Uzbek pilaf with pork in a cauldron. Step-by-step recipe with photos

What do we know about pilaf?

The legend about the appearance of pilaf is very interesting. It dates back to the time of Tamerlane. Once upon a time, his army, going on a long military campaign, needed a dish that did not require a large amount of food and could give the warriors strength and vigor.

One mullah suggested taking an old cast-iron cauldron, on the walls of which there were still traces of fat dripping from previous dishes - then the fire would cover the entire container with its blazes. Then put pieces of meat into it, pour in rice swelling with pride, add carrots blushing with embarrassment and onions that sting like a sharp sword. All this must be cooked until the smell of the dish reaches Allah, and the cook falls exhausted from the desire to taste the food.

With bulgur

Pork pilaf in a frying pan (the recipe allows you to replace rice with a special type of grain popular in Eastern countries). The unusual cereal is essentially specially processed durum wheat without the hull. Bulgur has long and successfully competed with the traditional rice in pilaf, giving the food an interesting taste and rich aroma.

Ingredients

To create food you will need:

sunflower oil - 150 ml;
onion - 5–6 pcs.;
garlic - 1 head;
carrots - 4 pcs.;
bulgur - 4 tbsp.;
pork (preferably rump) - 1.5 kg;
barberry, pilaf seasoning, cumin - 2 tsp each;
filtered water - 1.6 l;
coarse salt - optional.

Sequencing

Step-by-step execution of the recipe:

First you need to heat the frying pan and heat the oil in it.
Now you have to peel the vegetables, cut them in the usual form for preparing pilaf, then fry the onion in a hot mixture.
When the thin rings turn golden, add the meat divided into pieces to them, then you need to continue the process until the pork has a golden brown hue.
Then you should add carrot sticks to the products, carefully mix the mass, after about 4-5 minutes. During preparation, season the placed ingredients with salt, pepper, and other spices.
Then you need to pour hot drinking water over the products, completely covering the resulting mixture, then you have to cook the mass for 40 minutes.
After the specified time has passed, you need to pour the pre-washed bulgur into the frying pan, add the required amount of boiling water with a margin of 2 cm.
Next, you should wait until the fat floats to the surface of the cereal and the liquid begins to boil, after which you should reduce the heating intensity, close the container, and simmer the food for another 15 minutes.

Before serving, the contents of the dish must be carefully mixed.

Crumbly pilaf in a frying pan

Pork pilaf in a frying pan (the cooking recipe contains the conditions for obtaining a crumbly dish) is indeed a treat in which the grains will not be connected to each other, but in the total mass will reflect the entire palette of tastes and aromas of real Uzbek pilaf.

Pork pilaf, recipe for a crumbly dish in a frying pan.

Preparation next.

Ingredients

To prepare food you will need:

vegetable oil - 150 ml;
fresh pork pulp - 500 g;
boiled water - 1 l;
round rice - 500 g;
carrots - 2 pcs.;
cumin (jeera) - 1.5 tsp;
onion - 2 pcs.;
garlic - 1 head;
salt, pepper, other spices - optional.

The recipe can be supplemented with Turkish peas (chickpeas). Approximately 250 g of legumes should be soaked in salted water for approximately 10–12 hours, then boiled and added to the dish when frying and stewing meat.

Sequencing

The sequence of stages of obtaining food:

First, you need to rinse the rice well. The better this work is done, the more crumbly the finished dish will be. The cereal should be left in clean, slightly salted drinking water.
The pork should be divided into portions.
After this, you need to heat a frying pan, heat ½ amount of oil in it, fry the onion sliced into rings in hot fat until golden brown, then add chopped carrots to it.
Then you need to continue the process for about 2-3 minutes. with constant stirring, after which it is necessary to remove the container from the heat.
Now you should heat the rest of the oil in another frying pan and fry the pieces of meat in it.
Then you need to add the vegetable mixture to the pork, salt and pepper it, cook the food until golden brown, then sprinkle the mixture with cumin, crushed with your fingers. With this method, the taste of pilaf will become especially rich.
Next, you need to fill the contents of the container with boiling water in the usual manner, after which you should simmer the food, covered, over low heat for about 20 minutes.
When the specified time has passed, you need to place a peeled head of garlic in the center.
Then you should place the washed rice on top of the meat (the water needs to be drained), pour salted boiling water over it, and continue the cooking process in a tightly closed container.
Cooking should be completed after 20 minutes, remembering to leave the treat under a thick towel.

To obtain fluffy rice, you need to maintain the proportion of grain and water - 500 g per 1 liter. It is recommended to stir the composition once at the end of cooking.

General principles of cooking pilaf in a frying pan

Oriental pilaf is not just a national brand, but a delicious dish with a rather complex technological process that requires knowledge and indispensable execution of the following culinary principles of food creation:

The main condition for obtaining the perfect treat is to follow the stages of food preparation. First of all, you should prepare all the components of the dish, then arrange the so-called zirvak, which in Asia is called the “soul” of pilaf.
The second step will be to add pre-processed rice. During the cooking process, you can periodically stir the cereal, being careful not to touch the meat components.
For home cooking on the stove, a deep frying pan with a non-stick coating and high sides is suitable. It is advisable that the bottom of the container approximately matches the size of the burner.
It is customary to use barberry, Indian saffron, ground red pepper, and other components as aromatic additives. The correct proportion of spices is considered to be approximately 2 tsp. mixture of spices per ½ kg of rice.
When choosing carrots in Uzbekistan, preference is given to yellow rather than red root vegetables.
Rice is of paramount importance for creating the best pilaf. Ideally, you should use real grain of the Devzira variety - a transparent long-grain cereal with a brown tint. Its subspecies include Chungara, Kora Kiltirik, and Laser, similar to the popular Basmati.
The standard proportion of “correct” pilaf is considered to be approximately equal parts of meat, rice and carrots. The amount of onion and garlic can vary within 2 heads of each vegetable.
You can add salt to your food if you wish, but in a slightly larger amount - the rice will absorb the excess spice.

Water is of fundamental importance for the formation of the taste of pilaf. It is no coincidence that to Russia, for example, Uzbek chefs brought it along with other ingredients from their homeland. Do not use tap liquid. It is advisable to have filtered or bottled water, or even better - spring water.

With steamed rice

The presented translucent cereal with a beautiful yellowish-amber color is distinguished by a high content of healthy substances. True, cooking the grain will require additional time.

Ingredients:

To prepare food you will need:

sunflower oil - 200 ml;
onion - 4 pcs.;
pork - 1 kg;
carrots - 500 g;
barberry - 2 tsp;
steamed rice - 1 kg;
turmeric and cumin - 1 tsp each;
coarse salt - optional.

Sequencing

Step-by-step creation of a dish:

The first step is to thoroughly rinse the cereal and, if possible, leave it in drinking water for 1–2 hours.
After this, you need to fry the pre-processed, portioned meat.
When the pork is browned, add chopped onion into rings, continue the process until the vegetable is golden brown, then add chopped carrots to the mixture.
The resulting mixture needs to be fried for about 4–5 minutes, then you should place the rice, freed from liquid, on top of the meat, pour about 1.5–2 cm of hot purified water over the products above their level, salt and pepper the mixture, season it with spices and herbs.
Next, you need to make several holes with a wooden spatula to the bottom of the dish, then simmer the food at minimum heat, closed, for approximately 20 minutes.

The prepared treat should be served hot, sprinkled with chopped herbs.