Pilaf with beef Uzbek recipe. Delicious and crumbly Uzbek pilaf with beef in a cauldron. Pilaf in the oven with beef - a simple recipe

There are a huge number of pilaf recipes. Each housewife has her own special secrets and wisdom of cooking this wonderful dish of Uzbek national cuisine. I don’t have a single secret of cooking pilaf, everything is easy and simple. This is the classic cooking method.

So,
1. We prepare the ingredients, wash and clean the vegetables.

Wash the rice in advance under running water 3 times until the water is almost clear.

Cut vegetables and meat:
2. Cut the onion into half rings

2. Cut the meat into large pieces

3. Cut the carrots into long strips,
first cut into slices, in this way, like a sausage,

then cut the slices into strips. This cutting method is very simple and convenient.

This is how the straw should turn out in the end

4. We heat a large frying pan, or a small cauldron (if any), the thicker the walls of the dishes, the tastier our pilaf will turn out. I had a large, thick-walled skillet. Pour in sunflower oil, heat it up and throw in half of the chopped onion, set aside the remaining half. Fry the onion over medium heat until light brown, this is done to saturate the color of the pilaf

5. Once the onion is fried, add the meat,

6. Fry the meat for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes

7. After 20 minutes, add the remaining onions and carrots

8. Mix thoroughly and fry over high heat for 7 minutes

8. Salt, I put salt on my eye, 1 dessert spoon without a slide per 500 gr. rice

9. As soon as everything is fried, add water at the rate of 1 to 1, i.e. 500g. rice, 500 ml. water.

10. We are waiting for the water to boil, add spices: turmeric, zira and barberry. Turmeric gives a beautiful yellow color and light aroma, barberry gives pilaf its characteristic spicy sourness, cumin gives the dish an incredibly mouth-watering oriental taste.

11. All this splendor boils over medium heat for another 3-5 minutes with the lid open, you can start laying rice.

12. Spread the rice in an even layer on top, do not mix, pour another 50 grams of drinking water, boiling water can be used, the water should completely cover the rice. Cook with the lid open over medium heat, without stirring, until the water has completely evaporated.

13. When the water has evaporated, you can mix and add garlic with whole cloves. If you have young garlic, then you can wash it and drown it in pilaf with a whole head in a peel. Unfortunately I didn't have that.

14. Cover with a lid, reduce the fire to the smallest and our dish simmers for another 15-20 minutes, you can periodically open the lid and check the readiness of the rice. This was the last step in the preparation of the classic Uzbek pilaf according to my recipe. Pilaf is served on a large dish, topped with greens, any you prefer, pickled onions and boiled eggs. The meat can be left in large pieces, or you can get all the pieces and cut. I chose to cut half and leave half. Who would prefer to eat?)

Bon appetit and culinary masterpieces)

Time for preparing: PT01H20M 1 h 20 min

Approximate cost per serving: 300 rub.

We wash the beef meat well, cut into large pieces and lightly dry with kitchen paper towels.

Peel the onion, chop coarsely.

Carrots must be cut into large cubes. If you chop it finely, then it will simply boil and turn into porridge.

Carrots and garlic for pilaf are best taken ripe, not young.

Young carrots are more tender and watery, with long stewing, as required by the recipe for Uzbek pilaf with beef, it will boil and turn into gruel. Ripe carrots have the most intense taste., it retains its shape better during the cooking process.

Ripe (old) garlic has a pronounced taste, which means that the dish with it will turn out to be more saturated and fragrant than with a young vegetable.

It is advisable to cook beef pilaf at home in a thick-walled saucepan, and preferably in a cast-iron cauldron, so that the ingredients do not burn during frying and stewing (I cook in it).

Cookware with a non-stick coating in this case is not a very good option, since such a coating does not tolerate high temperatures, it begins to crack and fall off. The non-stick coating does not tolerate mechanical impact when stirring the dish with a spoon or spatula.

The ideal option is to take a cauldron made of cast iron. It retains heat well and allows the dish to languish slowly. In aluminum dishes, on the contrary, heat is poorly retained, so it will not be possible to bring the second to the condition by languishing. In order for pilaf to cook evenly throughout the volume, take a cauldron of a spherical, rather than a flat shape. A spherical cauldron is evenly heated by fire from all sides. The lid of a good cauldron should tightly cover the pot.

Choose the size of the cauldron based on the number of servings and taking into account the fact that rice increases in volume during cooking. Our pilaf is designed for 6 servings, so a cauldron with a volume of 7 liters will be optimal.

Pour vegetable oil into the cauldron and heat it well over high heat.

Carefully place the chopped meat into the boiling oil and mix immediately. Otherwise, it will stick to the walls of the cauldron. In addition, boiling a little "seals" the meat fibers, preventing them from losing their juiciness. Fry the meat for about 10 minutes.

Add coarsely chopped onion to the meat. We mix.

After a minute, put the chopped carrots.

Next, lay out all the prepared spices and put salt. In the list of ingredients for the crumbly beef pilaf recipe, we have indicated the most popular spices used in Asia - turmeric, zira, barberry. However, you can add other spices that perfectly emphasize the taste of beef meat - red chili, coriander, allspice and black pepper, mustard seeds, ground nutmeg, thyme.

Pour the meat with vegetables with two glasses of water. Kazan, close the lid, reduce the fire and simmer the meat with vegetables for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, put well-washed steamed rice into a cauldron. The better you washed the rice, the more starch you removed from its surface (starch helps the grains stick together when cooked). Starch is ideally washed off if you fill the grains with hot water and immediately drain it. The procedure is repeated several more times (4-5) until the drained liquid becomes transparent. Many chefs claim that in order to properly prepare rice for pilaf, it must be soaked in cold water for 30-40 minutes.

Professional chefs say that the variety of rice chosen directly determines how tasty and crumbly pilaf will turn out.

The most suitable cereal is one that is able to absorb liquids, fats, taste and aroma of the spices used well. Real rice for pilaf should keep its shape perfectly, not boil soft, not stick together into a total mass. After all, we are not planning to cook risotto, the ideal pilaf is crumbly.

Therefore, cooks advise in this case to purchase brown long rice or red rice that has undergone minimal processing (steaming, polishing) and retained a maximum of useful substances in the composition. It cooks for an average of 25-30 minutes. There are such varieties of rice as Rubin, Samarkand and Devzira, bred by breeders directly for cooking pilaf. White parboiled rice of an elongated shape (such as Jasmine or Basmati), which has a golden-transparent color, is also well suited.

You can buy a mixture of two types of cereals in the store - steamed and wild rice. As a last resort, take long-shaped polished white rice. But keep in mind that it is inferior to brown and golden steamed rice in terms of the content of valuable substances, and it only takes 15 minutes to cook it.

Attention!

Make sure that the rice in the package you purchase is whole, and not split, so that there is no debris.

In any case, give preference to long-grained cereals, and set aside round (for example, the Krasnodar variety) or chopped cereals for cooking cereals, soups, Italian risotto.

Spread the rice evenly over the surface, add a little more salt. We put a bay leaf, insert a whole head of garlic in the middle, stick the peeled cloves along the edges. Pour in water, its level should exceed the rice by 2 cm.

According to cookbooks, the optimal ratio should be: 1 part cereal, 3 parts liquid.

We close the cauldron with a lid and cook pilaf over low heat until cooked. Usually, direct cooking lasts 20-25 minutes from the start of boiling water (depending on the rice variety). After this time, the rice should completely absorb the water.

Then the fire is turned off and the dish is left to languish in a hot cauldron for another 15-20 minutes. During this time, slightly harsh grains of cereals will acquire the desired consistency, but will not boil soft. If you continue to cook rice until cooked on fire, eliminating languor, then the cereal may lose its shape, become too soft.

In Uzbekistan, there is the word “shavlya”, which is disparagingly called a sticky porridge with rice, which only remotely resembles a real pilaf cooked in a cauldron.

Since rice is cooked faster in the middle than along the edges, every 5-7 minutes, it is necessary to slightly open the lid and collect rice along the edges towards the middle. This will cook the rice evenly. But do not mix the dish too thoroughly, so as not to destroy the integrity of the grains.

That's all, now you know the real recipe for beef pilaf and you can cook it yourself at home. Rather, call relatives and guests to the table!

In the homeland, it is customary to serve it like this: rice with carrots is laid out on the bottom of a large dish, and pieces of meat are placed on top. Garlic is left whole, and very large pieces of meat are cut into portions. Top the dish can be sprinkled with chopped herbs - dill, parsley, green onions.

In Central Asia, next to the pilaf, they certainly put a large plate of greens on the table. It is also combined with a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet peppers, seasoned with a small amount of vegetable oil.

If the dish turned out to be very fatty (for example, if it was cooked with lamb and fat tail fat), then simply chopped vegetables should be served, without lubricating them with oil. Uzbeks eat pilaf with national flatbread.

At the end of the meal, hot green tea (without sweets) is put on the table - this drink is optimally combined with such fatty and satisfying food as pilaf.

In all cuisines of the world there are a lot of dishes in which meat is combined with rice. A separate place is occupied by pilaf, which is especially delicious with beef. There are many recipes for its preparation at home: several of them should be noted by every housewife.

How to cook beef pilaf

The Uzbek dish consists of two main components: zirvak and cereals. The last one is Fig. Zirvak is meat stewed with spices and vegetables. Before cooking beef pilaf, the grits are washed, carrots are cut into strips and onions are cut into half rings. The meat is washed and dried. It is stewed with vegetables and seasonings, and then dry cereals are added to the dish and all this is poured with a certain amount of water.

Which rice is better

The grits should be long because the round type is not crumbly enough. If you don’t know which rice is better to take for pilaf, you can consider Krasnodar, Tajik, scalded, Vietnamese, Devzira, Italian, Basmati. Such cereals are well saturated with the aromas of meat and spices. Rice must be washed several times until the water is clear.

Pilaf recipe with beef

Basically, all methods differ in what utensils will be used for the processes of roasting and stewing products. You can choose a step-by-step recipe for cooking beef pilaf in a cauldron, saucepan, brazier, slow cooker, frying pan, stewpan. Products are seasoned with spices, which affects the final taste of the dish.

In a slow cooker

If you have such a device, it greatly simplifies the cooking process. Beef pilaf in a slow cooker always works well even for inexperienced chefs. The secret is that the device maintains the temperature and evenly distributes it, so that all products are stewed. Depending on which model of the multicooker, the cooking mode is selected. As a rule, "Rice / Buckwheat" or "Stew" are used.

Ingredients:

beef tenderloin - 0.7 kg;
salt pepper;
rice - 2 multi-cups (320 g);
vegetable oil - 5 tbsp. l.;
carrots - 3 small;
garlic - 1 head;
onions - 2 heads;
barberry - 1 tsp;
hot pepper - a quarter of a pod;
saffron - 0.5 tsp;
zira - 2 tsp

Cooking method:

Set the “Baking” mode, pour oil into the bowl, fry the onion cut into half rings, then add the carrot strips, pieces of tenderloin, salt, pepper and seasonings.
Pour the cereal, pour hot water so that the products are covered by a centimeter. Put garlic, hot pepper whole. Cook on the “Rice / Buckwheat” mode until the beep sounds, or on the “Extinguishing” mode until the liquid has evaporated. Let stand before serving.

In the oven

To prepare the dish according to the following recipe, you will need a roaster or microwave-safe glassware. Pilaf in the oven with beef will turn out crumbly, very fragrant due to the use of various spices and spices. Meat and cereals are evenly baked, exchanging flavors. Learn how to prepare a delicious dish.

Ingredients:

carrots - 1 pc.;
vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. l.;
beef meat - 0.3 kg;
garlic - 2 cloves;
onions - 2 pcs.;
bay leaf - 1 pc.;
water - 0.6-0.7 l;
ground zira - 2-3 pinches;
rice - 1 cup;
salt, black and red pepper;
ground turmeric - 2-3 pinches.

Cooking method:

Fry carrots in strips in oil, then onions in half rings. When they become soft, put the pieces of meat.
After a couple of minutes, pour the washed cereal, salt, spices, pour water.
Bring to a boil on the stove, and then add the garlic cloves and rearrange in the oven, heated to 180 degrees. Cook for an hour without stirring.

in a cauldron

Since ancient times, pots have been used to prepare dishes from zirvak and cereals. In some Asian countries, until now, before the celebration, rural families invite a specialist, the only one who knows the correct recipe for pilaf in a beef cauldron, and entrust cooking to him. If you have such dishes, try to make a treat according to the following recommendations.

Ingredients:

beef shoulder - 0.5 kg;
salt pepper;
long rice - 0.4 kg;
garlic - 1 head;
carrots - 0.35 kg;
vegetable oil - 6 tbsp. l.;
onion - 0.25 kg;
turmeric - 0.5 tsp;
barberry - 1 tsp;
zira - 1 tsp

Cooking method:

In a cauldron, heat the oil and put the onion in half rings. Fry until golden brown.
Put in the shoulder blades, fry for 20 minutes, then add the carrot julienne. Salt, pepper. Cook 10 minutes.
Put barberry, turmeric, cumin. Fill with hot water. Simmer for half an hour.
Add rice and add boiling water.
When the cereal absorbs moisture, make holes to the bottom. Put in the whole head of garlic. Simmer over low heat until the broth has evaporated.

in a saucepan

Using the following step-by-step tips, you will make a yummy that is hard to break away from. The recipe for pilaf with beef in a saucepan allows you to make the same successful dish as in a cauldron. It is advisable to take dishes with thick walls and a bottom. Then neither meat nor cereals will burn and are well stewed. Read how to cook a great meal using a pot.

Ingredients:

beef tenderloin - 1 kg;
vegetable oil - 50 ml;
rice - 0.4 kg;
barberry - a pinch;
carrots - 1 medium;
salt, spices;
onion - 1 pc.;
garlic - 6 cloves.

Cooking method:

Fry the tenderloin pieces in a skillet.
Add chopped vegetables. Salt, season.
Transfer food to a bowl. Pour in the cereal. Fill with water to cover everything by a couple of centimeters.
Put barberry, garlic.
Cook covered over low heat, without stirring, until all the water has disappeared.

in a frying pan

One of the easiest cooking methods. If you have a saucepan or a deep frying pan, then you can do all the processes in one dish. This will significantly save time and effort. Pilaf with beef in a pan turns out hearty and fragrant. This chic treat is a great option for a family dinner after a long and hard day at work.

Ingredients:

beef shoulder - 0.4 kg;
salt pepper;
zira - a pinch;
onions - 2 heads;
vegetable oil - 50 ml;
turmeric - a pinch;
carrots - 2 small;
rice - one and a half glasses.

Cooking method:

Heat oil in a frying pan. First fry the carrots with chopped onions, add a spatula, seasonings. Cook the dish open for about 20 minutes.
Pour in 3 cups of water. When it boils, add the cereal.
Cover the skillet. Make a low heat and cook the dish for 15-20 minutes.

Recipe for Uzbek pilaf with beef

Traditionally, the dish is prepared with lamb, but putting other types of meat is quite acceptable. Uzbek pilaf with beef is a little less fat, but very nutritious and juicy. Raisins or dried apricots are added to it. It brings notes of sweetness. The dish is seasoned with turmeric, barberry, zira, salt, pepper. These spices give the delicacy a unique flavor.

Ingredients:

beef brisket - 1 kg;
turmeric - 2 tsp;
carrot - 1 kg;
barberry - 1 tsp;
onion - 0.5 kg;
zira - 2 tsp;
rice - 1 kg;
salt - 1.5 tbsp. l.;
seedless raisins - 0.1 kg;
black pepper - 0.5 tsp;
vegetable oil - 0.3 l.

Cooking method:

Soak the raisins in warm water for half an hour.
Heat oil in a cauldron or saucepan. Add 1 tsp. salt.
Put the brisket cubes, fry over medium heat. Add onion half rings, carrots, cut into thin strips. Fry until the last softness.
Add remaining salt and all spices. Pour in cold water to cover all foods. Simmer for an hour from the moment of boiling.
Pour the cereal, raisins. Add boiling water 2-3 cm higher.
Cook until the moisture from the top is absorbed. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
Poke a few holes with a wooden stick all the way to the bottom. Cover, cook for 25 minutes.

With chickpeas

You already know that different cereals and legumes can be used for a dish. The taste of pilaf with beef and chickpeas is simply delicious. This kind of peas makes the dish unusual. Be sure to pre-soak the chickpeas so that they soften and come to readiness along with the rest of the products. It is better to fill the product with water all night.

Ingredients:

rice - 0.2 kg;
salt;
vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. l.;
turmeric - 0.5 tsp;
beef meat - 0.2 kg;
red ground pepper - 0.5 tsp;
carrots - 0.1 kg;
garlic - 3 teeth;
chickpeas - 0.1 kg;
onion - 1 pc.

Cooking method:

Crush the garlic, fry in vegetable oil in a saucepan. Add chopped vegetables, meat, cook for a quarter of an hour.
Pour 0.2 liters of hot water, add chickpeas, salt, seasonings. Cook over medium heat for half an hour.
Pour in the cereal. Fill with water a couple of centimeters higher. Cover, cook until all liquid has evaporated.

Crumbly

The next version of the dish is not too different from the previous ones. Crumbly beef pilaf is very tasty. If you cook the delicacy correctly, then it will not become an unappetizing porridge, which you don’t even want to look at the photo. Friability is the main requirement for a good dish, but it is not so easy to achieve it. The following step-by-step recipe will help you with this.

Ingredients:

beef shoulder - 0.5 kg;
pepper, salt;
oil - 0.15 l;
rice - 0.5 kg;
turmeric - 2 pinches;
onions - 5 pcs.;
dried barberry - 15 berries;
carrots - 5 pcs.;
zira - 0.5 tsp;
garlic - 2 heads.

Cooking method:

Fry the onion cut into half rings in oil, add large pieces of the shoulder blade. Put the carrots in a straw. Cook until soft.
Add seasonings, 0.5 l of water and boil for half an hour.
Pour in the rice. Add water 2 cm above the cereal, put the garlic. Cover, cook until liquid evaporates.

From veal

It is a little more difficult to cook with young meat, although its calorie content is the same as that of mature meat. Veal pilaf is not only very tasty, it also looks great in the photo. For the dish, you will need vegetables, a mixture of seasonings and curry. The last spice will give the grits a delicious shade. The cooking process is simple: it will take you no more than an hour and a half.

Ingredients:

rice - 0.5 kg;
veal - 1 kg;
carrot - 0.4 kg;
oil - 30 ml;
onions - 4 pcs.;
curry - 1 tbsp. l.;
garlic - head;
meat seasoning - 2 tbsp. l.;
salt pepper.

Cooking method:

Heat oil in a saucepan. Put onion half rings there. Add the veal cut into cubes and carrots, make the fire on the burner medium. Salt, pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Pour curry and seasoning, cereals. Fill with water. Simmer under the lid.
After 15 minutes, stick garlic cloves into the grits. Cook for a quarter of an hour.

dietary

Even if you are restricting your diet in order to lose weight and look flawless in the photo, you can treat yourself to a great second course with a minimum calorie content. It is advisable to eat dietary pilaf with beef at lunchtime, and make dinner light. A lot of spices are not put in the dish, because they whet the appetite, although they do not add calories.

Ingredients:

beef tenderloin - 220 g;
salt - two pinches;
rice - 140 g;
little creamy - 20 g;
carrot - 1 small;
onion - half a head.

Cooking method:

Boil the tenderloin until half cooked, cut into pieces.
Cut the onion and carrot into cubes, fry in oil.
Mix tenderloin with vegetables. Salt. Pour in the cereal. Pour in water and cook over low heat until the liquid disappears completely.

Delicious beef pilaf is always prepared with the addition of zira, saffron, barberry.
To seal the juice inside the meat, add seasonings and salt in the middle of cooking zirvak.
Do not combine rice of different varieties.
It is necessary to salt the zirvak well, because part of the salt will absorb the cereal.

Video

Beef pilaf will be not only fast in time (relative to the preparation of many second courses) and simple, but also tasty - I promise this in the end. In addition, some people do not like lamb in the real Uzbek version, and for others, pork (here with it) is a heavy version of meat. Therefore, we will focus on the juicy Uzbek beef pilaf, in which the rice is separated from the rice. In general, we will cook in a cast-iron saucepan with thick walls, but a cauldron (cauldron) will also not leave the taste of the dish for nothing. In such a pilaf, it works great.

Ingredients:

Beef meat - 400-500 gr,
long grain rice - 2/3 cup
carrots and onions (sizes in the photo) - 2 pcs.,
weisu spices, vegetable oil - 80-90 grams.

The recipe for Uzbek beef pilaf in a cast iron saucepan

We wash the rice 5-6 times (we leave it in the last water, it will come in handy later), turn the beef with a knife into rectangular sticks, either cut the carrot thinly or tightly introduce it to a fine grater, just chop the onion.

After draining the vegetable oil into a saucepan and moving the beef there, cover the container with a lid, waiting for the process to continue on low heat for an hour.

After that, we move the carrots to their company, leveling it on the surface, and wait the same 10 minutes.

And now the rice, placed in an even layer, will begin to languish under the lid with all the ingredients in the saucepan. There, along with rice together, water will follow, it should be at least 150 grams.

The further waiting time will be equal to the time required to cook the rice.

Once I read on one of the culinary sites that "only an Uzbek can cook a real Uzbek pilaf." In my opinion, this is a very dubious statement. We cook pizza, lasagna, goulash, chakhokhbili, rolls ... while being neither Italians, nor Hungarians, nor Georgians, and certainly not Japanese. Why can't you cook Uzbek pilaf?

It's just that when preparing any dish, you need to have certain knowledge and some experience. And as you know, experience can only be gained by trying to cook a particular dish repeatedly.

Say - "what's the difference, Samarkand, Ferghana ... ". And you might be right. But if you ate a real Uzbek pilaf somewhere, and not only ate it, but also cook it yourself, then the difference in cooking will be useful for you. You can cook first one, then the other, then compare, and draw a conclusion. Although only one conclusion can be drawn - to cook them in turn, since it will be impossible to choose which one is tastier!

Uzbek Fergana beef pilaf

Ingredients

beef - 700-800 gr
fat tail fat or vegetable oil - 200-250 ml
onion - 400-500 gr
carrots - 600 gr
rice - 500-600 gr
zira - 1 teaspoon
spices -
garlic - 2 heads (optional)
salt - 1 tbsp. the spoon
pepper - to taste
greens - for sprinkling

Food processing

For Ferghana pilaf, they usually take the pulp and meat on the bone in approximately the same proportions. I used brisket and shoulder blade. It should be said that meat on the bone for cooking must be present without fail. From one pulp, a tasty dish will not work.

Cut the brisket into large pieces along the cartilage line. Cut the pulp into pieces about 2x2 cm. If there is fat tail fat, also cut it into cubes 1.5x1.5 cm. I have a small piece of fat tail fat left, about gr. 100-150, I will use it for the taste that lamb gives.
Peel the onion, leaving the "tails", cut into two halves and place briefly in cold water. To prepare Fergana pilaf, a little less onion is taken than indicated in the recipe. But the onion gives juiciness and taste to the dish, so I add a little more than it should be. My grandfather, who lived all his life in Uzbekistan, always spoke about such a rule. failed.
Cut the onion into half rings no more than 0.5 cm thick. We left the tails so that holding on to them, the slicing process was easier. Of course, after cutting the onion, we throw out the tail. You need to use a sharp knife. Although we held the onion a little in the water, and now it will be possible to cut it without tears, but if the knife turns out to be blunt, then tears cannot be dispensed with. In addition, slicing the onion thinly also does not work.
Cut the carrot into long thin strips. It cannot be grated, this is a mistake that many who cook pilaf make. Only by hand, and not in cubes, not in cubes, but in straws. It is quite difficult to describe the process of slicing carrots, so it’s better to see it once. Here is a video where you can see how to do it.
Rinse the rice until the water is clear, and soak for half an hour in warm water. And if you use steamed rice, then it will only be enough to rinse it. In general, I would recommend using this rice. The finished dish from it will turn out crumbly, the “rice” will move away from the “rice”, as it should be. Krasnodar round rice is not suitable for its preparation, it has a high degree of stickiness, and our dish runs the risk of being like porridge. Or as "shavlya" - that's how it is called in Uzbekistan.
If you decide to cook pilaf with garlic, then wash the whole heads, remove the top layer of the peel from them. Cut off the remaining small roots with a sharp knife to the very base, this is where particles of earth can be. I definitely recommend adding garlic. You will not feel its specific taste and smell at all, but the dish itself will be saturated with simply insane aroma and taste. And garlic will change its taste beyond recognition.
And of course we need a cauldron. Of course, you can cook the famous Uzbek dish in another dish, but it will be more difficult. If you need to tell how to do it, ask questions - I will tell.

Cooking beef pilaf in a cauldron

And so, when everything is already prepared for us, we begin to cook Ferghana pilaf. We put fat tail fat in a cauldron and melt it to cracklings. The cauldron must be dry so that the oil does not “shoot”. Then we remove the cracklings with a slotted spoon and add vegetable oil. If we do not use fat tail fat, then immediately pour the oil. We warm it up to a light haze.
Do not look that such a large amount of oil is indicated. We have so many products, and it is necessary that every small particle of the future dish gets at least a little! It won't feel at all. Therefore, pour as much as indicated in the recipe.
When the smoke appeared, along the edge of the cauldron we lower the meat on the bone into it. If you throw meat from above, you can get burned by splashes from oil. After a minute or two, turn the meat over with a slotted spoon. Let the skimmer lie nearby, we will need it from the beginning to the end of cooking. Fry the meat, stirring occasionally until the bones turn red and the meat is browned.
Add onion. We fry it until golden brown. All this is done on a big fire. Now you should fry the chopped pulp. We spread it in a cauldron and do not interfere for 4-5 minutes so that the oil does not cool down. It is important for us to “seal” the juice in the meat so that in the end it turns out juicy. And for this you need only hot oil and a big fire. Fry the flesh until a beautiful golden brown.
We spread carrots in a cauldron, we also do not interfere immediately, but give it a little time to warm up. Then mix everything and lightly fry it. Now you need to stir more often so that the onions and meat do not burn. When the carrots are well limp and slightly fried, pour so much cold water so that all the ingredients are covered.
Add zira, spices to taste and salt. It is not necessary to immediately pour the entire norm of salt, first pour only half, then salt more. As for spices, the main spice among Uzbeks is zira (cumin), in many dishes it is the only seasoning. As a rule, I add another spice mixture, which includes coriander, already crushed, rosemary, dried herbs with basil, paprika. Also add barberry. If I have it, I always put it in the cooking dish. I add a teaspoon of these spices. But this is at your discretion. But zira must be added! Of course, you can cook without this seasoning, but the very desired flavor will not work.
We give the opportunity to boil, mix everything, reduce the heat to a minimum, cover with a lid and cook for 30 minutes. What is now languishing under the lid is called “zirvak” in Uzbekistan. The taste of the future dish depends on what kind of “zirvak” we have prepared.
After 30 minutes, you need to check the meat for readiness. If you cook pilaf from young veal, then usually the meat is already moving away from the bone by this stage and is chewed well enough for testing, that is, it is almost completely ready. At this stage, there are two options. The first is to get all the bones, the second is to leave everything as it is. I choose - the second, although it is believed that the first is more correct! If you add garlic to the dish, then you need to stick the whole heads directly into the “zirvak”.
It's time to put the rice in the cauldron. We distribute it in an even layer, trying to completely cover the "zirvak". Do not mix the layers, only rice and water on top. Water should cover all rice by 1.5 cm. If it is not enough, then carefully pour it through the holes in the slotted spoon so as not to damage the layers with a jet of water. It is better to use hot water. Add fire.
When the water boils again, add the rest of the salt and pepper to taste. Try it, the broth should be moderately salty. Try to set the cauldron in such a way that the water boils evenly in it and the rice cooks equally evenly. Do not let it boil too much, adjust the fire in such a way that it only “gurgles” slightly.
Do not touch the rice until all the water has evaporated. When there is no water left, we try rice, it should already be almost ready. If for some reason it still remains tough, then add a little more boiling water through the holes in the oven. Just a little bit, maybe half a cup. Add another pinch of zira, rubbing it in the palms.
If everything goes according to plan, and it is no longer necessary to add boiling water, we collect rice in a slide. If the bones were taken out, then again put them on top of the rice, and only then make a slide. To do this, carefully with a slotted spoon, collect the rice from the edge to the center. Still do not mix anything and do not break the layers. We make several holes in the gorochka from the bottom. Holes can be made with a Chinese stick, or in extreme cases with a skimmer handle.
The water remaining at the bottom will come out through the holes made, and the rice will “reach” completely. Reduce the fire to the minimum. Cover with a lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes. After this time, turn off the fire, cover with a towel on top and leave to languish for another 10-15 minutes.
When you open the lid, try to prevent drops of condensate from the lid from falling back into the cauldron. While the contents are languishing under the lid, prepare a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. Or just cut into slices a juicy fleshy tomato with an onion cut into half rings. Vegetables will help break down fats faster and improve digestion.
Before laying pilaf in a large flat dish, it must be gently mixed right in the cauldron with a slotted spoon. At the same time, remove all the bones. Putting it in a dish, decorate it with chopped parsley, dill, basil and green onions. Eat while it's hot. And it will be difficult to find a dish tastier than this!

What is the difference between Samarkand pilaf and Ferghana pilaf

in Samarkand pilaf, all the meat used is taken on the bone, cut rather large, and when serving, the bones are removed and the meat is cut into small pieces. In Ferghana - part of the meat is taken on the bones, and part is the pulp, cut immediately in portions
in the Samarkand version, carrots are not fried, but in the Ferghana version, they are fried
from this, in the first version, the rice is white, and in the second, it is slightly brownish
in the Samarkand version, rice after cooking is not mixed with the rest of the ingredients, but is laid out in layers in the dish in the same order as it was cooked - first rice, then carrots, and finally meat. In Fergana, all the contents are mixed right in the cauldron.

Of course, from all these manipulations, the taste of these two different dishes turns out to be different. But as noted above - both are delicious, it is impossible to choose which one is tastier!

The Ferghana dish is considered the basis for all other varieties of this delicious dish. Knowing these basics, you can cook absolutely any pilaf, and it is believed that there are more than 100 recipes for them. On the same basis, I cook pilaf with chicken.

An interesting fact is that in Uzbekistan they believe that cooking pilaf is a purely male occupation, and that it does not tolerate female hands. And in fact, for all holidays and celebrations, for all other occasions, it is prepared by men there. And although I ate a lot of pilaf cooked by women, and their preparation was no worse than that of men, such a judgment is still alive and well!

I believe that in any case, whoever cooks this magnificent dish, it should be prepared in a good mood, without fuss and haste. It requires attention and respect, and that is why the finished dish is sometimes perceived as some kind of “special”, and Pilaf is always said! - with a capital letter and an exclamation point.

I really hope that you and your family and friends will like the dish prepared according to this recipe if you cook for them! And if something is not clear, ask, I will always be happy to answer all your questions regarding the preparation of this dish.

Uzbek beef pilaf step by step recipe with photo