Plov Azerbaijan Recipes

PLOV (AZERBAIJAN)

Steps:

• Rinse the rice several times in cold water to remove excess starch.
• Place a few threads of saffron in a cup and add boiling water; cover and leave to infuse.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add rice, reduce heat, but cook rice at a rapid boil until the rice is tender on the outside, but still not done on the inside, 5 to 10 minutes (do not overcook or your plov will be sticky).
• Strain the rice in a colander.
• There are 3 methods you can use to form the crust or qazmaq. The first way is to mix together an egg with 4 tablespoons of the parboiled rice, and 1 or 2 tablespoons of yogurt. Add some of the infused saffron water. The second way is to mix together a glass (8 oz) of flour, a little butter, and a little water to make a sort of dough (you can also add an egg if you want an eggy flavor). This will then be kneaded and rolled out thinly. The third way is to use some potatoes that have been peeled and sliced crosswise.
• Rinse and dry the pan you cooked the rice in; melt a heaping tablespoon of butter, then spread whichever qazmaq you chose on the bottom of the pot and fry a little for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Next spoon half the parboiled rice on top, then pour over half of the saffron infusion.
• Spoon in remaining rice and pour over most of the remaining saffron infusion; top that with a few tablespoons of butter.
• Use the handle of a wooden spoon to poke a few holes through the rice to allow steam to escape.
• Cover pot opening with a clean tea towel and cover with a well-fitting lid; increase heat under pot until rice is steaming, then reduce heat and let steam for 35 to 40 minutes (it can go longer if needed).
• Spoon rice onto a serving platter and top with remaining saffron infusion and a few more tablespoons of butter.

UZBEK PLOV

Steps:

• Wash the rice under the tap until clear, cover with cold water and let it soaks for a while.
• Cut the meat with bones into match-box pieces.
• Cut the carrots into 0.5x0.5 cm thick sticks.
• Slice onions into thin rings or half-rings.
• Clean heads of garlic from the remains of roots and dirt.
• Heat oil in the cattle or dutch oven on a very high flame, deep-fry meat until golden-brown, in 3-4 batches. Fry the onions until golden, add meat to the cattle, stir well to prevent onion from burning. Add carrot, stir from time to time, until it starts to wilt and browns a little (15-20 min). Add 2/3 of the cumin - rub it in your palms a little to release flavor, stir gentliy to keep carrot from broking.
• Lower gas to moderate, pour hot water just to cover all the goods, add salt and let it simmer for 40 min to 1.5 hours until almost all water evaporate and meat became tender and juicy. Do not stir.
• Turn gas to max.
• Drain rice well, place it on top the meat and vegs in one layer, stick the garlic and whole chillies in it, and carefully pour boiling water over it (place a spoon or ladle on top of the rice to keep the rice layer from washaway). Cover the rice with about 2 cm of water, let it boil. Add salt to make the water a bit over-salted. When water will go down the rice, reduce the gas a bit, keeping it boils rapidly. Check when it will evaporate and absorb into rice completely - rice should remain rather al dente. Make a holes in the rice to the bottom of a vessel to check the water level.
• Reduce gas to absolute min, cover tightly with the lid and let it steam 20 minutes. Turn of the heat, remove the garlic and chillies on the separate plate. Carefully mix rice with meat and carrots, if the rice tastes a bit blind add some salt, mix and let it stand for 5 minutes. Pile the plov on a big warmed plate and serve with garlic, chilies and plain thinly sliced tomato-sweet onions-chili-salt salad.

AZERBAIJANI RICE PILAF | SHIRIN PLOV

Steps:

• Rinse the rice in cold water several times, until the water becomes clear, to remove the starch.
• Cook the rice according to the package directions.
• In a medium saucepan, melt 3 tbsp of butter with 3 tbsp of water over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the dried fruit. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. The dried fruit should become plump. Remove from heat.
• In a small glass, add one large pinch of saffron and pour 2 tablespoons of boiled water over it.
• Let the saffron soak for 5 minutes. The water should turn orange.
• Remove the saffron and keep the infused water. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the rice and most of the dried fruit (set some of the dried fruit aside, to decorate the top of the rice with, before serving).
• Melt a cup of butter.
• In a large skillet, add 1/3 of the rice into an even layer and pour 1/3 of the butter over it and mix together. Do this 2 more times until you have added all of the rice and butter. Mix together.
• Drizzle the saffron infused water over the rice and mix together.
• Poke a few holes in the rice with the spatula spoon to vent.
• Cover and cook on low heat for 1 hour.
• Pour the pilaf on a large serving dish and the decorate with the remaining fruit.

PARCHA-DOSHEME PLOV (AZERBAIJAN)

Steps:

• Rinse the rice in lukewarm water until the water runs clear.
• Fill a large bowl with lukewarm water and a tablespoon of salt and add the rice. Soak for 15 minutes or so.
• Melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the peeled chestnuts and stir-fry for 3 minutes.
• Add the apricots, barberries and dates. Keep cooking for another three minutes. Lastly add the golden raisins and stir fry for one more minute. Remove from heat.
• Put 10 cups of salted water in a large pot. Drain the rice and add to the pot. Boil for 7 to 10 minutes. The rice is done when it rises to the top of the pot. Don't overcook! The rice should be just a tiny bit chewy, not too soft. Bite a piece to make sure. Drain it in a colander and set aside.
• Melt a tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Put the uncooked chicken cubes in the bottom of the pot, distributing evenly. Add about a half teaspoon of salt and some pepper. Cover the chicken with the sliced onions and simmer for three minutes or so.
• Cover the chicken and onions with half of the rice. Spread the fruit and nut mixture out on top and then put the rest of the rice on top of that. Pour a tablespoon of melted butter on top.
• Put a clean dishtowel or two layers of paper towel over the pot. Be very careful to fold up the corners or otherwise make certain that the dishtowel or paper towel is nowhere near the flame.
• Put the stockpot lid on top of the towe and turn the heat down to low. Cook for 30 minutes, without stirring or disturbing it in any way.
• Combine the crushed saffron threads with three tablespoons of hot water. Stir until the water turns a deep orange. Pour the saffron water over the top of the plov and continue to cook for another 30 minutes.
• When the plov is done, it should look like this:
• 1. Fluffy rice with separate grains.
• 2. The meat should have a golden crust on the bottom.
• 3. The onion should be translucent (almost invisible).
• Scoop it all out of the pot and arrange it on a big platter. It's ready to serve.

UZBEK PLOV (LAMB AND RICE PILAF)

Steps:

• Place basmati rice in a large bowl and cover with warm water. Set aside. Wash heads of garlic. Set aside.
• Heat vegetable oil in a dutch oven or large skillet over high heat until smoking, then add lamb, turning occasionally until the lamb is evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the onions; cook and stir until the onion has softened and browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the carrots; cook and stir until the carrots have softened, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with cumin, coriander, barberries, and peppercorns. Drop whole garlic heads into the mixture, stirring to evenly distribute ingredients. Reduce heat to medium. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
• Wash and drain basmati rice with hot water. Pour cleaned rice over the lamb mixture in an even layer. Slowly pour in the boiling water. The rice should be covered with about 3/4 inch of water. Do not stir. Season with salt, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook until rice is tender, and the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. Stir rice and lamb together, and serve with the garlic heads on top.

BEEF PLOV (BEEF RICE PILAF) RECIPE

Steps:

• Trim beef of excess fat and sinews (aka the chewy stuff), pat the meat dry with a paper towel and chop into 1/2" to 3/4" pieces.
• Preheat your dutch oven (or your large soup pot with a heavy bottom), to high heat. Once it's hot, stir in your 1/3 cup canola oil. Once oil is hot, add chopped meat and saute uncovered 7 min over high heat until meat is browned, stirring every minute or so so it doesn't scorch to the bottom of the pan. Note: it's important to preheat the dutch oven first for the meat to sear over very high heat, otherwise it will juice out and become dry.
• Reduce heat to medium and Add chopped onion, stirring often until onion is softened (5 minutes). Stir in sliced carrots, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 3-4 bay leaves and continue to cook over medium heat 5 minutes until carrots are softened.
• Add 1 3/4 cups hot water, cover and simmer over medium/low heat 45 min or until meat is tender.
• Meanwhile, rinse rice until water runs clear, then drain and set aside (this gets rid of the starch so you won't end up with a sticky rice).
• Spread rice over the meat and add 4 cups hot water. Sprinkle the rice with 1 1/2 tsp salt (DO NOT STIR), bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and Let cook uncovered until most of the water is absorbed (10 min).
• Cut off the base of your whole garlic head to expose the cloves. Put your head of garlic, cut side down into the center of the rice and sprinkle the top of the rice with 1 tsp ground coriander.
• Poke 7-10 holes through the rice to allow steam to escape to the surface, reduce the heat to low then cover and cook an additional 15 minutes or until rice is cooked through. Remove the garlic head and bay leaves and stir everything gently to combine and you're done.

UZBEK PLOV (LAMB PILAF)

Steps:

• Heat oil in the dutch oven, or kettle, on a very high flame and add the onions. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally for 5-7 minutes, and add the lamb.
• Cook the lamb for 10 minutes and add the carrots. Keep cooking for 10 more minutes.
• Add cumin, coriander, salt, pepper and 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil.
• Peel some of the skin off the garlic head and slice the top off, exposing the garlic cloves, and then add it to the meat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover with lid and cook for about 1 hour. Meanwhile, wash the rice thoroughly.
• Taste the liquid for salt and adjust if necessary. Add the rice and spread it out evenly.
• Add 3 cups of boiling water, reduce heat to low, cover the dutch oven with lid and cook for 25-30 minutes. At the end of cooking time, check if the water has been absorbed fully, and, if not, let it cook a little longer. Once ready, let it rest for 15 minutes before serving.