Amazing Ferghana pilaf! Its recipe is known to all residents of eastern countries. Best of all, representatives of the strong half of humanity cope with the preparation of this dish. This is a hearty, aromatic dish that will not leave anyone indifferent.
Structure
The classic recipe for this dish includes only a few ingredients: lamb, rice, vegetables and spices. To make a real Ferghana pilaf, cereals should be used specialized, a variety of this rice is called devzira. Any spices can be used, focusing on their taste preferences, but residents of eastern countries usually use barberry, ground hot pepper, zira, coriander.
Ferghana pilaf is served with fresh vegetables, various herbs, pomegranate seeds. For lovers of spicy, you can put garlic and peppers on the edge of the plate.
Ferghana classic pilaf: a step-by-step recipe
The traditional recipe for pilaf is actually not at all complicated. The main thing is correctly selected rice and spices. It’s also better to prepare a cauldron, thanks to this the Ferghana pilaf will turn out to be especially tasty and fragrant.
Ingredients
- Lamb pulp - kilogram.
- Rice "Devzira" - a kilogram.
- Salt - focus on your taste, it is advisable to use not large, but small.
- Ground coriander - a tablespoon without a slide.
- Barberry - two tablespoons.
- Zira - half a large spoon.
- Large carrots - 4 pieces.
- Onions - 4 pieces.
- Vegetable oil - 350 ml. Ideally, instead of butter, use fat tail fat. If you can get it, you will need about 400 grams.
- Young garlic - three medium heads.
- Cayenne hot peppers - 3 pieces.
- Medium-sized pomegranate - 1 piece.
- Greens - dill, parsley, cilantro.
Cooking
How to cook Ferghana pilaf? Easy! Follow the step-by-step instructions - and you will get an amazing dish, before the taste and aroma of which no one can resist.
1. Start with rice. Before cooking, grits should be held in water for at least 3 hours.
If you managed to get rice of the Devzira variety, you will see that it is actually far from clean, so you need to thoroughly rinse it in several waters. Pour the rice into the pan, draw water, rinse the rice, catching all the floating husks. Repeat until the water flowing out of the pan becomes clear. Then fill the rice with fresh, slightly brackish water and leave to insist for 3-4 hours. During this time, it will swell a little and in the pilaf will reach the ready state much faster.
2. The preparation of Ferghana pilaf begins not only with the preparation of cereals, but also with the choice of lamb. The meat should be fresh, not frozen, without streaks.
Cut the washed meat into medium cubes. While you are processing mutton, put chopped fat tail fat into the cauldron. Fry it until all the fat has melted, then remove the greaves from the cauldron, and dip the onion, not very coarsely chopped, into the fat.
When the onion acquires a beautiful golden color, take it out on a plate and put prepared pieces of mutton in its place. Brown meat on both sides, add carrots cut into thin strips and already fried onions. Fry the meat with vegetables, or - as the Uzbeks call it - zirvak, for about 10 minutes.
3. The meat is almost ready, it's time to tackle the spices, thanks to which the Ferghana pilaf gains its own, many beloved taste.
So, in a cauldron with a zirvak pour a zira, coriander and barberry, crushed by palms, then put finely chopped hot pepper (if you do not like too sharp dishes, you can replace it with ordinary black ground pepper). Mix everything thoroughly and simmer another 5 minutes.
4. When the carrots are ready, pour boiled water into the cauldron, so that only cover the vegetables a couple of centimeters. No more, otherwise the Uzbek pilaf “Ferghana” will come out not as it should be, but too gooey, like porridge. Throw three or four cloves of garlic to the meat and put salt. Simmer everything under a closed lid for about an hour.
5. So, the time has come for cereals. Rinse the rice again, let the water drain. Pour the cereal to the zirvak, just do not mix, but only slightly level it. Pour boiled water over everything; it should cover food with just one finger. Simmer pilaf over high heat for about 7-10 minutes.
6. You can check the readiness of the dish by making a recess in the rice: if the liquid is gone, the meal is ready. Cover the cauldron with a lid and let the dish brew for 30 minutes. After the time has passed, mix everything thoroughly.
Decoration
Let's start decorating the finished pilaf. To begin, lay the insulated dish on a plate with a slide. Peel the pomegranate, remove the seeds from the fruit, sprinkle them with pilaf. You can also use chopped herbs or just branches of dill and parsley. Pilaf is an independent dish that does not require an additional side dish. The only thing you can add to it is fresh vegetables.
Ferghana pilaf: a step-by-step recipe in a slow cooker
This recipe for cooking Uzbek pilaf is perfect for those who do not have a cauldron, or who are limited in time. The products that are needed for its preparation practically do not differ from the previous recipe, except that the proportions are slightly different, since the multicooker bowl is not so spacious.
Products
- 100 grams of fat tail fat or 100 ml of vegetable oil.
- A kilogram of lamb.
- Two multi-glasses of rice.
- Two large onions.
- Two small carrots.
- A pair of heads of garlic.
- One hot peppers.
- Sugar - a tablespoon without a slide.
- Salt, zira, pepper, cardamom, barberry - a teaspoon.
How to cook
Cooking a Ferghana pilaf in a slow cooker is easy. Follow the instructions and you will succeed.
- And in this recipe, before you start cooking, prepare rice. Rinse it, clean from impurities, let it brew in water for about 3 hours.
- Peel and chop the carrots with small straws, cut the onions into thin quarters of rings. Garlic just wash and remove the top layer of the husk, you do not need to separate it into cloves.
- Wash the lamb, dry and cut into small pieces.
- Start cooking zirvak. To do this, set the mode "Frying" on the multicooker, put chopped lard in the bowl. Stew until all the fat has melted, after which the greaves can be removed from the bowl.
- Add sugar to the fat and mix. Wait until the sand has completely dissolved, then put the prepared mutton in the bowl. Brown it on both sides, and after the formation of a delicious crust, remove the meat from the bowl in a separate container.
- In the fat where the lamb was fried, put chopped onions. Once the vegetable has a pleasant golden color, return the meat to its place. Fry zirvak for 5 minutes, do not forget to periodically stir it with a wooden spatula.
- Spread chopped carrots evenly on the meat, salt and pepper the ingredients. Cook all 15 minutes.
- After the time has passed, stir everything, pour boiled water so that it covers the ingredients for a couple of centimeters. At the same time, garlic and capsicum should be added, it will give the dish spicy and piquant taste. Here with garlic there is an interesting point: it does not need to be completely peeled and divided into cloves, it is added whole heads in the dish. He will add flavor to pilaf, without changing its taste. Next, add all the spices: zira, barberry, cardamom, you can put peas of allspice. Mix everything, put the “Extinguishing” mode on the multicooker for 15 minutes.
- Drain the remaining water from the brewed rice and rinse it again. Pour the cereal to the mixed zirvak, level it, add a little boiled water, literally 100 ml, and cook for 20 minutes with the “Porridge” or “Pilaf” mode turned on.
- As soon as the cooking signal sounds, mix the pilaf and let it simmer for 15–20 minutes with the lid closed. Put your dish on plates, garnish with pomegranate seeds and herbs.
Now you can enjoy your meal. Enjoy your meal!