Cooking beef pilaf so that the rice is crumbly

Ingredients

beef
rice
carrot
onion
vegetable oil
garlic
hot peppers
spices

Today there are different versions of this Uzbek dish, but we will tell you how to cook beef pilaf so that the rice is crumbly. We also note important points that will help you quickly master the cooking process.

Rice for pilaf

To cook delicious beef pilaf, and the rice in it was crumbly, you need to choose the right cereal. Experienced cooks recommend using both Uzbek and Tajik and brown rice varieties.

The grains should be firm, dense, with little starch. This particular rice is able to maintain its friability. Steamed varieties are not suitable, with such rice you will not get pilaf, but porridge.

Before cooking, the rice must be washed at least 7 times. The water washes away starch dust from the grains, which also causes the rice to stick together.

Meat

Traditionally, Uzbek pilaf is cooked only with lamb, while the meat must be already an adult animal. True, today you can find recipes with pork, beef, turkey, chicken and even fish.

But there is meat that is not suitable for pilaf - this is veal. The thing is that as a result of long languishing, such meat becomes tough and does not give a rich taste and aroma.

Pilaf meat should be fresh or chilled, but not frozen.

Vegetables

Onions and carrots are the two main vegetables used in pilaf. Ordinary onions are suitable for the dish, but some housewives add red, which gives the pilaf a piquant taste. Onions are chopped coarsely, because if you chop them too much, they will quickly fry.

For slicing carrots, use only a knife, not a grater. Otherwise, this will lead to the fact that the carrots will simply burn out and spoil the taste of the whole dish. In Asian countries, yellow carrots are put in pilaf, but orange varieties are also acceptable, especially since this does not affect the taste in any way.

Azerbaijani pilaf is prepared with dried apricots, raisins, dates and other dried fruits, which are pre-steamed, then dried and added to the dish as a whole.

Oil and spices

Initially, pilaf was cooked on fat tail fat, but today it has been replaced by sesame and cottonseed oil. At home, ordinary vegetable is also suitable.

If we talk about spices, then the classic set includes cumin, black and red peppers, as well as barberry berries. And, of course, garlic, which is put in whole heads or cloves.

There are no special rules regarding seasonings, so you can combine spices and spices that are different in taste and aroma.

And one more important point. In order for the pilaf to turn out to be rich in taste, and the rice in it does not stick together, but is crumbly, you need to deliberately approach the choice of dishes. It is best to cook it in a cauldron.

Both cast iron and copper cauldrons will do. Thanks to its thick walls, beef pilaf will languish in the required temperature regime. Nothing burns in the cauldron, and the rice does not stick together.

Uzbek pilaf from beef in a cauldron

Properly cook real beef pilaf in a cauldron. If there is no cauldron, but there is a rooster, then you can use it, but not such kitchen utensils as pans or ordinary pots.

Everything will burn in the pan, and the pan is not able to reveal the full taste and aroma of the Uzbek dish.

Ingredients:

1.5 kg of beef;
500 g onions;
500 g carrots;
250 ml of vegetable oil;
1 kg of rice;
1 head of garlic;
1 hot pepper;
salt and pepper to taste;
cumin, paprika, coriander.

Preparation:

We wash the rice well, then fill it with cold water and set it aside for now

Cut the beef into small pieces

Pour oil into the cauldron and turn on a strong fire. It is very simple to check the temperature required for frying - we put a piece of onion in the oil, and as soon as it becomes golden, this is a signal that the oil is ready.
Now spread the beef in parts and fry until golden brown. Do not put all the meat in the cauldron at once, otherwise the oil will cool down quickly, the pieces will not cook well, and the juice will not be sealed inside.

Cut the onion into quarters of the rings

Chop the carrots into strips

Put the onion to the fried meat and continue to fry over high heat.
As soon as the onion vegetable becomes caramel, pour in the carrots, mix and fry until the carrots are soft.

Now add salt, all the spices to the meat with vegetables, add garlic, put hot pepper.
Fill with water, reduce the flame, cover and simmer until the meat is cooked.

As soon as the pieces of beef become soft, take out, but do not discard, the garlic and pepper. Fill in the rice, level it and fill it with water - 1 cm higher than the rice.
Salt, increase the heat and wait for the rice grains to rise up. After heating, reduce again, cover with a lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Mix the finished pilaf, let it brew for 10 minutes under the lid. Then put on a plate, decorate with garlic and pepper, serve

For pilaf, it is better to use the more tender part of the beef carcass. So, if you take it from your feet, then the meat will be tough, and the pilaf will not turn out so tasty. If pilaf is cooked in nature in a large cauldron, then beef on the bone will do.

Beef pilaf with brown rice and beans

You can cook pilaf with both regular and brown rice, which differs in the way it is processed. Namely, only the upper peel is removed from the grains. The bran shell remains, and thanks to it, this variety has a slight nutty flavor and aroma. In order for brown rice to be crumbly in pilaf, it must be soaked for 9-10 hours.

We will cook an Uzbek dish from beef, beans are also used here, but it is not necessary to add beans.

Ingredients:

500 g brown rice;
500 g beef fillet;
carrot;
onion;
1 jar beans (red)
salt and spices to taste;
garlic and herbs.

Preparation:

We wash brown rice well and leave it in cold water for at least 8 hours

Cut the beef into medium-sized pieces and send it to a cauldron or saucepan with a thick bottom. Pour in a glass of water and cook until all the liquid evaporates. In the process, do not forget to remove the foam

Cut the carrots into long cubes. Chop the onion with quarters of rings.
As soon as all the liquid is gone from the meat, add a little oil and add onions and carrots. Stir and fry vegetables until soft.

Then add salt, spices and add rice, level, pour in water and bring to a boil

Then add the beans and garlic, cover and simmer until cooked

After the pilaf, stir, insist and serve

Young meat is not suitable for pilaf. The thing is that its fibers quickly disintegrate and lose their taste.

Uzbek pilaf in a slow cooker

You can cook beef pilaf in a slow cooker. Of course, this is not a traditional way, but still housewives should know how to get a delicious dish with the help of such a kitchen assistant so that the rice is crumbly and the meat is tender and juicy.

Ingredients:

450 g of rice;
550 g of beef;
500 g carrots;
250 g onions;
3 heads of garlic;
1 tsp salt;
2 tsp cumin;
0.5 tsp paprika;
0.5 tsp coriander;
1/3 tsp turmeric;
12 dried barberries.

Preparation:

We wash the rice well until the water is transparent and put it on a sieve so that all the excess liquid is from the glass grains

We wash the meat, dry it with paper towels and cut into pieces 2-3 cm in size.
Chop the onion into strips.
Cut the carrots into strips, you do not need to grind the vegetable too much.

We wash the heads of garlic, remove the surface leaves and cut off the bottom with roots.
Pour oil into the bowl, spread the beef and turn on the "Fry" mode for 30 minutes.
As soon as the pieces of meat begin to brown, pour in the onion, stir and fry for 5 minutes.
Then add carrots to the beef with onions and fry until soft.
Next, pour in 500 ml of boiling water, add salt, turmeric, cumin, paprika, coriander and barberry berries. Stir and cook until the end of the program.

Then we fill in the rice, level it over the surface, fill it with boiling water so that the rice is covered with water by about 1.5 cm.
We put the heads of garlic with tails up and lightly press them down.
We do not mix anything, but close the lid and select the "Pilaf" mode.

After the signal, we leave the pilaf in the “Warm up” mode for 10 minutes, and then stir it, put it on a wide dish and serve it to the table.

Beef pilaf in pumpkin

If you want to surprise your guests with an unusual dish, then we suggest cooking pilaf in a pumpkin. Such a delicious dish and its interesting presentation will immediately attract the attention of all those present at the festive table.

Ingredients:

1 large pumpkin;
100 g ghee;
600 g of beef (lamb);
5-6 onions;
500 g of rice;
1 liter of milk;
salt and pepper to taste;
turmeric to taste
a handful of dried apricots;
a handful of raisins;
15-20 dried cherry plum.

Preparation:

We wash the pumpkin, dry it and cut off the lid with the spine. We clean the seeds and pulp from the pumpkin to make the walls thinner

Cut the beef or lamb into pieces. Salt the meat, pepper and mix.
Chop the onion with feathers or half rings.
Fry pieces of meat in ghee for 1-2 minutes over high heat.
Then add the onion, stir, fry for another 2 minutes, and then simmer the beef and onion under the lid and over low heat for 1 hour.

Wash dried apricots and raisins, dry them. Cut the dried apricot into four parts

As soon as the meat becomes soft, salt, put in turmeric, dried apricots, raisins. Stir, fry for 10 minutes.
Then add sugar and dried cherry plum, mix everything again and remove from heat.

Pour the rice into a bowl, add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of salt, fill with cold water and leave for an hour.
Pour milk into a saucepan, add some salt to it, bring to a boil and add well washed rice grains. Cook for 5-6 minutes and then put it on a sieve.
Grease the pumpkin inside with ghee and lightly sprinkle with sugar.

Pour turmeric into rice and mix.
Now put rice and meat in layers in the pumpkin. We make the last layer of cereals, which we pour with melted butter.

We close the pumpkin with a “lid”, put it on a baking sheet with parchment, cover it with foil on top and send it to the oven for 2.5 hours (temperature 180 ° C). The foil can be removed half an hour before readiness.
We put the finished pumpkin with pilaf on a plate, cut it as if opening a flower, and serve it to the table.

Cooking beef pilaf so that it turns out to be tasty, rich and aromatic, and the rice in it is crumbly is a whole art. Of course, such a dish will take time, patience and even gustatory intuition. But do not spare the effort spent, because the result will surely please.