What you need to cook pilaf over a fire. Pilaf in a cauldron over a fire - delicious and interesting recipes for a real Uzbek dish. Pilaf recipe
So, to prepare pilaf you need to stock up on the following ingredients (the dosage is based on a cauldron volume of 10 liters):
1. meat (lamb, beef, pork) 2.5-3 kg - there is never too much meat)) we chose pork, since finding good lamb is a problem, and beef is somewhat dry.
2. 800-900 ml of sunflower oil (you don’t have to bother and just take the whole bottle, but it’s better to keep the proportions, otherwise the pilaf will turn out fattier, but on the other hand there’s something in this too
3. onions 2 kg
5. rice (long grain, not parboiled) - 2 packets
6. drinking water 3.5-4 liters (depending on the amount of rice, but more on that later)
7. spices (red, black pepper, cumin - if you have it, if not, no problem)
8. table salt
9. garlic 4-5 heads depending on size
So, the cauldron itself:
Stage 1 - strong fire
Place it on high heat and add oil
After the oil is hot, add the meat (cut the meat into cubes large enough so that when frying they do not turn into small firebrands)
stirring the meat regularly, making sure that all the water is gone and only meat and oil remain
add the onion (cut it into half rings of medium thickness) and fry, stirring regularly
Once the onions are ready, add the carrots (cut the carrots into strips, preferably quite thin, but not transparent) and stir-fry until the carrots become soft
After this, add salt and pepper to taste. The amount of salt per 10 liters is a total of 10 teaspoons, at this stage we add half the dosage.
Fry until done, then add water. Please note that everything is cooked over high heat and therefore it is advisable to find a fireman who would prepare firewood, and the cook could devote himself completely to the art of cooking :)
The volume of water is calculated from a 1:2 ratio - if you have 900 gram bags, use 3.6 liters of water. I recommend adding a little less water than required.
add the rest of the salt, spices and bring to a boil.
cover the boiling cauldron with a lid and dismantle the fire. leave it with the lid closed for 20-30 minutes, checking periodically so that the coals do not go out at all
3rd stage - final
The timer has gone off, open the lid and let it heat up! I recommend checking the water for salinity and adding salt if necessary.
As soon as everything comes to a good boil, we begin to add the rice. I recommend laying the rice, carefully spreading it over the entire surface. Do not mix under any circumstances! Rice is placed on top of the meat!
As soon as the water has almost boiled away and the rice begins to appear, we begin to stick the previously peeled garlic cloves into the rice - we push them inside so that they are not visible.
Cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low.
Periodically check the rice for doneness, when the rice is ready and all the water has gone, remove the cauldron from the heat and let it cool.
The pilaf is ready - bon appetit!
So, to prepare pilaf you need to stock up on the following ingredients (the dosage is based on a cauldron volume of 10 liters):
1. meat (lamb, beef, pork) 2.5-3 kg - there is never too much meat)) we chose pork, since finding good lamb is a problem, and beef is somewhat dry.
2. 800-900 ml of sunflower oil (you don’t have to bother and just take the whole bottle, but it’s better to keep the proportions, otherwise the pilaf will turn out fattier, but on the other hand there’s something in this too
3. onions 2 kg
5. rice (long grain, not parboiled) - 2 packets
6. drinking water 3.5-4 liters (depending on the amount of rice, but more on that later)
7. spices (red, black pepper, cumin - if you have it, if not, no problem)
8. table salt
9. garlic 4-5 heads depending on size
So, the cauldron itself:
Stage 1 - strong fire
- Place it on high heat and add oil
- After the oil is hot, add the meat (cut the meat into cubes large enough so that when frying they do not turn into small firebrands)
- stirring the meat regularly, making sure that all the water is gone and only meat and oil remain
- add the onion (cut it into half rings of medium thickness) and fry, stirring regularly
- Once the onions are ready, add the carrots (cut the carrots into strips, preferably quite thin, but not transparent) and stir-fry until the carrots become soft
- After this, add salt and pepper to taste. The amount of salt per 10 liters is a total of 10 teaspoons, at this stage we add half the dosage.
- Fry until done, then add water. Please note that everything is cooked over high heat and therefore it is advisable to find a fireman who would prepare firewood, and the cook could devote himself completely to the art of cooking :)
- The volume of water is calculated from a 1:2 ratio - if you have 900 gram bags, use 3.6 liters of water. I recommend adding a little less water than required.
- add the rest of the salt, spices and bring to a boil.
- cover the boiling cauldron with a lid and dismantle the fire. leave it with the lid closed for 20-30 minutes, checking periodically so that the coals do not go out at all
Stage 2 - final
- The timer has gone off, open the lid and let it heat up! I recommend checking the water for salinity and adding salt if necessary.
- As soon as everything comes to a good boil, we begin to add the rice. I recommend laying the rice, carefully spreading it over the entire surface. Do not mix under any circumstances! Rice is placed on top of the meat!
- As soon as the water has almost boiled away and the rice begins to appear, we begin to stick the previously peeled garlic cloves into the rice - we push them inside so that they are not visible.
- Cover with a lid and reduce the heat to low.
- Periodically check the rice for doneness, when the rice is ready and all the water has gone, remove the cauldron from the heat and let it cool.
The pilaf is ready - bon appetit!
Yesterday we went to visit friends at their dacha. And our very close friend, knowing my ability to cook pilaf, invited me to cook it. And although I have been preparing it for so many years, I thought that I could cook it with my eyes closed. But no, it didn’t work with my eyes closed. Since we were in nature, we also had to cook in nature.
Our friend is a jack of all trades. He not only easily builds, makes repairs, and makes everything he needs on the farm. He also cooks very tasty food! And especially for the dacha, he made a unique barbecue from an antique Singer sewing machine, and independently made a smokehouse and a stove for a cauldron from a gas cylinder. And with all this he prepares all sorts of culinary delicacies.
It was on this stove that I was asked to cook this Uzbek dish. Yes, not simple, but made from pork. It’s not simple because, having lived long enough in Uzbekistan, we never prepared this dish from pork either there or here. Well, what's on the stove, so on the stove - from pork, so from pork. This is a wonderful new experience for me.
A dish prepared in this way can be prepared both in the kitchen, on a gas stove, and outdoors, on a fire.
Pilaf with pork
I was provided with a set of products for cooking. And he turned out to be like this:
- pork meat - 1.3 kg
- onion - 1 kg
- carrots - 1 kg
- rice - 800 gr
- garlic - 2 heads
- spices - you can have a ready-made set
- zira - 1 tbsp. spoon
- barberry - 1 tbsp. spoon
- vegetable oil - 2/3 cup
- salt, ground black pepper - to taste
Preparation:
1. Cut the meat into large pieces.
2. Peel the onion and cut into half rings, 0.4-0.5 cm thick
3. Cut the carrots into thin strips. To do this, first cut it diagonally into long thin slices. And only then cut into long strips 0.4-0.5 cm thick. Men cut the onions and carrots for me. (Well done!!!)
4. Peel the garlic from the top layer of husk and cut off the remaining roots to the very base. Rinse it under water.
5. Rinse the rice under running water until the water becomes clear. Then fill it with water at room temperature and leave to swell for 20 minutes.
Preparation:
1. Heat a cauldron and pour vegetable oil into it. Heat the oil until lightly smoking.
2. Select meat on the bones and fry it until golden brown. The fire should be large enough, this is necessary so that the meat is fried quickly, then it will be juicy. All the juice will be “sealed” in the meat and will not go into the oil.
3. Remove the bones to a plate using a slotted spoon.
4. Place the meat right there. We lower it along the edge of the cauldron so as not to get burned by splashes of oil. We also quickly fry until golden brown.
I don’t describe the time anywhere, because I cook on the stove and I have to put wood in it and regulate the fire. The photographs give an idea of the state to which you need to fry if you fry on a stove. While we are doing everything over high heat.
5. As soon as the meat reaches the desired state, add the laid out bones and immediately add the onions to the cauldron. It should be stirred and then fried, stirring occasionally. Be careful not to burn the onion. Fry it until golden brown and translucent. It should not be visible at all in the finished pilaf.
6. When the onion is ready, you need to add the carrots. Then mix the contents. Add spices: cumin and I have ready-made spices for pilaf. If you don’t have spices in your set, then be sure to buy cumin, ground coriander (or you can grind it yourself in a mortar) and barberry. Other spices can be added as desired. I usually add a pinch of saffron for flavor, paprika for color, and dried herbs for scent.
7. You also need to add salt. This is about a dessert spoon. At first I add a little more than half a tablespoon, and when I add the rice and add water, I taste it and add salt completely. And of course you need pepper. Add it to taste. Just a pinch, maybe half a teaspoon. And who likes it spicier, you can add a small piece of red hot pepper.
Today I was told that “pepper opens the heart.” In my opinion, pilaf also has the same property. that is why they love to cook and eat it so much.
8. Fry the carrots for 3-4 minutes and add a little boiled water. What we have achieved is called “zirvak” in Uzbekistan. That is, this is the basis of any pilaf. If everything is done correctly, it will be tasty and aromatic.
9. Stew the meat with vegetables for about 20 minutes. During this time, the meat becomes 80-85% ready. You can cut off a small piece and try it. It is already chewy well, but while it is cooked with rice, it will become completely soft.
10. Almost all the water has boiled away, if there is a little left, it’s okay, it won’t hurt. Add garlic to the zirvak. We place it, sticking it between the meat pieces so that it does not float up. Being half in zirvak and half in rice, it will give off all its aroma both up and down. And the dish will receive that unforgettable aroma of real Uzbek pilaf.
11. Drain the water from the rice and place it in a cauldron, distributing it evenly over the entire surface. You need to lay it out in such a way that it completely covers the meat and carrots.
12. Boil water in advance. And through the holes in the slotted spoon, pour water about 2 cm above the level of the rice. Uzbeks check the water level with their index finger. They lower it into the water, the water should reach its first phalanx.
13. Let the water boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Taste salt and pepper. If you need to add, then add. As long as there is a lot of water, it will “carry” the salt where it is needed. When the water has already boiled away, it will be too late to add salt.
14. Also cook the rice over high heat until the water becomes invisible. That is, it should still remain at the lower level, but it will no longer be on the surface. At the same time, the rice is almost 90% ready.
15. It's time to make a slide and turn down the heat. I rake the wood, put it to the sides, and close the damper so that there is no access to air and the fire becomes very small. I make a slide using a slotted spoon. To do this, I take the rice from the edges and move it to the center. At the same time, there is no need to touch the lower layers with meat and carrots.
16. When the slide is ready, take a thin stick, maybe a Chinese one, and make several holes all the way to the bottom. I don't have a stick, so I make holes with a spoon handle. Why do we make holes? Firstly, we need to evaporate all the water, and secondly, bring the rice to full readiness. Therefore, the steam will escape through the holes so that there is no water left, and at the same time steam the rice. The lid will need to be closed.
17. The dish will simmer in this way for 10-15 minutes. You can check whether there is water left or not by opening the lid and looking to see if there is still liquid around the edges and in the holes made. Or by slightly moving the rice away from the edge of the cauldron with a slotted spoon. When you open the lid, make sure that water does not drip back into the cauldron.
18. When there is no water left at all, turn off the heat (and in my case, completely remove the wood). Cover with a lid and leave to rest and infuse for 15-20 minutes.
Innings:
1. Pilaf is served on a large flat dish, laid out in layers in the reverse order as it was laid. There is no need to stir anything in the cauldron.
2. First, put rice in the dish. Then carrots.
3. Our meat is cut into large pieces. Therefore, we take it out onto a cutting board and cut it into smaller pieces. Place it on top of the carrots. And put garlic on top.
4. You can sprinkle chopped herbs on top.
10 Cooking Secrets
In my cooking recipes, and I have already described and shared in the most detailed way all the secrets of cooking. Therefore, I will focus on the most basic ones. This will make the dish truly delicious.
- To prepare this dish, be sure to use meat with bones. Even in this recipe, where we used pork, we took pieces of brisket on the bone, and the rest of the meat in the pulp.
- The meat needs to be fried over high heat to “seal” the juice, in which case it will turn out juicy and tasty.
- You need to learn how to cut carrots correctly. Not in cubes, not in circles, not in bars, but in thin long strips.
- The usual proportion of ingredients for cooking is all in equal quantities. For 1 kg of rice - 1 kg of meat, 1 kg of onions, and 1 kg of carrots. You can take more meat so that everyone can eat. But it’s better not to take less carrots and onions. Both provide the necessary juiciness and taste to our dish.
- I usually use steamed long rice, this kind of rice practically does not boil, and the finished dish will never taste like porridge. Today I cooked from purchased “Rice for Pilaf” and I am not 100% happy with the result. The rice, already in the package, was cracked and uneven. This kind of rice naturally cooks unevenly. In my opinion, this is a promotional ploy for the name of regular rice, and it is not for it at all. Choose long steamed rice of the same size - the result will always be predictable.
- do not overfill the water. If there is more of it than necessary, the rice will be like porridge. But in real pilaf, the “grain of rice” should move away from the “grain of rice”.
- Be sure to use cumin and ground coriander as spices; without them, a real Uzbek dish cannot be prepared. Other spices are optional. But don’t “overdo it”, of course.
- During the cooking process, do not mix the rice with the rest of the contents.
- When preparing pilaf, you should remember two main stages. The first is the preparation of zirvak, it gives the desired taste to the dish. The second is proper cooking of rice. This is the appearance of the dish.
- and one more, almost the most important secret - “preparing a dish does not tolerate fuss.” Therefore, prepare and cut everything in advance so as not to be distracted later. And be in a good mood, this is very necessary for preparing a tasty and healthy dish.
Well, based on my experiment today, I can say that everyone liked the dish prepared with pork. We prepared it for guests who had gathered on the occasion of the birthday of the owner of the house. And although calling it “Uzbek” can be very conditional, since it was prepared from pork, it turned out to be no less tasty than when prepared from beef or lamb. Well, it was prepared, of course, according to all the rules for preparing real Uzbek pilaf.
Bon appetit!
Pilaf is a tasty and satisfying dish. And if you cook it over a fire, all the qualities are only multiplied. And for this dish to acquire the highest level of taste, it must be prepared from lamb. Lamb pilaf over a fire is incredibly tasty. I want to cook this dish, eat it and treat it to friends. It’s not difficult to prepare, unless of course the weather is windy outside and the frost is twenty degrees below zero.
To prepare Uzbek pilaf in a cauldron over a fire, take the ingredients according to the list.
It’s good to heat a cauldron over a fire and put the fat tail fat cut into small pieces into it. You need to melt the lard out of it, and stir it several times so that everything is fried evenly. The browned cracklings need to be removed. Pour finely chopped onion into the cauldron. Stirring occasionally, bring it to transparency and softness. If the fire is high, this will take about 2-3 minutes.
The meat needs to be cut into small pieces, approximately 2x2 cm, but there is no need to cut off the existing fat. Place it in a cauldron, distribute it evenly along the walls of the cauldron, pushing the onion into the middle. This must be done so that the meat warms up and does not cool the fat.
Let it warm up for 5-7 minutes and only then stir.
Add spices, salt, chopped carrots and pour in water. Place two washed heads of garlic and leave to simmer until fully cooked. If the lamb was young, then 30 minutes is enough for the zirvak to be ready.
Wash the rice until the water is clear.
Pour into prepared zirvak. Water should cover the rice by 1.5 cm. If there is less water, you need to add water. Without covering or stirring the mixture, leave to simmer over low heat until the liquid evaporates. Then collect the rice in a mound, cover the cauldron with a lid and leave for another 15-20 minutes.
Before serving, carefully mix and serve the most delicious, hearty and crumbly pilaf.
The pilaf cooked in a cauldron over a fire was a success!
Bon appetit. Cook with love.
Cooking lamb pilaf in a cauldron is not as difficult as it might seem to a novice cook.
Although connoisseurs of oriental cuisine believe that only an experienced cook can make perfect pilaf, and only certain products should be used in preparing the dish (for example, Devzira rice, fat-tailed lamb, cottonseed oil). However, for temperate latitudes they are quite rare. However, you can prepare pilaf from ingredients of more common varieties.
If it is not possible to buy fat-tailed lamb, you can use another type of meat. It should be borne in mind that only old lamb has a specific taste, which many cannot stand. Carrots and onions should be of sweet varieties. Long-grain rice is most suitable for pilaf, since when cooked (if cooked correctly) it remains crumbly.
There are many recipes for Uzbek pilaf, but they all have one thing in common: the most delicious dishes are prepared not on a gas or electric stove, but on a cauldron stove or fire. Not everyone has the opportunity to make or buy a stove, but anyone can build a fire.
For the container in which the pilaf will be cooked, it is better to make a 3-sided stand made of bricks. The fourth side remains open and is used for storing firewood and as a blower.
Another condition for preparing high-quality pilaf is the correct choice of utensils. The ideal option is to use a cast iron cauldron with a spherical bottom. In this case, the entire surface of the container is heated evenly. If you don’t have such utensils, you can use a cast iron duck pot or goose pan. As a last resort, you can cook pilaf in an aluminum pot, but with thick walls and bottom.
Ingredients for pilaf
To cook pilaf in a cauldron over a fire for a company of 5-6 people, you will need:
- 1 kg rice;
- 300 ml sunflower oil;
- 1 kg of lamb of medium fat content;
- 1 kg carrots;
- 3 large onions;
- head of garlic;
- 2 fresh red hot peppers;
- salt;
- cumin (cumin);
- dried barberry.
An additional ingredient in pilaf can be seedless raisins (of the sultana variety).
Order of adding ingredients
To prepare pilaf, it is better to use a cauldron with a capacity of at least 6 liters. Before adding the ingredients, it needs to be properly calcined over a fire (water that gets onto a heated cauldron instantly evaporates).
Then vegetable oil is poured into the bowl. Nowadays refined is used more often. The classic recipe for pilaf involves the use of unrefined oil, which must be heated until a white smoke forms (after which the taste of seeds disappears). You can also calcinate lamb fat in a cauldron (instead of vegetable fat). Then the fried pieces of lard are removed.
Now you can put a couple of bones, peeled from meat, into the cauldron and fry them until golden brown. After removing them, add onion cut into thin half rings into the container. It should be fried until it turns golden brown. Periodically, the onions need to be stirred with a slotted spoon.
How to cook zirvak and rice?
Now water is poured into the cauldron. It should lightly cover the ingredients in the cauldron. The intensity of the fire decreases. Zirvak (the name of this broth) should not boil when boiling. Salt is poured into it.
The next step is to place the meat cut into pieces into a cauldron (the size of the pieces is approximately 5x5x5 cm). It needs to be fried until golden brown, stirring occasionally. It must be said that the main thing at each stage of preparing pilaf is to evaporate excess water from the ingredients. Haste is the main enemy of a good dish.
Carrots are added to the fried meat. It can be cut into cubes or bars. Under no circumstances should carrots be chopped into thin strips.
The thickness of the blocks should be at least 5-7 mm. The carrots are cooked for 15-20 minutes, gently mixing them together with the meat. After this time, excess moisture will leave the carrots. It must be added that all ingredients in these stages are cooked over high heat.
It’s not a big deal if the zirvak turns out to be a little too salty, since rice will be put into the cauldron later.
For now you need to put:
- 2 intact hot peppers;
- a head of garlic (when removing the husk from it and cutting the root, you must prevent the vegetable from falling apart into slices).
A small handful of barberry and cumin is poured into the bowl. The grains of the latter can first be lightly rubbed in the palms of your hands.
While the zirvak is cooking, you should rinse the rice. In order to clean the grains from sticky starch, you will need a lot of water. Rice is washed in a bowl filled with liquid, gently rubbing it between your palms. When washing grains, it may be necessary to change the water 5-7 times.
As a result, it should remain transparent. Do not allow soaked rice to come into contact with air for a long time, as this will lead to the destruction of the grains. After final rinsing, it must be filled with water.
When the water has evaporated from the zirvak (after 45-50 minutes), and only the ingredients and oil remain in it, you can put rice in the cauldron. Those who want to add raisins to pilaf can do this just before adding rice. A handful of berries are pre-soaked in hot water.
The rice is laid out in a cauldron in an even layer and lightly compacted with a slotted spoon. Then the grains are filled with water. Too much of it will cause the rice to become overcooked, so the liquid should only slightly cover it. If necessary, it can be topped up.
When cooking rice, the heat should be at maximum. The layer of grains can be gently mixed with a slotted spoon, but do not mix it with the rest of the ingredients. When the water from the surface has evaporated, you need to make several deep holes in the pilaf with the handle of a spoon or a wooden stick. The remaining moisture will evaporate through them.
At this stage, you can add salt if the pilaf tastes not salty enough. To make sure that all the water has left the cauldron and to prevent the ingredients from burning to its bottom, you need to press the slotted spoon to the surface of the rice layer. The absence of a characteristic hiss will indicate that it is time to move on to the final stage of preparing the pilaf.
Evaporation of pilaf
Those who want to know how to cook lamb pilaf are interested in whether it is necessary to cover the cauldron with a lid during its preparation. No, the dishes are closed only at the final stage, when the rice is already cooked. Within half an hour, the pilaf will evaporate over the remaining coals from the fire.
Before evaporation, you need to remove the burning wood from the fire and leave only the smoldering firewood. Remove the head of garlic and pepper from the cauldron without damaging them and set aside. The contents of the cauldron are carefully mixed with a slotted spoon. The ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the entire container. The pilaf is going uphill. Holes are made in it. Place garlic and pepper on top of the mound.
Another preparation option does not involve mixing the different layers before evaporation. In this case, you need to carefully collect only the rice layer into a mound. The cauldron is covered with a lid. The steam will rise through the channels made and, cooling under the lid, will again fall to the bottom of the cauldron. During steam recirculation, all pilaf ingredients will saturate each other with their aroma and taste as much as possible. While evaporating the pilaf, you can carefully remove the lid from the cauldron several times and shake off any drops of accumulated condensate.
The finished pilaf can be portioned out onto plates or placed on a special large dish (lyagan). Pilaf is a rather fatty food. It is better to end your lunch with green tea. Ideal companions for pilaf are salads of tomatoes, black pepper and onions or radishes seasoned with vegetable oil.