Pilaf is a familiar dish with a huge number of recipes. With whatever they cook it! All over the world they love fragrant and crumbly Uzbek pilaf. But pilaf from Azerbaijan is not inferior to him in taste. Is there any difference between these dishes?
Rice for Azerbaijani pilaf
Only Azerbaijani pilaf involves preliminary cooking of rice in a separate bowl. The Uzbeks would be shocked by such a technology, would consider it a huge mistake. They cook rice with zirvak (a mixture of meat with vegetables, spices, broth). But Azerbaijanis are confident in their technology, because it allows you to get an incredibly tasty and fragrant dish.
Features of cooking rice:
- Before use, the cereal is washed several times until the water is clear.
- If unrefined grades are used, then it is also soaked before cooking for at least an hour. Salt is added to the water so that the rice does not crack and retain its shape.
- Pakistani rice, for example, Basmati, does not require soaking; it is enough to simply rinse it thoroughly.
- Washed or soaked rice is thrown into a pan with water, boiled until half cooked. We take a lot of fluids, no need to count. Time depends on the variety used. It is not necessary to bring to absolute softness.
- Boiled rice is sent to a colander, washed with running water, mixed with oil and spices, brought to full readiness.
Very often, in addition to a separate preparation of rice, a special tortilla or a layer of dough is involved in the Azerbaijani pilaf. It is called "kazmag". It is not present in all recipes, sometimes replaced with potatoes or other vegetables.
Rice in Uzbek pilaf
Uzbek pilaf is cooked with different varieties of rice, but large cereal is chosen. It is never boiled separately, this is considered a gross mistake.
Features of preparation:
- Rice is washed with cold water until the liquid is completely clear. It is believed that you need to fill and drain the water seven times.
- Sometimes rice is soaked or scalded with boiling water, it depends on the recipe and variety.
- The amount of water is strictly observed. Liquid is measured by level, usually it covers products with two fingers. If the cauldron is of a non-standard size, then the proportions 1: 2 or 1: 1.7 are used.
- Rice with meat in a cauldron is never stirred. This is done only with the finished dish.
In both Uzbek and Azerbaijani pilaf, friability is appreciated. These dishes are very similar. If you take a handful of rice and squeeze it in your hand, it should not stick together.
Azerbaijani filling is something
In addition to the method of cooking rice, Azerbaijani pilaf differs from the Uzbek counterpart in filling. This is not always beef or lamb, although you can also make a famous dish with them. Very unusual and original solutions are found in Azerbaijani cuisine.
What is added to the Azerbaijani pilaf:
- different birds, including game;
- dried fruits;
- nuts
- pumpkin;
- smoked or fresh fish.
Often mixed different products. Of course, there are vegetables in the dish. Carrots are not held in high esteem as in other types of pilaf, often they are not used at all. Garlic, laurel, various spices will be useful in the Azerbaijani pilaf, herbs and in large quantities will be added. And an important ingredient in dressing is butter.
By the way, Azerbaijani pilaf is usually cooked at home, this is an everyday dish. It is rarely seen in restaurants. If they order it there, then mostly tourists. Uzbek pilaf is a festive dish, without which many celebrations cannot do.
Classic Azerbaijani pilaf with lamb
Since the Uzbek pilaf is prepared with lamb, for comparison, the recipe for this dish is made using Azerbaijani technology. In addition to meat and rice, potatoes are also used, and dried fruits are also needed. But these are not the only differences.
Ingredients
- 1 kg of lamb;
- 2 cups of long rice;
- 6 onions;
- 80 g of greens;
- 4 potatoes;
- olive oil;
- 100 g of raisins;
- 100 g dried apricots;
- turmeric, thyme;
- 150 g butter.
Cooking method
- Wash the rice, pour into boiling salt water, stir. Boil after boiling for 7-8 minutes, try. It should remain slightly solid. Drain into a colander, rinse.
- Peel the potatoes, cut coarsely and put on the bottom of the pan. Vegetable will not let pilaf burn. We try to fill all the voids.
- Pour half the rice on the potatoes, pour 70 grams of melted butter. Pour the remaining rice, add the rest of the oil, sprinkle with turmeric, cover. To languish an hour on minimum fire.
- Fry diced lamb in olive oil. Transfer the meat to another bowl. Pour 0.5 cups of boiling water into this pan, stir and pour everything to the meat.
- Cut the onion in half rings, send to the mutton. Add herbs, spices, stir and simmer for 40 minutes.
- We wash dried fruits, add to almost ready-made meat. Dried apricots can be cut or left in this form. Salt more if necessary. Stew with meat for another half hour.
- We spread rice on the plates, then on top cooked lamb with dried fruits, serve to the table.
Here the rice is cooked separately until the end, but sometimes it is poured out for meat, given a little stew together.
Classic Uzbek pilaf
Many people are familiar with this recipe. Still, Uzbek pilaf is known all over the world. In the classic version, it is made with lamb and fat tail.
Ingredients
- 1 kg of lamb;
- 0.2 kg of fat tail;
- 3 heads of garlic;
- 5 onion heads;
- 5 carrots;
- 1 kg of rice;
- zira, saffron and other spices.
Cooking method
- We cut the fat into cubes, fry, discard the greaves. Pour onion chopped into half rings in fat. Cook until rosy and introduce the lamb. Fry for a few minutes with meat.
- We cut carrots into strips, in no case do not use a grater. Add to the meat with onions. Let’s lightly fry, introduce spices, salt well, pour boiling water. Stew for at least an hour. Ideally - bring the lamb to softness.
- We wash the rice several times. Remove the top layer of husk from the heads of garlic, you do not need to clean and separate the cloves.
- Pour rice into a zirvak, stick the heads of garlic and pour boiling water so that the water covers the food on two fingers.
- Cover the cauldron and simmer pilaf for 30-40 minutes. Then let him stand for the same amount.
As you can see, dishes are really prepared in different ways, have their own zest (sometimes in the direct sense of the word), but the result is in any case pleasing. Fragrant and crumbly pilaf can be tasted both in Uzbekistan and in Azerbaijan.
