Pilaf is first mentioned in Eastern literature, in ancient chronicles dating from the 10th-11th centuries. They describe the traditions of the peoples of the East, holidays, weddings, funeral rites, ceremonies, where guests were served rice dishes with meat. It was pilaf.
At present, it is a national dish among many nations, including Uzbeks, Tajiks, Armenians, Kazakhs, and Afghans. Each type of this dish has its own nuances and cooking features, but rice is always the main ingredient. Pilaf can be cooked with chicken and lamb, pork and beef, vegetables and dried apricots, prunes and raisins. In a word, there is meat, sweet and vegetable pilaf. Each cook has his own recipe, and there are innumerable types of pilaf. But the most popular and famous, perhaps, is the gelak palaw, which is prepared with meatballs; pilaf with chicken, the recipe of which depends on the presence of certain spices; Dushanbe pilaf, Ugro pilaf, traditional Tajik pilaf.
Each cook keeps the recipe for a real pilaf a secret, but, as experts say, only a real Uzbek can cook a real Uzbek pilaf. Indeed, in addition to having a set of initial products, skill is also required, a special attitude to the products laid in the cauldron, as well as a completely certain state of mind of the cook. This is perhaps the most important condition for the preparation of this dish.
For those who are seriously interested in cooking, it is known that you can cook fruit pilaf, with goose, Baku with dried fruits, stuffed quail, with prunes and pilaf with chicken. The recipe for the original pilaf with fish will be a discovery even for gourmets, because an amazing combination of vegetables, rice and fish cooked in a cauldron over an open fire can surprise anyone.
Traditionally, any pilaf, including pilaf with chicken, the recipe of which has recently been so widely used, is prepared in a large cauldron. In order for the meat to be well-fried, but not dry, the oil is heated to a temperature of 300 degrees. The main sign of the high temperature of the oil in the cauldron is a slight haze above it: this means that it is already possible to dip finely chopped onions, carrots, spices and spices into boiling oil. In the east, this is called zirvak: overcooked vegetables in highly fermented oil. Traditionally, pilaf can be cooked with sheep’s and fat tail fat, as well as a mixture of vegetable and animal fats. After the vegetables are fried in boiling oil, you can lower the meat into the cauldron. Depending on what kind of pilaf the cook will cook, pieces of meat can be from 20 grams to 1 kg. But if preparing pilaf with chicken, the recipe of which involves the use of 1 kg of rice and 1 kg of carrots, portioned pieces can be made weighing up to 50 grams.
As a rule, before cooking pilaf rice is well washed and left soaked in warm, slightly salted water for 3-4 hours. For pilaf choose yellow varieties of carrots and chop it with small straws. In order for the pilaf to acquire a soft yellow color, saffron is added. In addition, black and red ground pepper, anise, caraway seeds, zira, barberry, garlic are used. For lovers of a sweet and original taste in meat pilaf, you can add dried fruits, raisins, quince and grape leaves.
In addition to traditional dishes in the form of a cauldron, pilaf can be cooked in ... a pumpkin. To do this, washed and soaked rice, along with fruits, is languished in a pumpkin, peeled from the inside of seeds and pulp, and covered with a lid from a cut top.
In addition to meat, vegetables, fish, fruit pilaf, there is also pilaf with mussels and raps. You can also cook pilaf with chestnuts, lentils, shrimp, egg pilaf, pilaf with chickpeas, pilaf with chicken giblets.