Russian Ploff Recipes

RUSSIAN LAMB PILAF (PLOV) RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Place the raisins and prunes into a small bowl and pour over enough water to cover. Add lemon juice and let soak for at least 1 hour. Drain. Roughly chop the prunes.
• Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large pan, add the onion, and cook for 5 minutes. Add cubed lamb, ground lamb, and crushed garlic cloves. Fry for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until browned.
• Pour 2/3 cup (150 milliliters) of stock into the pan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour, or until the lamb is tender.
• Add the remaining stock and bring to a boil. Add rinsed long-grain white rice and a large pinch of saffron. Stir, then cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
• Add the drained raisins, drained chopped prunes, and salt and pepper to taste. Heat through for a few minutes, then turn out onto a warmed serving dish and garnish with sprigs of flat-leaf parsley. Source: " Polish & Russian: 70 Traditional Step-by-Step Dishes from Eastern Europe " from the "Cooking Around the World" series by Lesley Chamberlain & Catherine Atkinson (Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006).

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.

TRADITIONAL RUSSIAN PIROZHKI

Steps:

• Place 1/2 cup milk in a cup or small bowl. Stir in sugar and sprinkle yeast over the top. Set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes. Pour the remaining milk into a large bowl.
• Add the melted butter, egg, salt and 1 cup of flour to the large bowl with the milk. Stir in the yeast mixture. Mix in flour 1 cup at a time until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and doesn't stick to your hands. Cover the bowl loosely and set in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour. Dough should almost triple in size.
• While you wait for the dough to rise, melt the remaining butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add cabbage and cook, stirring frequently, until cabbage has wilted. Mix in the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally until cabbage is tender. Set this aside for the filling.
• Place the risen dough onto a floured surface and gently form into a long snake about 2 inches wide. Cut into 1 inch pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Flatten the balls by hand until they are 4 to 5 inches across. Place a spoonful of the cabbage filling in the center and fold in half to enclose. Pinch the edges together to seal in the filling.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line one or two baking sheets with aluminum foil. Place the pirozhki onto the baking sheet, leaving room between them for them to grow.
• Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

RICE PILAU/ PILAF OR HOMEMADE RUSSIAN PLOV

Steps:

• The first thing you want to do is dice your carrot into long sticks, and chop your onions, then dice your goat meat into tiny bite sizes and season with some salt, pepper, and some stock seasoning powder, set this aside for at least 20 minutes. (I would recommend using goat meat for this recipe, but if you are unable to find goat meat, then you can definitely use beef) Now we are ready to start cooking, get your pot, pour your oil and wait for it to get hot, then pour in your pre-seasoned goat meat and fry until it is golden brown, and no we are not cooking our meat first, we are just going to fry it straight, trust me, it is totally fine. Once your meat is fried, take it out of the oil.
• Now you will pour your chopped onions, let it fry for a few minutes, then add your chopped carrots to it and let them fry together for a few minutes, after which you pour your fried goat meat back into the pot and let them all fry together for a few minutes, add a bit of seasoning to the veggies and meat, a little bit of salt, pepper, and seasoning stock cubes, mix everything together, and then pour 750ml of water to this and let it come to a boil.
• While your meat and veggies are coming to a boil, prepare your rice by rinsing it thoroughly until you get all the starch out, I would say rinse at least 3-4 times, and then boil some water in a kettle, and get a large bowl, pour your rice into the bowl and pour the boiling hot water onto the rice, make sure you boil more than enough water because your rice needs to be submerged in water the entire process.
• After preparing your rice, your plov sauce should be boiling now, taste it and check if it needs more seasoning, if it does, season to taste if not, you are good to go, the next thing is to drain your rice and pour it into the boiling plov sauce, DO NOT MIX IT TOGETHER, here is when you add your cummin powder, do not SKIP this step, your plov is not plov without some cumin powder, then try to slightly mix it together.
• Once the water has dried, try moving your rice away from the edge of the pot to make it into a round mound at the centre of the pot, as shown in the picture .Reduce the heat, and now drop a whole garlic bulb into the centre of the pot (this is optional) and cover with foil paper,then leave it for another 20-30 minutes thereabout.
• When you come back, your plov should be ready. That is it for this recipe guys, I do hope you will try it, if you do, please tag me on Instagram at adeolas_kitchen. Until I come your way next time guys, have a lovely day. Cheers.

RUSSIAN PLOFF

Steps:

• steam meat (anykind) until almost done, throw in onions and carrots, steam until tender, pour in rice on the meat and pour water over it so that it covers the rice and meat about 1 to 2 cm.
• bring to boil and turn on low temperature, let cook for about 30 minutes.