Plov Uzbek Rice Pilaf Recipes

UZBEK BEEF PLOV - RICE PILAF

Steps:

• Trim any excess fat off the beef and cut into bite-sized pieces. Heat a large non-stick pot or dutch oven over high heat. Add the cooking oil. Once oil is hot add the beef and sear uncovered for about 7 minutes until meat is nicely browned. Stir often.
• Turn heat to medium and add chopped onion. Cook for about 5 minutes until onions soften.
• Stir in carrot matchsticks (you could shred the carrots but the matchstick size leaves more bite and texture), 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp cumin and bay leaves and cook for another 5 minutes until carrots soften.
• Add 1 3/4 cups of boiling water, cover and simmer over medium low heat for 45 minutes until the meat is soft.
• In the meantime using a strainer rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs clear (this is essential for fluffy rice otherwise you risk ending up with sticky rice mush). Spread the rice over the meat, sprinkle with 1 1/2 tsp salt and add 4 cups of boiling water (do NOT stir!). Bring to a boil over high heat.
• Once boiling reduce heat to medium and cook uncovered until most of the water is absorbed (10 minutes).
• Cut the bottom off the garlic head to expose the cloves. Press garlic head into the center of the rice. Sprinkle the rice with 1 tsp coriander. Poke 8-10 holes into the rice to let the steam to escape and cover. Turn heat to low and cook until rice is soft.
• Remove garlic and bay leaves, stir gently to combine everything. Serve (with dill pickles) and enjoy!

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.

PLOV-UZBEK RICE PILAF RECIPE

Steps:

• Rinse rice in cold water at least 7-8 times, pouring out all the water completely after each rinse; after you done rinsing, cover rice with warm water and let it soak while you prep the meat and vegetables. Heat oil in a dutch oven or cast iron pot (kazan) on medium high add meat and cook until light brown color for about 20-25 minutes.Season with some salt and black pepper. Add onions and cook along with the meat until onions are soft and golden brown for about 10-13 minutes.
• Add about 2 cup of boiling hot water: add ground cumin, turmeric, ground coriander, and rest of the salt. Mix and taste. At this point it should be little over -salted. (When we add the carrots and rice later, they will observe the salt). Cover with lid and simmer over medium/low heat for about 30-40 minutes or until meat is tender.
• Spread carrots evenly on top of the meat and don't mix. Cover the lid and cook for additional 5 minutes. Spread out evenly all the rice over the meat, onions and carrots mixture, don't stir. Slowly add the hot boiling water make sure the water is like ½ inch above the rice. Add whole cumin, dry chili and dry barberries. Bring to boil on high heat. When water disappears from the top, lower the heat to low. Take out the chili.Stick the garlic head (exposed side down) into the middle of the steaming rice so it gets covered in rice. With the wooden spoon, make holes in the rice going all the way to the bottom Form rice into a mountain, and close the lid. Cook on low for about 15-20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it sit for another 20-30 minutes.
• Carefully mix the plov taking from the very bottom. Serve with thinly sliced green onions on top
• Enjoy!

PLOV

Steps:

• Place the basmati rice in a large bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside.
• Wash the garlic heads. Cut the top of the heads (¼ inch / 5 mm). Set aside.
• Toast cumin, coriander seeds and peppercorns in a pan for a few minutes.
• Grind in a mortar or spice grinder. Set aside.
• Heat oil in a pan over high heat. Add the lamb, turning occasionally until the lamb is evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the lamb pieces and set aside.
• Stir in onions and cook, until onion is soft and golden, about 10 minutes.
• Stir in carrots and cook, until carrots are tender, about 10 minutes.
• Add the lamb and mix.
• Sprinkle the mixture of cumin, coriander, peppercorns and add the barberries.
• Add the whole garlic heads, stirring to distribute the ingredients. Reduce heat to medium. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
• Wash and drain the basmati rice in hot water. Pour the rice over the lamb mixture in an even layer.
• Slowly pour the boiling water (or vegetable broth). The rice should be covered with about ½ inch of water. Do not stir.
• Season with salt and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes.
• Mix the ingredients as you serve the dish on a platter. Garnish with the garlic heads.

PLOV (UZBEK RICE PILAF) RECIPE

Steps:

• Rinse rice in a fine mesh strainer until water runs clear. Transfer rice to bowl and cover with water while prepping other ingredients.
• Heat oil on high in large sauté pan until almost smoking and stir in carrots. Fry, stirring frequently, until oil is orange colored and carrots are deeply caramelized on the edges. Add onions and salt, stir to coat with oil, and fry until browned.
• Add spices and stir to combine until fragrant, then add rice. Stir frequently until rice browns slightly and smells nutty. Pour in one cup fresh water, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Let rice cook for 15 minutes, then check for doneness-add water in 1/4 cup increments if rice is still dry and cook uncovered. Fold rice on bottom of pan over to prevent burning. Plov is done when rice is tender but still toothsome. Season to taste and serve immediately. This Recipe Appears In Spice Hunting: What's The Deal With Saffron?

OSH / PLOV - UZBEK / CENTRAL-ASIAN RICE

Steps:

• Wash the rice. Allow to soak in salted water for 30 minute You can use Thai or basmati rice.
• Cut the lamb shoulder into cubes. It should have some fat. Bones are optional.
• Slice the onions thinly and cut the carrots into strips. You should approximately equal amounts of carrots, onions, and lamb.
• Heat a large cast-iron or metal wok with the oil. Don't use olive oil. Sunflower oil works well. Animal fat tastes richer but is even worse for you and too heavy for many taste buds. While you can get away with any kind of pot, it does taste better if you have an appropriate seasoned instrument.
• Fry the onions until golden brown.
• Add chopped garlic and lightly brown. You can alternatively put the whole cloves into the rice when you cook the rice.
• Add lamb and fry until cubes are lightly browned.
• Add carrots, salt, pepper, all spices (adjust to your taste), and 2 cups of water. Turn down the fire, mix well, and cover for 5 min to allow carrots to soften.
• This completes the first step called "zirvak". You are now ready to cook the rice in the second step. Drain your rice which should have been soaking for 30 minute.
• Push the ingredients to the outer parts of your cooking wok/pot creating a large hole in the centre which will be filled with liquid.
• Carefully add your rice to the centre of the pot. Do not mix it with the rest of the ingredients. Try to fit most of it in the centre "hole".
• Add another 1.5 cups of water, cover the pot and allow to simmer until the rice is cooked and water has been dried up. This will take approximately 30 minute.
• Stir the entire mixture well and serve on a hearty plate or bowl. Top with spring onions. It goes well with a side-serving of salad, tomatoes, and bread. Naan or other type of flat bread would be best.

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.

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.