At the word "pilaf" we immediately imagine a hot dish of rice and lamb. But it is not so. Even in Uzbekistan, a country that is considered the birthplace of pilaf, this dish is prepared from different varieties of meat and even from fish. Researchers believe that the name of the dish is actually an abbreviation. It encodes the necessary ingredients. So: “piyoz” - onion in Uzbek, “aez” - carrot, “lahm” - meat, “olio” - oil or fat, “blows” - salt, “about” - liquid, and “sholi” - rice . If you add up all the initial letters of the ingredients, you will get "Osh Pals." This word then turned into "pilaf", and even later - into "pilaf". As we see, among the obligatory ingredients of the dish should be meat. But it is not indicated which. Therefore, we suggest you cook pilaf with chicken. The recipe step by step in the cauldron is given below.
Ingredients
Even Uzbeks do not always adhere to the canons of pilaf cooking. Meat is replaced by fish, and carrots by beets, turnips, radishes. It is amazing, but true: there is even pilaf without rice. It can be replaced with beans, chickpeas or ordinary peas. But you and I, when preparing pilaf from chicken in a cauldron, we will adhere to the canon. We will take rice - 400 grams. If we talk about varieties, then you can opt for any of the long-grained species. Not only red devzira, but also jasmine, and basmati, and even steamed, will do. Chicken should take home. Moreover, you can cook pilaf from any part of the carcass. Don't want to bother with removing meat from bone? Buy 400 grams of chicken breasts (notice - as much as rice). But the choice of spices should be treated responsibly. Go to the market and buy from Asian traders a special mixture for pilaf. It already has saffron, zira and barberry, which are obligatory for dishes. You can add raisins to your taste. We also need the onion, two small carrots, three cloves of garlic and vegetable oil.
Something about pilaf
Whatever the ingredients, you need to cook the dish in a cauldron. This dish creates the perfect temperature. Rice does not dry out and at the same time does not become excessively fat. From one photo of pilaf with chicken in the cauldron, water is already drooling! But, to make the dish tasty, you need to know the basic rules of its preparation. Pilaf components are divided into zirvak and rice. Each ingredient is fried in calcined oil separately and folded into a cauldron in a certain sequence and without stirring. Only when the zirvak is fully prepared is rice laying allowed. It is tamped with a flat spatula, poured with water and the dish is brought to readiness. When the liquid is completely absorbed, put the whole cloves of garlic. Cooking pilaf has another trick: after turning off the fire for about ten minutes, do not remove the lid from the cauldron. Let all the ingredients be steamed with residual heat.
Pilaf recipe with chicken in a cauldron
We start work with the preparation of zirvak. Cut the chicken into small pieces. Oil in a pan is well calcined, until a gray haze appears. Spread the meat. If you want it to become golden brown, fry over high heat. If you want a tender option, moderate the flame under the pan. It is not necessary to cook meat completely. It will be enough if it takes on a golden hue. We shift the chicken to the cauldron. Add oil and begin to fry onion, cut into half rings. Having achieved an amber shade, place it on top of the meat. Do not mix! Add oil again, if necessary, and take on the carrots. Ideally, it should be cut into thin strips. But chicken pilaf in a cauldron will by no means become less tasty if we rub carrots with large chips. Bring this root crop to a dark orange hue. Put on top of the onion. Pour boiling water so that it slightly covers the carrots. Salt, sprinkle with spices for pilaf. Put the cauldron under the lid on a small fire and simmer.
Put rice in zirvak
Since we are dealing with chicken, twenty minutes will be enough for the previously fried meat to become soft. We rinse the rice so that the flowing water becomes transparent. Carefully put it in a cauldron on a zirvak, ram it with a spatula. Pour boiling water so that the water rises over the rice one and a half to two centimeters. We add. Chicken pilaf in a cauldron should be cooked first without a lid, over medium heat. When the rice absorbs water, put three washed but unpeeled cloves of garlic on top of it. Reduce the fire under the cauldron to a minimum. We cover the dishes with a very tight lid. To make pilaf crumbly, it should be cooked not by fire, but by steam. Soak for a quarter of an hour. Rice should be completely cooked during this time.
Chicken pilaf serving in a cauldron
We remember this main trick: turning off the fire, do not remove the covers for about ten minutes. Pilaf can be eaten cold. But most delicious it will be hot, just cooked. There are two ways to serve pilaf: European and Uzbek. In the first case, open the lid, mix the contents and arrange on plates. The Uzbek method is as follows. We tilt the cauldron onto a large dish so that the rice is on the bottom, and the meat with vegetables on top.