Pilaf is the national dish of the peoples of Central Asia. It is considered one of the most delicious dishes, and its preparation is taken seriously and leisurely. Any housewife, when asked if she knows how to cook pilaf, will confidently answer positively. IN Soviet time suggested in all cookbooks traditional recipe this dish, which includes lamb meat, rice, carrots, onions and sultanas. When the ingredients were boiled together and seasoned with salt and red pepper, they were called “oriental pilaf.”
History of pilaf
The invention of pilaf is inextricably linked with the name of Tamerlane. Once, while walking around the troops before going to bed, he overheard a conversation between two soldiers who were worried about how to survive without food during a campaign against Ankara. The journey was long, and Tamerlan was not going to sacrifice the speed and surprise of the attack for the sake of convoys with food (by the way, absolutely necessary). The mullah suggested the ruler a recipe for an unusually satisfying and nutritious dish.
His words sounded like this: “We need to take a large cast-iron boiler. It must be so old that the fat from the previous food oozes from the outside and catches fire when the fire hits it. In this cauldron you need to put the meat of not old, but not very young lambs, selected rice, swelling with pride, which will be eaten by brave warriors, young carrots, blushing with joy, and sharp onions, stinging like the sword of a highly respected emir. All this must be cooked over a fire until the smell of the cooked dish reaches Allah, and the cook collapses in exhaustion because he has tasted the divine food.” From one cup of this dish, warriors gained strength for several days.
So, thanks to pilaf, Tamerlane’s army won. And his warriors praised the wisdom of their emir and at every halt they cooked a dish they liked so much. There is another version of this legend - the pilaf came from Alexander the Great himself. His troops, having conquered another nation in Asia Minor, were very surprised by the excellent taste of this dish and how easy it was to prepare. After that, they adopted this recipe.
The name of pilaf You will probably be interested to know that the name of the dish “palov osh” (and this is what pilaf is called in the Uzbek language) consists of the initial letters of all the products included in its composition:
P (PIYOZ) - ONION This vegetable is rich in vitamin C and phytoncides - biologically active substances that kill many types of protozoa bacteria and lower fungi in the first minutes and even seconds.
A (АОЗ) - CARROT This is a multivitamin root vegetable. It contains all the essential vitamins: B1, B2, C and PP and carotene - provitamin A. If red carrots contain more sugar, proteins and carotene, then yellow carrots contain a lot of mineral salts, vitamins C and group B.
L (LAHM) - MEAT No questions arise here - meat is the most valuable food product. Meat contains from 14 to 16.1% proteins, potassium salts, calcium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, etc. Meat is rich in microelements, vitamins B, PP, etc. B (BET) - SALT Salt is not just important, and a necessary element for human body. Ibn Sina counted salt medicine: “Salt cleanses, dissolves, binds and dries due to its ability to dissolve...” The norm of salt per healthy person is from 10 to 15 g per day, including that contained in bread, in dishes, natural products and added to food during meals.
O (OB) - WATER Products included in pilaf (onions, carrots, meat) contain from 60 to 85% water, which is restored by zirvak liquid.
SH (SHALY) - RICE Perhaps the most important component of pilaf. Rice is rich in starch and fiber and contains many vitamins and minerals. Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) is part of a number of enzymes, participates in the metabolism of amino acids, etc. It turns out that the main and unshakable ingredient of pilaf is rice. All other components depend on the specific recipe. For example, in the homeland of pilaf, Turkey, the recipe for pilaf is in the “rice dishes” section. But the thing is that this section also includes pasta dishes by default. So pasta pilaf is quite possible. The encyclopedic work of Brockhaus and Efron mentions that pilaf is a Caucasian dish prepared not only from rice, but also other cereals (millet) and noodles.
For example, Catalan fishermen prepare paella not with rice, but with small vermicelli, explaining that vermicelli better conveys the taste and aroma of seafood. Pilaf made from crushed wheat, lentils, peas and even corn is widespread in Central Asia. And in Soviet army And navy I practiced my pilaf recipe: fry small pieces of pork or lamb, add hot water, add tomato and pearl barley, pre-soaked for 2 hours. In a word, there are a lot of options for preparing pilaf. They all differ in taste preferences, and the cooking technology is guessable. In India, fried sandalwood or cinnamon is added to pilaf; in Azerbaijan, saffron and other spices are added. But for example, the French call poultry pilaf their invention. In Louisiana, pilaf is a kind of combined recipe: rice, chicken (you can add pork), sausages and seafood (shrimp, crab, oysters). All this is seasoned with sauteed tomato and spices. In addition to the already known raisin, you can add nuts when preparing pilaf. For example, the famous Ali Pasha pilaf is a dish of fluffy rice and small meatballs made from minced lamb, pine nuts, bread and spices.
Pilaf is a simple, satisfying, economical and very ancient dish. This article contains 3 video recipes, Uzbek, Azerbaijani and sweet versions of pilaf. The word itself is Persian. But there is such a Turkish word - pilaf and it means thick rice porridge.
It is assumed that vegetarian versions of it began to be prepared in India, and meat was added in Persia. There are several versions of its origin, and now it is simply impossible to determine the only correct one, so everything is covered with the dust of centuries. And most likely they began to prepare it in several countries at once, from those in which rice was cultivated (China and Japan are not taken into account, they have completely different technologies for cooking rice).
But in general, almost every Asian people has its own recipe. Why, the people, every region and even village has its own secret of preparing delicious pilaf! After all, as it spread, each region added something of its own and changed recipes depending on preferences.
As you know, the basis of pilaf is rice, meat and carrots. But all these parts can change, for example, instead of rice (the cereal part of pilaf is called gara, in Azerbaijani cuisine) wheat, peas, corn, lentils or mixtures of cereals can be used. Instead of meat (this part is called zirvak in Uzbek cuisine), fish can be used (for example, among the Caspian Turkmen and Kazakhs), as well as pieces of minced meat, which are wrapped in grape leaves.
There is even a Turkish proverb: There are as many pilaf recipes as there are cities in the Muslim World. And then there are legends that people like so much. According to one of them (Persian version), the great khan gave the task to Avicenna (Ibn Sina) to create a recipe for feeding soldiers on a campaign. This should be an easy-to-prepare, high-calorie dish that retains water well in the body and consists of products that do not take up much space and are stored well. As you know, the basis for pilaf - rice - is just such a product.
Another legend says that this recipe was given to Timur Tamerlane by a certain mullah before a military campaign against Ankara (the capital of Turkey): “You need to take a large and very old cast-iron cauldron so that it is so saturated with oil that when heated it will flare up. Melt the fat and put the meat of neither old nor young lamb into the cauldron. The highest quality rice, which will burst with pride that brave warriors will eat it.
Carrots that will turn red with joy. And a bow as sharp as the sharpest sword. All this must be stewed on fire until the divine aroma of pilaf reaches Allah himself. And the cook will not fall from exhaustion and joy when he tries this delicious dish.”
But in Samarkand they believe that this dish was developed by the cook of Tamerlane’s father, Ugulbek.
I have been preparing pilaf for my family for a long time, or rather, I thought it was pilaf. My mother contemptuously called him porridge with meat. Since a Tajik friend taught her a long time ago how to cook it correctly. That's why we've had a cauldron for a very long time. Something like this, by the way, I cook many other dishes in it, it’s very convenient
I got tired of it and went to YouTube. I found a video recipe on how to cook delicious pilaf at home, otherwise they like to show us how to cook over a fire in a large cauldron. Of course I made some variations, I don’t like it when food is too fatty. And after that, my family and even my mother (and this is worth a lot, anyone who lives with an elderly mother will understand me) said that this was just super! Now I'll tell you everything.
Cooking Tashkent pilaf
Grocery list:
Rice - 1 kg
Meat - 500 gr.
It’s better to take 2 types of meat, I put pork and chicken, but in general the combinations can be very different.
Lard - 100 gr.
I don’t put it in at all, I make it with vegetable oil.
Onion - 5 pcs.
Carrots - 500 gr.
Garlic - 3 heads
I don’t add it either (I don’t like it)
Hot pepper - 2 pods
I just add black peppercorns
Salt and spices (to taste)
First we make the zirvak, until we pour water into it, we have to be in the kitchen - this is the most troublesome part of preparing pilaf. Melt the lard in a cauldron; it must first become very hot. The cracklings are taken out, and only then vegetable oil is poured in.
I don’t render lard, it will be very greasy - I immediately pour in the oil and put in the pit. The bone should be thoroughly fried - this is done to add flavor to the pilaf, after which it is removed. Next, put onion cut into half rings and fry it to such an extent that it will burn just a little more.
After this, coarsely chopped meat is added. By the way, I was afraid that the onion would still burn along with the meat, but this does not happen, since the meat gives juice. We cut the carrots into strips, and when the meat is fried until golden brown, we put it in a cauldron. Immediately cover it with a lid for 5 minutes so that it retains its integrity and juiciness, and fry thoroughly.
Next, add the spices we love and 3 whole heads of garlic, you just need to trim the roots (I add black pepper and that’s it). Salt and add water to cover the meat. Cover with a lid and simmer our zirvak.
In the meantime, let's prepare the rice. In general, for Uzbek pilaf you need to take only round grain rice (but I take any, although the pilaf turns out different). When we wash rice, pay attention to the first drain of water and if it is cloudy, then such rice needs little water. And if the water is almost clear after draining, then such rice should be soaked in warm water for 30-40 minutes.
After the meat is cooked until half done, add the rice. But first we check the zirvak for saltiness; it should be saltier than the finished dish, since some of the salt will be absorbed by the rice. It is quite possible that you will not have to add water at all. Ideally, the water should reach the center hole of the slotted spoon.
Stir only the rice, do not touch the lower parts. After this, cover the pilaf first with a bowl, then with a lid, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and let it sit there for about 20 minutes. Open it, put it in bowls and serve. Watch the video tutorial below
We are preparing Uzbek pilaf. Gotovim plov.
There are also recipes for folding pilaf, that is, when rice is boiled separately from meat - this cooking option is considered Azerbaijani. This is also a very interesting option and not at all complicated as it might seem at first.
How to cook khan pilaf video recipe
In ancient times, this pilaf was prepared only for khans.
Products:
Lavash - 15 pieces
Boiled rice (preferably basmati) - 800 g
Roasted raisins (seedless) - 150 gr
Saffron - for rice
Lamb (or any other meat), fried with onions - 800 g
Ghee butter - 450 gr
Dried apricots, fried for decoration
Grind the saffron in a mortar, add salt and brew it with boiling water, let it sit for a while. Boil the rice; for cooking, the volume of water should be 5 times the volume of rice. We throw it into a heated and very salt water. The fact is that he never takes more salt than necessary. Did you notice? It always turns out to be under-salted. After cooking, rinse with hot water to prevent sticking, add oil and saffron.
Fry the meat with onions. Take the pita bread and coat it thoroughly with melted butter on both sides. And we line the cauldron (we also pre-lubricate the cauldron with oil) so that the bottom is lined and the edges hang down. We do this with all the cakes, except for one (we coat it too)
Next, put it on the pita bread in layers: rice, meat, rice, fried raisins (you can add dried apricots), rice. We close the folded edges of the pita bread, put the last coated pita bread on top and fill it all with oil. Place a lid on the cauldron.
Place in the oven for 1-1.5 hours and bake until the pita bread is browned. Then drain the oil from the cauldron. And we turn the cauldron into a bowl for the finished pilaf, it is better if it is a large dish or a clean baking sheet.
And it’s cut like this: first we cut out the middle, and then we cut it like a pie. Watch the video tutorial, but there are also 2 very tasty Azerbaijani dishes, dolma, and a rich fermented milk drink, Dovga.
Spicy sweet pilaf
Jasmine rice - 200 gr
Boiling water - 1.5 cups
Walnuts - 1 g
Raisins - 100 gr
Butter - 50 gr
Curry - 1 teaspoon
Sugar Salt - to taste
Melt the butter for 5-6 minutes, fry the washed rice in oil until the rice grains begin to become transparent. Next, add 1 teaspoon of curry + 32 teaspoons of sugar and a pinch of salt. Close the lid and heat for 2-3 minutes.
Add raisins and nuts and mix. Pour about 1.5 glasses of water, stir, reduce the heat to low and leave for 15 minutes so that the rice absorbs all the liquid. Stir again, turn off, close so that the rice absorbs the remaining moisture.
! The “delicious” celebration began at noon on Tverskaya Square in Moscow. The famous chef, host of the culinary show “Like in a Restaurant” Alexander Zhurkin will prepare pilaf - a national dish for many peoples of the Commonwealth. Moreover, in the original version - from goose and spelt. For this purpose, a 100-liter cauldron will be installed. The cooking master class will last two hours. Zhurkin will share culinary life hacks with everyone. He will show and tell you how to prepare aromatic goose pilaf, and also treat it to the guests of the holiday. A photo zone, exciting competitions and pleasant gifts will also await everyone who comes.
Pilaf is the head of everything! This is a real cult dish for all countries of the Commonwealth. In Tajikistan, it is prepared for holidays, and in Uzbekistan, guests are greeted with pilaf and even placed on the wedding table. In Russia, people eat pilaf for no reason. This is almost everyone's favorite dish.
Original recipe almost 2500 years. According to historians, this dish was invented in India. Local residents grew rice, boiled it and added aromatic herbs to it. And a little later the rice was also diluted with meat. According to legend, Genghis Khan himself is considered the author of pilaf. When the great conqueror conquered China and was about to go to the West, he had to solve a difficult question - how to feed his army. The requirements for the food were simple - it should be quick to prepare, satisfying and easy to prepare. Genghis Khan tasked the best chefs to come up with such a dish. The problem was solved by the Mongols and the Chinese. The first offered meat, and the second - rice. So we decided to cook. With this dish, Genghis Khan traveled throughout Asia and even reached Europe.
This dish has conquered all nations. True, local products began to be added to the main ingredients. Folk tales and ancient chronicles say that pilaf has always occupied a special place on the table. It was served only on major holidays. This dish was even used in folk medicine. It was recommended to eat it when the body is exhausted, unwell, and after a serious illness. They consumed pilaf before and after physical labor, as well as in bad weather in spring, autumn and winter. In the 16th century, French chefs tried to prepare pilaf according to the description of travelers returning from Arab countries, but the experiment failed. There was no fluffy rice, only porridge with meat. Only in the 19th century did European cooks learn how to cook delicious pilaf.
The largest pilaf was prepared by Uzbek chefs in 2017. They placed eight tons of rice in one cauldron. This record was set by the Tashkent oshpaz. This is the name given to the chefs who prepare this dish exclusively. 46 people created the aromatic dish in the open air for almost six hours. For cooking, we took one and a half tons of beef, lamb, three tons of carrots and a couple of tons of rice. You won't find this recipe in any cookbook. The cauldron for this mega-dish was specially cast at a local plant. Tsar Plov was included in the Guinness Book of Records. Typically, more than 60 types of pilaf are prepared in Uzbekistan. And the most interesting thing is that the ingredients are almost the same, but the taste is always different.
Plov, without a doubt, is the main dish of Uzbek national cuisine. In Uzbekistan, pilaf is not just food, it is a real art, the study of which you can devote your whole life to! On the eve of the holy holiday of Ramadan Hayit, website I have prepared an article for you in which I collected Interesting Facts about this everyone’s favorite dish.
- There are a huge number of varieties of pilaf. In Uzbekistan alone there are over 200 types and recipes of this delicious dish. A famous Turkish proverb says: “There are as many types of pilaf as there are cities in the Muslim world.”
- Pilaf, under different names, exists from Spain to India. Thus, in Spain, a variety of pilaf is called paella and is one of the main dishes of the national cuisine. Paella differs from Central Asian pilaf primarily in the use of seafood.
Paella is a Spanish variety of pilaf
- The Iraqi authorities offered to cook pilaf at McDonald's. Now this dish, beloved by many, can be ordered in an American fast food restaurant. And all because conservative residents of the eastern country did not appreciate the invention of the West, fast food.
- In ancient times, in Central Asia, pilaf was cooked in lamb skin. To do this, a thick skin was placed in a large pit on hot coals, pilaf was wrapped in it, and the coals were poured on top. Thus, the temperature inside was distributed evenly.
- How old is pilaf? As a dish whose main component is rice, pilaf has been known at least since the 10th-11th centuries. It is from this time that ancient chronicles date back to which it is mentioned that pilaf was served at weddings and major holidays as the most honorable dish.
- It is known that Amir Temur included pilaf in the main menu of his warriors. Once, while developing a plan for a campaign against Ankara, the commander asked an important question: how to combine a large army, a long road, speed and a surprise attack, and at the same time do without huge convoys of food? It was then that the wise Mulla told him the recipe for this unusually tasty, satisfying and nutritious dish. From one cup of pilaf the warriors gained strength for several days, and Tamerlane’s army easily won the victory. Since then, pilaf has become the main food of Amir Temur’s loyal army, and, perhaps, one of the main secrets of his victorious campaigns.
- Some sources contain information that the soldiers of Alexander the Great were the first to consume pilaf.
Pilaf is the food of real gourmets, especially the stronger half of humanity - it is not without reason that only men master the art of preparing real holiday pilaf. Pilaf is rightfully considered the pinnacle of Uzbek culinary art, because it combines the skills of frying, boiling and steaming in one dish. That’s why they say that if you can cook real pilaf, you can cook any other dish.
Prices for pilaf products in stores website (as of June 24, 2017):
Yellow carrots - from 3,290 soums (1 kg.)
Onion - from 3,290 soums (1 kg)
Pilaf. The dish is very ancient; the origin of the dish can hardly be reliably established. It can be assumed that the principles of preparing pilaf developed in the Middle East and India no earlier than the 2nd-3rd centuries BC, that is, with the beginning of rice cultivation in the Middle East. Rice was cultivated in China even earlier, but the principles of preparing rice in Chinese and Japanese cuisine allow us to conclude that this dish was not borrowed from there.
It is likely that the roots of pilaf should be sought in India, where since ancient times there have been similar rice, but vegetarian dishes, apparently supplemented with meat already in ancient Persia. By the way, this can be supported by the widely preserved tradition of tinting pilaf with saffron or turmeric. Information about pilaf as a festive dish is available in sources of the 9th-10th centuries; references to pilaf (called “pilav”) are contained in the monument of medieval Arabic literature One Thousand and One Nights.
It is obvious that the principle of preparing the dish spread from the east, and was especially adopted and developed in Central Asia, and it was there that the most widespread method of preparing pilaf developed. The word "pilaf" is of Persian origin and was mentioned in the biography of Alexander the Great as a dish that he was treated to in Bactria, a province of Persia, and Samarkand.
In modern times, the dish has become one of the most (if not the most) popular in the Near and Middle East, Central Asia, and partly in Transcaucasia. Plov spread through Turkey to Eastern Europe and the Balkans, where it also acquired national characteristics.
In Western Europe, pilaf, or more precisely, information about the dish, appeared at the end of the 17th century. Impressions of the dish, but not its recipe, were brought to France by envoys of the royal court who returned from Turkey, who were delighted with the dish and described its taste and ingredients to the royal cooks, who, not knowing the cooking method and using typical techniques of French cuisine (boiling, and then frying the meat in butter, boiling rice in milk and mixing it with yolks) could not cook it, turning the pilaf into a kind of porridge with meat and sauce, called myroton. This dish was forgotten in Western Europe only in the 19th century, when the real recipe was introduced by French engineers who were building the Suez Canal.
In the east, pilaf is consumed every day, and significant events are never complete without specially prepared pilaf - weddings, funerals, the birth of children, etc. Everyday life women are busy preparing pilaf; pilaf for any event is prepared by men or specially invited pilaf cooking masters - ashpazy.
Features of the dish Pilaf.
There are thousands of recipes for preparing pilaf, but its distinctive feature is the combination of two components: the so-called “zirvak” in Uzbek cuisine or gara in Azerbaijani cuisine and the cereal part. In turn, zirvak is combined from various components, such as meat, fish (for example, among the Caspian Turkmens, Syr Darya and Western Caspian Kazakhs, pilaf with sturgeon fish is considered especially valuable), game, vegetables, dried fruits and spices. Moreover, semi-finished products can be specially prepared for zirvak, for example small pieces of minced meat wrapped in grape leaves. The cereal part of pilaf usually consists of rice, but wheat, dzhugara, peas, corn, mung bean, including in a mixture, can be used.
The main difference between pilaf and other dishes is not the composition of the products, but the cooking technology: firstly, the very balanced combination of two parts - zirvak and the grain part, which creates the actual taste of pilaf, and secondly, the fact that at least one its parts are prepared separately. In addition, unlike porridge, the cereal part is not boiled, but stewed.
There are two main options for preparing pilaf, and it should be noted that when general principles preparation, pilaf prepared in different versions can differ significantly in taste, especially taking into account the serving rules.
Central Asian version
In the Central Asian version, the prepared zirvak and the cereal part of the pilaf are combined together for further preparation. This is how it is customary to prepare pilaf in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and southern Kyrgyzstan. This pilaf has a lot of regional variations, but the dish is not fundamentally different; all differences, excluding Samarkand pilaf, come down to the proportions of meat, vegetables and grain parts, as well as additional components (peas, garlic, barberry, quince, dried apricots, raisins). The most important components of the technology are the choice of products for pilaf, in particular carrots, the choice of rice variety and its preliminary preparation. Like no other pilaf, the choice of cookware is important for preparing pilaf in this version: a thick-walled cast iron, aluminum or copper cauldron. A prerequisite for preparing pilaf is preliminary calcination of the oil - the best choice would be a mixture of vegetable (sunflower, sesame, cottonseed, etc.) oil and animal fat (lamb, goat). And finally, the sequence of bookmarking and the duration of processing specified in the recipe are important.
Traditionally, Central Asian pilaf is served hot on a large common platter (Kyrgyz tobacco; Uzbek tavok), washed down with tea, and snacked on flatbreads and salads (tomatoes and onions, pickles, suzma).
Iranian version
In the Iranian version, adopted in Azerbaijan and Turkey, the gara and cereal part are prepared separately and combined on the plate. This is probably a more ancient version of pilaf. Also, a separate version is used for preparing Turkmen fish pilaf (balekly yanakhly ash) and Samarkand pilaf.
This type of pilaf allows for a greater number of cooking options and the use of a greater number of possible ingredients. As for gar, it can be meat, fish, egg, fruit, vegetable. Any gara, as a rule, is prepared with fruits - plums, cherry plums, pomegranates. Rice, in turn, is boiled in one of four ways, including: original way, like bringing rice to readiness on kazmag - a flatbread made of unleavened dough, which lines the bottom of the dish. Rice is always boiled in the presence of fats: usually butter or ghee.
Rice and gara are combined when served in a plate, but do not mix - moreover, they can be served on different dishes. In addition, it is customary to serve pilaf in this version with spicy herbs (basil, tarragon, green onions) and kazmag, which are used to snack on pilaf. This pilaf is washed down with sour sorbet. Unlike Central Asian pilaf, this pilaf is served not hot, but slightly warm, so that the oil does not harden.
However, in any case, the finished pilaf is distinguished by the grains of the grain part that are easily separated from each other, soft, but not boiled, therefore, in the case when the pilaf is prepared from rice, an important factor in its preparation is right choice varieties of rice. The most suitable variety of rice for preparing pilaf using Central Asian technology is considered to be red Uzgen rice, also called “dev-zira”.
There is a legend associated with Tamerlane: a certain mullah, before going to Ankara, gave him a recipe for pilaf:
You need to take a large cast iron boiler. It must be so old that the fat from the previous food oozes from the outside and catches fire when the fire hits it. In this cauldron you need to put the meat of not old, but not very young lambs, selected rice, swelling with pride, which will be eaten by brave warriors, young carrots, blushing with joy, and sharp onions, stinging like the sword of a highly respected emir. All this must be cooked over a fire until the smell of the cooked dish reaches Allah, and the cook collapses in exhaustion because he has tasted the divine food.
It seems that since there are mentions of pilaf dating back to an earlier period, this is a legend.