf correctly, according to a real recipe, so that it turns out tasty and aromatic. How to make pilaf crumbly? There are certain tricks here.

Let's make real Uzbek pilaf in our kitchen.

Attention: The VIDEO is at the end of the article.

So, what ingredients do we need for the most authentic Uzbek or classic pilaf? Here step by step recipe this delicious oriental dish:

1) We take 500 grams of meat, onions, rice and carrots. Vegetable (or regular sunflower) oil – 150 grams (2/3 cup).

You can choose the meat according to your taste - whatever you like. You can make pilaf from chicken, but some people like it from pork, while others like traditional lamb. I like to make it from beef, especially if from young veal - then the meat is soft. In any case, cut all 500 grams of meat into small cubes, throw into a frying pan, add vegetable oil and fry for 20 minutes until slightly browned. It is not necessary to get it to a crust, since we will still have to fry it further.

2) While we are frying the meat, we also cut the onions into cubes, after 20 minutes we throw them into the frying pan, mix and fry with the meat in the frying pan for about 5 minutes (see photo).

3) Take the carrots and grate them on a coarse grater, as shown in the photo.

4) Add the carrots to the frying pan with the meat and onions, add 2-3 teaspoons of “For pilaf” spices, also mix and fry it all for 5 minutes (see photo).

5) Then remove the frying pan from the heat and transfer all the contents into a cast iron cauldron, or into a saucepan with a thick bottom. If you take Chinese pans with a thin bottom, the pilaf will burn at the bottom. Therefore, in order to prepare the pilaf that we need, a real cauldron, a Soviet cast iron pot, or expensive German pans, for example, from the Rendell company (see photo), which have high-quality stainless steel and a thick bottom, are best suited.

6) Rinse 500 grams of rice well with water, removing any debris, if any, and also place in a cauldron on top of the meat. By the way, if there is any rice left over, you can use it to make fish and rice pie.

7) Sprinkle 2 level teaspoons of salt on top (you can use three if you like it saltier). Fill everything with water, the level of which should not exceed 1 cm above the level of the rice (about a finger thick). If you add less water, the rice may not cook completely and the pilaf will turn out too dry. And if you pour more, the pilaf will turn out sticky and lumpy, like in a canteen.

8) Place the pan on the fire and bring to a boil, and only then close the lid. Reduce the heat to low so that only the water evaporates and steam our Uzbek pilaf in this way for 15-20 minutes until the water has completely evaporated.

9) Then turn off the stove, let the pilaf sit for 10-15 minutes and stir it while it is still hot.

And also for gourmets:

10 minutes before the end of cooking, you can add 5-7 cloves of peeled garlic to the pilaf, simply sticking them into the depths of the rice.

To make the pilaf yellow or even golden, you need to sprinkle a little saffron on the tip of a knife when adding water to the rice. but do not overdo it with saffron, otherwise you will cook the pilaf not yellow, but orange-red, and it will not have a very pleasant taste. After all, this is a spice, and you need to add a little bit of spice. And then, the yellow color also comes from carrots, so don’t neglect adding carrots.

Our crumbly delicious pilaf is ready.

I heard this recipe for pilaf from an Uzbek cook, slightly modified it to suit our Russian cuisine, and prepared it for all readers of this site. As you can see, the dish is actually quite simple, but it has its own tricks, which I told you. So cook yourself, bon appetit to you and your family.

And now a few video recipes on how to cook pilaf:

1) Uzbek:

2) Tajik, in a cauldron on fire.

Lamb is a traditional meat for preparing classic Uzbek pilaf. But the spread of recipes around the world has made adjustments even to standard dishes. Delicious crumbly pork pilaf is an equally popular and sought-after dish. After all, this meat is easier and faster to prepare, and its taste is in no way inferior to lamb.

How to cook crumbly pork pilaf

Pilaf is a dish for which step-by-step recipes with photos will not provide any significant clues. The only thing that can be assessed from them is the intensity of frying of the components and the size of the chopped vegetables and meat.


When preparing, you need to take into account several nuances:

• zirvak – meat frying for a dish, cooked in a large amount of oil. As a base, you can use fillet or ribs with thin bones obtained from young pork. Small layers of lard are also suitable;
• carrots for real pilaf are not grated, but cut into cubes or long sticks (straws);
  
  
• the sequence of actions at the frying stage may differ: to prevent the onion from burning, some cooks place it on top of the meat, but before the carrots, others add it before the meat;
• To prepare delicious crumbly pork pilaf, you need to choose the right rice. There are varieties that are labeled “for pilaf”: devzira, steamed types. But it’s best to experiment with several varieties, because producers in different regions of the country differ;
  
  
  
• You need to cook the dish in sunflower oil or lard if you come across pieces with a large layer. The fat is first rendered;
• barberry gives sourness to pilaf, but it is not necessary to use it, despite the fact that the seasoning is found in almost all traditional recipes.
  
  

Now you can start preparing delicious pilaf with pork.

Quick and tasty pork pilaf in a cauldron over a live fire

To cook crumbly pilaf in a cauldron over a live fire, you need to use only high-quality firewood or coal.

No plastic or rubber elements should get into the fire.

To complete the recipe, you need to take the exact amount of components, or increase them in accordance with the proportions.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of pork pulp without bones and excess fat;
• 1 kg of long grain rice, or a special variety for crumbly pilaf;
• 1 kg carrots;
• 4 large onions;
• 200 ml odorless vegetable oil;
• 2 heads of garlic;
• cumin (cumin) – 1-2 tsp. depending on the accompanying seasonings.

Optionally, you can take hot pepper (in pods) to taste, salt, black pepper, seasoning for pilaf, barberry and herbs.

Remember that there should not be too much spices.

1. The meat is cut into large pieces as soon as the rice is washed to white water and left to soak for 30-40 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the cauldron over high heat, add a glass of oil.
   
   
3. As soon as smoke appears, add onion, cut into half rings.
4. After 3-4 minutes, add pork to the onion: the meat should be covered with a golden brown crust, and the liquid should evaporate.
   
   
5. At the final stage of preparing zirvak, add carrots, stirring constantly.
   
   
6. After 5-7 minutes, when the vegetables and meat acquire a golden color, add seasonings, salt, add hot water so that it is 1 cm higher than the contents.
   
   
7. Now you need to reduce the heat and simmer the delicious pilaf for another 5-6 minutes. Then add rice and add water to cover the cereal. Remove the slotted spoon after adding it carefully, leveling the layer of rice, but without stirring it!
   
   
8. As soon as the water boils, add the peeled heads of garlic. The cauldron is covered with a lid.
9. The cooking time from this moment is 12-15 minutes, since the meat is already ready.
   
   

The final touch is to decorate with herbs and serve.

How to cook crumbly pilaf with pork at home on the stove

To prepare crumbly pilaf with pork and rice, take a cast iron frying pan (a wok with a narrow bottom and wide edges).

You can use similar aluminum cookware with a thick bottom.

It is very important to use the exact amount of water to avoid making a mess.


Before you start preparing crumbly pilaf with pork, collect all the ingredients:

• Take 1 kg each of pork and rice, which after cooking turns out crumbly;
• carrots need 200 g less - 800 g;
• garlic – 3-4 heads, and onion – 600 g;
• obligatory spice – cumin 1 tsp;
• vegetable oil – 200 ml;
• water - 1.5-2 liters, if you use a cauldron rather than a frying pan to prepare pilaf with pork, less water will be required;
• you can add 1 tsp. mixture of peppers, a handful of barberry and 1 tsp. turmeric.

The technology for cooking pilaf on a stove differs only in minor nuances, but the process itself will not be the same as when using an open fire. Here you don’t need to monitor the dishes every second and prevent excessive heating:

1. Rice is poured for 40-60 minutes, after rinsing until the water is clear.
   
   
2. The carrots are cut into cubes, the onions into half rings, and the pork into large cubes.
   
   
3. First, fry the onion in slightly smoking oil, then add pieces of pork to it, no need to cover with a lid.
   
   
4. When the pork is browned, add carrot sticks. It is important to press the vegetables onto the surface of the meat with a spatula without stirring. Then the carrots will be saturated with the aroma of fat, and will not boil over.
   
   
5. Prepare the spices: peel the garlic, cut off the top part, chop the peppercorns, sort out the barberries.
   
   
6. Add 2 tbsp to zirvak. l. salt, cumin, crushed pepper. If hot chili pods are used, they are added whole.
7. Pour hot water over the products 1 cm above their surface.
   
   
8. Add barberry and remaining spices, cover with a lid and simmer for about 10 minutes.
9. Place rice on top, carefully distributing it with a spatula. You need to press the cereal well, but do not mix it.
   
   
10. Immediately add the peeled heads of garlic and pour boiling water over the mixture 1.5 cm above the level of the rice.
    
    
11. After boiling, use a stick to make holes in the compressed cereal so that the moisture evaporates faster. Cover with a lid.
12. As soon as the moisture has evaporated, scoop the rice into a mound with a spatula, reduce the heat to low and cover the wok with a towel. After 20-40 minutes, turn off the stove.
    
    

The cooking time at the last stage depends on the type of rice chosen. So, steamed grain will take longer to boil than polished grain. At home, pilaf is served on a large platter, laying out rice first, and then pork and carrots. You can lay it out in a mound after mixing the ingredients first.

Pork pilaf in a slow cooker is the most delicious recipe

A step-by-step recipe for crumbly pilaf in a slow cooker with pork - a great find for those who want to save time and use a kitchen tool to its maximum potential.

When using the right recipe, a dish in a slow cooker turns out tasty, aromatic, and does not require any complex manipulations.

But in order to prepare tasty and crumbly pilaf with pork, you need to strictly follow the requirements of the recipe, otherwise the dish will turn into rice porridge.

What you will need

To prepare the recipe, take the following ingredients:

• pork - fatty neck or other type of pulp - 600 g;
• special rice for pilaf or basmati – 400 g;
• onion – 300 g;
• carrots – 300 g;
• sunflower oil – 150 ml;
• garlic – 1 head;
• zira – 0.5 – 1 tsp.

You can add pepper or coriander, as well as other seasonings that go well with the pork. For a subtle sour note, use dried barberries.

How to cook

As in any other recipe, the rice is first washed with water, soaked for 40-60 minutes and the vegetables are prepared. Then pour oil into the multicooker; when smoke appears, fry the onion in the “fry” mode.
Then pieces of pork are added, and when an appetizing crust appears, add carrots. After 10-15 minutes, after stirring, add boiling water (1 cm above the food), add salt and spices, including the head of garlic.


Close the lid and set for 10 minutes at 120 degrees. Open the multicooker, pour in the swollen rice, and pour water down the side (70-80 degrees). Set the temperature to 100 degrees, close the lid and turn on for 20 minutes. After cooking, let the dish sit for 20-30 minutes.

Secrets of cooking pilaf

Use a few secrets when preparing a flavorful dish:

• even if you really want to, do not grate the carrots, otherwise the pilaf will turn into porridge;
• if you don't like long-grain rice, choose round grains with minimal starch content;
  
  
• soak the rice in hot water with added salt (60-70 degrees);
• if you need light pilaf, put the onion after the pork;
• You can also get a richer taste if you first fry coarsely chopped onion over high heat, take it out and fry the meat in the same oil. In this case, the onions are placed again along with the carrots, but new ones.
  
  

During cooking, experimental cooks often discover new tricks and secrets for creating delicious pilaf recipes.