In order to prepare real Uzbek pilaf, you'll need:

• one kilogram of meat (lamb)
• one glass of sunflower oil,
• half a kilogram of onions (when preparing pilaf, you cannot skimp on onions),
• half a kilogram of carrots,
• two tablespoons of salt,
• two cloves of garlic
• rice - one kilogram.

Cooking method:

The meat must be cut into large pieces (don’t worry, it won’t brown during cooking). Heat sunflower oil in a cauldron and add chopped meat there.
While the meat is fried (and the non should be fried until it is covered with a golden brown crust), you need to cut the onion into half rings and the carrots into strips. Attention! You cannot grate carrots. Just straws. Otherwise nothing will work. When the meat is fried, add the onion to the cauldron, fry it and add half a tablespoon of salt.
Next, add carrots. When the meat, onions and carrots are fried, add rice to the cauldron. But before that, the rice needs to be washed very well.
After rice, add water. It is advisable that the water covers the rice by about 2-3 centimeters. Add spices and turn on high heat. When the rice has absorbed almost all the water, add garlic and turn the heat under the cauldron to minimum. Cover with a lid
ATTENTION! The lid of the pilaf needs to be wrapped in a towel, then it will absorb excess moisture and prevent the pilaf from boiling and turning into ordinary rice porridge.
Cook the pilaf over low heat for half an hour.

Bukhara pilaf

Tajik cuisine - Payaavi kimador

The idea of ​​preparing this dish is from Tajik national cuisine. They have such a dish - Payaavi kimador, otherwise pilaf with meatballs. I give you a fairly Russified version.

We will need

Half a kilo of ground beef

2 cups rice

2 carrots

2 onions

2 sweet peppers

3 tbsp pilaf seasoning (or a mixture of cumin, barberry, saffron, black pepper, red pepper, dried garlic and dried tomatoes)

1 litermeat broth

1 egg

0.5 cups vegetable oil

Peel the onion and cut into thin half rings. Three carrots on a coarse grater. Remove the seeds from the pepper and cut into half rings. Wash the rice and soak in water. Mix the minced meat with an egg, salt and a tablespoon of pilaf seasoning. Then we form it into meatballs the size of a walnut.

Heat vegetable oil in a deep, thick-walled saucepan or cauldron. When the oil starts to smoke, add carrots, onions and peppers and fry. Sprinkle with two tablespoons of pilaf seasoning and mix. Place meatballs on the vegetables, then rice, pour hot meat broth over it all, bring to a boil, reduce heat and close tightly with a lid. Cook over low heat until the rice has absorbed all the water. Next, mix gently and let stand for another 15-20 minutes with the lid closed.

By the end of the day, we already know how to make rice, now that’s something without which there can’t be pilaf (Azerbaijanis have a huge variety of types of pilaf)

rice-150g, melted butter-50g, eggs-2w, milk-30g, dill-60g, saffron-0.1g, salt.

Pilaf is prepared from rice in the usual way, which is mixed with finely chopped dill and boiled. An omelet is prepared from eggs and milk, which is cut into diamonds. Pilaf with dill is placed on a plate, and pieces of omelette are poured on top with oil. Sometimes they take boiled lamb instead of an omelette

How to cook rice (there are 3 cooking methods):

I. Method:
1. Sort through the rice, pour into a colander and rinse, pouring water on top.
2. For 1 kg. rice you need 6 liters of water and 50 grams. salt. To boil water. First, pour salt into boiling water and stir, then pour in rice. Cook the rice until half cooked.
3. Place the rice in a colander, strain completely and pour two glasses of cold water on top.
4. Heat a 7 liter pan, take 1 tbsp. spoon of melted butter and grease the bottom of the pan.
5. Place flatbread or rice mixed with eggs, prepared in advance for the gasmag*, on the bottom of the pan.
6. Pour one layer of rice onto the gasmag, spread 1 tablespoon of ghee over it, sprinkle with a pinch of yellow ginger or pour over saffron juice. Add another layer of rice, add oil, yellow ginger and make 4-5 layers in this way. Do not add anything to the last layer.
7. Cover the top of the pan with a clean white cotton towel. The towel should not touch the rice. Cover the top of the towel with a tight lid and simmer over low heat.
8. When serving, such pilaf is scooped from the bottom and placed on a plate or dish.
9. Place a piece of gazmag for each serving of pilaf.
10. Such pilaf, greased between layers, does not need to be poured with oil on top.
11. To make rice shine, you can add a little citric acid to boiling water with rice.

*gasmag, its preparation:
2 eggs;
2 tbsp fuel oils;
1.5 tbsp. flour;
4 gr. salt

Knead flour, eggs, 1 tbsp butter and salt into a stiff dough. Roll out the dough to fit the bottom of the pan. Heat a pan, grease the bottom with 1 tbsp. oils Place the rolled out dough on the bottom of the pan, pour rice on top and evaporate. Sometimes this gazmag is prepared without eggs...

Yalla pilaf
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1. Meat (options).

a) Fatty lamb of Uzbek origin (not used by residents of Moscow due to its absence in the area, although, in principle, it can be bought from Uzbeks in Kiev and some other markets at double the price);
b) Fatty lamb of Russian origin;
c) Lean pork (fillet, brisket);
d) Beef (fillet, brisket, back, neck);
d) Veal (fillet, brisket);

2. Carrots (ripe, juicy; yellow is better)

3. Fat options

A) Lamb tail fat (extracted from the “tail fat” - the back part of a “tail-tailed” sheep, preferably caught in the Fergana fields)
b) Vegetable oil (refined sunflower, corn, olive)

4. Rice: devzira (red, unpeeled), in general, any other, but the main thing is not small, like chaff, but large and whole

5. Onion onion

6. Spices: zira, kashnych (cilantro grains), saffron (for coloring), barberry, basil (“raikhon” - Uzbek, “reagan” - Azerbaijan).
All this is sold in the “For pilaf” set at any market.

Wash the cauldron with hot water and place on maximum heat. It is immediately necessary to make a reservation that the intensity of the fire under the cauldron does not change until the formation of a zirvak (see below).
Heat the cauldron for five minutes and pour in all the oil. Heat the oil for eight to ten minutes until slight smoke (evaporation) appears.
Place the onion, peeled in advance and cut into rings 0.5 cm thick, into a cauldron, immediately starting stirring. Do not cover the cauldron with a lid until the rice is added!!! Depending on the temperature of the oil and the intensity of the fire, the onion should become golden brown within five to ten minutes. Both the taste of the final product and its color depend on the quality and duration of frying the onions. Here it is necessary to observe the well-known golden mean: to achieve a dark color by frying the onions as much as possible, but at the same time not to turn them into coals, thereby killing the unborn pilaf. To do this, you need to cut the meat into cubes measuring 4x4 cm in advance and keep it ready.

Place the meat into the cauldron, stirring. Fry over high heat until the meat darkens (a crust forms). It is also necessary to monitor the condition of the onions, the frying process of which continues even when the meat is fried.
Frying meat lasts on average up to fifteen minutes. Stir at one minute intervals.
Lower the carrots, peeled and cut into slices in advance (the whole root vegetable is cut with a sharp knife along a thickness of 0.5 cm, rotated 90 degrees along the cross section of the fruit and also cut into strips) into a cauldron. Stir and fry along with the rest of the ingredients for 10 minutes.
Pour pre-prepared boiling water into the cauldron so that it covers the existing contents of the cauldron (no more). It turned out exactly what it says. zirvak.

Reduce heat to low simmer. Stir timidly.
Add 2 tablespoons of salt and prepared spices. Mix carefully. Do not stir any more.
Cook over low heat for 15 - 30 minutes until the meat is half cooked (fresh and high-quality meat cooks faster, old and calloused meat takes longer).
Taste the zirvak (liquid, broth) at the boiling point. It should have a bitter-salty, over-salted taste, since a lot of the salt will then be absorbed by the rice as it increases in volume. If necessary, add salt to the desired state of zirvak.
Boil water separately. Increase the fire under the cauldron to maximum. Pour the rice, washed in advance in three to five waters, into the cauldron in an even layer on top of the zirvak and level it with a slotted spoon. Pour boiling water into the cauldron so that it covers the rice by 1-1.5 cm.

Without reducing the heat, without stirring, cook until the water evaporates below the level of the rice. Taste the rice. If it is not yet cooked at all, add boiling water (pour it onto a slotted spoon, and from it into a cauldron, so as not to spoil the rice landscape). This is the most crucial moment in preparing pilaf. It is necessary to achieve such a picture when the water has almost evaporated from the surface of the rice, but it is not yet ready, but half-ready. The state of being half-ready must be achieved because it will be steamed with the cauldron closed for another fifteen to twenty minutes...
Reduce heat to low. Use a slotted spoon to collect the rice in a neat mound in the center of the cauldron and cover it with a semicircular plate that would fall into the cauldron, like some kind of piston, leaving a gap of 1-2 cm between itself and the walls of the cauldron. Not tightly, but firmly press the plate to the bottom of the cauldron and cover tightly cauldron with lid.
Keep on low heat for ten minutes.

Turn off the fire. Without removing the lid, let the cauldron stand for ten to fifteen minutes without heat.
Remove the lid and remove the plate.
Gently mix the finished pilaf with a slotted spoon, removing meat and carrots from the bottom. Mix thoroughly but gently. If all conditions are met and with a little skill, the rice should be ready, but not soggy, crumbly, but not soggy.
Place the pilaf on a lyagan (a wide and flat dish with oriental designs). Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds, salad with tomatoes and onions but without oil (very thinly sliced, bitter from pepper).
Invite your household to the table and wish them bon appetit.
Take a spoon yourself and find heaven.

Garlic is traditionally used to achieve a spicy aroma. The heads, previously washed and cleared of the top husk, are placed entirely before adding rice - in a zirvak, and covered with rice. Then they are removed from the finished pilaf and placed on the lyagan on top of the rice. For the above number of ingredients you can take up to 4 heads of garlic.
To achieve a bright red-brown color of pilaf, it is recommended that when the oil is hot, throw a small bone (rib, joint...) into it and fry until black. Then, of course, throw it away.
It is better to use meat with fat (layers). When using very fatty meat, the amount of oil must be reduced by a third.
Pilaf is eaten only with spoons or hands, but not with forks. From a common lyagan, the whole company. It is best to drink not very chilled vodka, and after the feast - unsweetened green tea.

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Subtleties:

Pilaf is not as scary as it is painted, says chef Roman Burtsev. - Let the experts love to inflate their prices by talking about how “pilaf requires special rice”, “you can’t cook pilaf without tricky spices”, etc. After such reasoning, many do not even dare to approach the cauldron.

There is no one correct recipe for pilaf. There are hundreds of them. Only Uzbek pilaf has dozens of varieties: Fergana, Samarkand, Bukhara, Khorezm. There is also a wedding one, with dolma, yogurt, cherries, and plums. As soon as a new ingredient is added, another variety of pilaf is immediately obtained. In some countries they like a sweetish dish, in others it is spicy, in others they cook rice separately from meat. In Russia, pilaf most often means Uzbek pilaf made from rice, carrots, onions and meat (in the original - lamb, but it can be replaced with beef, pork or chicken). In the classic recipe, equal proportions of rice, carrots and meat are taken (for 8 servings - 1 kg each), onions - a little less (200 g).

Step 1: heat the oil, fry the onion

First of all, you need to thoroughly heat the cauldron and pour a glass of refined vegetable oil into it (in the classic recipe, it is not customary to spare fat for pilaf; at least 2 glasses of oil are poured into a 5-liter cauldron and fat tail fat is also added). Then you need to wait for the oil to heat up (you can tell when it’s ready by the clicking sound when you throw in a pinch of salt), and then add the onion (200 g), cut into half rings.

Step 2: Fry the meat and carrots

When the onion is browned, add diced meat (1 kg) and carrots (1 kg). The latter is not grated, but cut into large strips about 4 cm long and 0.5 cm wide. In Uzbekistan, yellow carrots are used for pilaf (they contain less water), but in our conditions this can be ignored and you can use ordinary orange ones.

Brown, round, crumbly: how to choose rice

Step 3: Add salt and spices
When the meat with onions and carrots is fried, you need to pour in a little water, add 2 tablespoons of salt, add 4 whole peeled heads of garlic and Uzbek spices: 2 teaspoons of barberry, 1 teaspoon of cumin and a coffee spoon of turmeric or a pinch of saffron. If spices are not found, the result will be not Uzbek, but Kazakh pilaf (Kazakhs do not put barberries and cumin in pilaf; in their opinion, spices interrupt the true taste of meat and rice).

Step 4: Put in rice
When the meat becomes soft, remove the garlic and place rice (1 kg) in an even layer in the cauldron. Ideally, if you can buy an Uzbek variety on the market. If not, Krasnodar, Arborio, basmati or sushi rice are perfect. The main thing is to rinse the rice several times and soak it in salt water for at least 2 hours before putting it in the cauldron. The liquid will remove the starch from the grains, the salt will help prevent them from sticking together, and the pilaf will turn out crumbly and not like rice porridge.

Step 5: Cook without a lid
The rice in the cauldron must be filled with water so that there is at least 2 cm of liquid above the surface of the grains. Do not stir the contents of the cauldron and close it with a lid. Let it bubble until the rice has completely absorbed the water.

Step 6: with lid
Collect the rice in a mound, make several punctures in it with the handle of a ladle, put the previously removed heads of garlic on top, close tightly with a lid and simmer for at least half an hour over low heat. Only after this can the dish be mixed, fishing out delicious fried pieces of meat with carrots from the bottom, placing the finished pilaf on plates and sprinkling with cilantro.

Which cauldron should you choose?

Cast iron
If you create a rating of commercially available cauldrons, the classic of the genre - cast iron - will come out on top. In the East, it is believed that the older the cookware, the better - over the years of use, its pores become clogged with oil, the inner walls are covered with a layer of fat, and the food does not burn. A cast iron cauldron has excellent thermal conductivity, and pilaf in it is not just boiled and fried, but simmered.

Aluminum
Aluminum and duralumin cauldrons are in second place in popularity. The latter are made with the addition of copper, magnesium, iron and manganese and weigh slightly less than those made of “pure” metal. The main advantage of aluminum cauldrons is ease of use. In order not to drag a heavy cast-iron cauldron across the stove, Uzbek housewives choose duralumin.

Copper
There is another metal from which real oriental cauldrons are made - copper. Unlike Uzbeks, who would not exchange cast iron cookware for anything, Azerbaijanis and Iranians choose copper pots. They believe that only in such a container can perfect pilaf be obtained.

Non-stick
Today in stores you can find new types of cauldrons - coated with enamel, made of stainless steel and having a non-stick coating. As Central Asian chefs say, this is just an imitation of an oriental cauldron. Woks and French fryers don't quite work either. If you are looking for a replacement for a cauldron, then it is better to stop at the usual duckling or goose pan - they come in cast iron and aluminum and have thick walls.
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Pilaf

A characteristic feature of any pilaf, regardless of whether it is meat or fruit pilaf, whether rice is cooked separately or together with meat, whether other grains or beans are added to the pilaf - each grain of rice should be separate from each other, and not stick together into a porridge. The ratio of ingredients in pilaf may vary depending on the desired taste, but it is recommended to adhere to the rule that all parts should be approximately equal. The grain part in pilaf can be not only rice, but also wheat, mung bean, peas, corn, etc. The main point of preparing pilaf is preparing zirvak. Zirvak is meat, vegetables, fruits or dried fruits fried together in a large amount of fat and flavored with spices. And only rice is placed on top of the zirvak.
There are 102 recipes in the "Pilaf" section

Uzbek pilaf... you'll lick your fingers! This is the food of real gourmets, especially the stronger half of humanity - it’s not for nothing that the best pilaf is prepared by the men themselves.

Not a single event in Uzbekistan is traditionally complete without pilaf, be it the birth of a child, a wedding or a funeral. Pilaf is the name of the game here.

The process of preparing pilaf itself is already a kind of holiday: the closest people gather and get down to business in a friendly circle. Uzbekistan has always been and is considered a sunny, hospitable country, so here the attitude towards the guest is special and reverent.

I remember there was a saying from the movie “Vanity of Vanities”: “Scrambled eggs in the morning, scrambled eggs at lunch, omelet in the evening.” This can be said to be the case with pilaf among men in Uzbekistan. After all, in the morning, someone invited you to celebrate the birth of a child, at lunch someone had a wake, and in the evening there was a wedding. But, unlike Frunzik Mkrtchan, who spoke with regret and sadness about the “diversity” of his menu, Uzbek pilaf will never get boring. And the reason for this is that, despite the key ingredients, there are a huge number of recipes for preparing pilaf, and, in addition, the hand and mood also matter. There are more than 100 recipes for this dish in Uzbek cuisine, and the technology for its preparation has been improved over the years. Each region of Uzbekistan differs in its preparation of pilaf: for example, in Fergana they prepare pilaf differently than in Samarkand, and Tashkent pilaf differs from Bukhara and Khorezm.

Information about pilaf is found in numerous sources. In particular, in the book “The Tales of Abu Ali ibn Sina” (Avicenna), simultaneously with the presentation of historical events, it is said about the existence of a “royal pilaf” made from “devzira” rice with an aromatic smell, richly flavored with oil..., sprinkled with seasonings on top... and incredibly tasty .

There is a legend among the people about the origin of the very name “palov oshi”; it is associated with the name of Abu Ali ibn Sina:

Once upon a time, a prince fell in love with a beauty from a poor family. He suffered that he could not marry her. The prince began to fade and refused food. The padishah invited the great healer Abu Ali ibn Sina to his place and asked to find out the cause of the illness and cure the heir. Having thoroughly examined the prince, Ibn Sina found out that the cause of the disease was love, and there were two ways to cure his son - to unite the hearts of lovers and to feed the depleted body of the groom with a high-calorie dish - "palov osh", that is, a dish prepared from seven products. Perhaps the obligatory presence of this dish at a wedding celebration is connected precisely with this legend.

And here are the seven products: letter P - piyoz (onion), A - ayoz (carrots), L - lahm (meat), O -oliyo (fat), V - veet (salt), O - ob (water), Sh – shawls (rice). And if you collect all these letters, you get the name of the dish “Palov Osh”.

This is just a legend, but in reality pilaf really consists of these products. Over time, as he improved, he acquired other ingredients: they began to add raisins, peas, pepper, cumin, barberry and many other products and spices for taste.

In one of the episodes of the TV show “Smak”, Uzbek pilaf was prepared by one of the Russian tennis players. I was surprised that she only needed 2 carrots to prepare this dish. To be honest, Uzbek pilaf is distinguished by its abundance of carrots, and the more of it, the tastier and more beautiful the pilaf itself will be.

Depending on what ingredients are chosen, if it’s meat, then it’s lamb or beef, if it’s carrots, then it’s yellow or red, if it’s rice, then there are so many varieties of it! Even the fire on which the pilaf is cooked will all affect the taste and appearance of this wonderful dish.

So, pilaf is the highest point of Uzbek culinary art. There is frying, boiling, and evaporation. Therefore, it is believed that if you know how to cook pilaf, then you can cook any other dish.

Well, now let's get down to business...

Below I will give recipes for several types of pilaf at home.

Pilaf with quince

Lamb or beef meat - about 1 kg, rice - 900 g, onions - 0.5 kg, carrots - 1 kg, vegetable oil - 300 ml, quince - 600 g, salt and cumin to taste.

For example, I measure the amount of rice in bowls - 5 bowls, this is a 1 liter jar, for a cauldron of pilaf, with a capacity of 4-5 liters.

1. Fry the onion in oil until brownish.

2. Add the meat cut into pieces. Fry well. Add salt.

3. Add carrots cut into strips. Fry all this while stirring.

4. Add water so that it covers the entire mass. Add enough salt so that the Zirvak (this is the name of the resulting mass) is a little salty, because the rice should absorb this salt and balance the taste.

5. Place peeled and sliced ​​quince.

6. Reduce heat and leave to simmer for 20-30 minutes, the longer the better.

7. Peel and rinse the rice in warm water several times until the water runs clear. In some cases, the rice is soaked for a few minutes, then the water is drained.

8. Distribute the rice evenly over the entire surface. If there is not enough water, you need to add boiling water so that the water covers the rice.

9. Wait until all the water has evaporated over high heat, while collecting the rice from the edge of the cauldron to the center in a slide. Do not stir! The zirwak should remain at the bottom of the rice.

Close the lid and place on the lowest heat.

After about 20 minutes, you can open the lid and try the rice. If the rice is ready, turn off the heat, mix everything thoroughly - from bottom to top and... Bon appetit!

I would like to add that salad is always served with pilaf. If this is the season when there are ripe cucumbers and tomatoes, then the salad is achchik chuchuk, but if it is the winter season, then it is a salad of radish and sour milk (kattik).

Pilaf with cabbage rolls from grape leaves

The basis of the pilaf is the “backbone” of Zirvak - this is a fried mass of onions, meat and carrots with the addition of various spices.

This pilaf is prepared in the same way, but in addition to everything, cabbage rolls from grape leaves are prepared separately. Pilaf is served piled high and topped with cabbage rolls.

Pilaf with garlic

Prepare zirvak, add well-washed whole garlic. Cook until the garlic is ready. The garlic must be put aside, otherwise it will boil. Add rice. And the rest is as in the previous recipe.

Festive pilaf with peas is also prepared. Only use peas, pre-soaked for a day. Add it to the zirvak and cook for a long time until the nokhot becomes soft.

Pilaf with chicken

Well, this recipe is an alternative to meat. You can also prepare pilaf with quails.

Pilaf with potatoes

It is prepared mainly for children, using minced beef instead of large pieces of meat. The pilaf turns out to be dietary. Diced potatoes are added to the zirvak.

Samarkand pilaf

It differs in both taste and appearance. Unlike other types, it is not stirred and therefore has a whitish-yellowish color. Serve it like this: first you need to put rice, carrots on top of it, then meat:

Lamb or beef meat - 1 kg, rice - 1 kg, onion - 400 g, carrots - 1 kg, vegetable oil - 400 ml, salt, ground black pepper, cumin to taste.

Soak the peeled and washed rice in salted water. Fry pieces of meat weighing 15-20 g in calcined oil, bring the onion cut into half rings until golden brown and cut the carrots into strips. Pour water, add salt, spices and cook for half an hour. Place rice in the zirvak and cook for 20-25 minutes; Turn over 2-3 times using a slotted spoon and simmer until cooked through.

Devzira rice pilaf

For this type of pilaf, lamb and lamb fat are used. Devzira pilaf is mainly prepared in the Fergana Valley, Andijan and Namangan.

Pilaf in Khorezm style

This type of pilaf is common only in Khorezm.

Divide the meat into large pieces, fry along with onions, add a small amount of water and cook. Place carrots, cut into strips 3-4 cm thick, on top of the meat, add salt, cumin (cumin). Close the cauldron tightly with a lid and simmer for 30-40 minutes over low heat. Then add rice, add water (1.5-2 centimeters above the surface of the rice), add salt and cook like ordinary pilaf. Before serving, first place the carrots on the dish, and then the rice.

Kashkadarya festive pilaf

It differs in that it uses marinated meat.

We can say that this is also a type of pilaf. If the pilaf is not a success, that is, the rice is not crumbly (this is due to the large amount of water) and has the appearance of porridge, they say it turned out to be Shavlya.

And here is the recipe for real shavli:

Lamb or beef meat – 600 g, rice – 600 g, onion – 300 g, carrots – 500 g, tomatoes – 2-3 pcs., vegetable oil – 300 ml., salt, black pepper, spices to taste .

Fry pieces of meat weighing 10-15 grams in hot oil. Add onion cut into rings, cut carrots into strips. Add tomatoes or roasted tomatoes, fry for another 5-10 minutes. Pour in water (in a 3:1 ratio of water to rice) and bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat. Then add the washed rice and cook until tender, stirring occasionally for 5-10 minutes over low heat. Serve sprinkled with ground black pepper and herbs.

Text and photo © Ulmas Karamatova

(3 years ago) | Add to bookmarks |

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When one of the guests writes about us, you jealously find where something is written wrong, and this is normal. Good review. I would add my comments.

1. Samarkand is usually in zigir-yog, it could be mentioned.
2. Not a word about the Jizzakh version; it is served in Tashkent in many Jizzakh cafes, differs from other types and is worthy of mention as an established version.
3. About every pilaf it is written that it is fatty, heavy, etc. Maybe it’s better not to pilaf, if it’s so tender and watch your cholesterol, and boil the potatoes? :-0)) Ordinary pilaf is not greasy, the grains of rice should be in the thinnest film of aromatic oil. I once saw at a wedding in a village near Tashkent a really fatty pilaf, it was served after everyone had eaten, the rice was floating in oil, and large pieces of boiled fat tail lay on top, I couldn’t look anymore, but the table mates ate with pleasure...
4. It is written that the photo is from open sources. The first photo is recognizable, it is the work of Stalik, knowing that he is sensitive to photography, I would indicate his authorship. EU.

Photos from open sources

The Uzbeks themselves count up to 150 variations of pilaf, many of them inventing something to this day.

I recently returned from a trip to a wonderful country - Uzbekistan. Of course, there were ancient monuments, history and excursions. But, I won’t lie, most often I was happy to pay tribute to the excellent Uzbek cuisine. Among other things, I ate pilaf, which was different in each city. And so it occurred to me to write a short guide to pilaf, which you will be served in different cities of Uzbekistan. Of course, there can be no talk of any completeness here - the Uzbeks themselves count up to 150 variations of pilaf, many are still inventing something to this day. But I can give you some basics so that you are prepared for what may await you. We will only talk about large cities so as not to get confused, because each village has its own variation of pilaf, and people are rightly proud of it. But there are not many tourists among us who will visit Uzbek villages, I think.

Tashkent

Let's start with the capital. Well, you need to understand that Tashkent is a city that sets the tone for the whole country. Therefore, here you can try any kind of pilaf, including the craziest fusion compositions and five-story experiments. But traditionally in Tashkent they prefer rather fatty pilaf made from expensive long rice (laser, for example) with a lot of additives. In other parts of the country, such pilaf is considered festive or wedding. In Tashkent, kazy, khasip (homemade lamb sausage), quail and chicken eggs, chickpeas, and raisins can be added to pilaf. The meat in such pilaf is most often prepared in a large piece, cut and added in portions. Boiled pieces of fat tail may be present. This is a rather heavy pilaf, which must be washed down with hot tea. For pilaf in Tashkent they use both yellow and red carrots, sometimes mixing them directly in one dish.

Fergana Valley

Let's move to the east of the country - here, on the very border with Kyrgyzstan, there is a not very touristic, but very famous place - the Fergana Valley. It is known primarily for the fact that dev-jeera, the most suitable variety of rice for pilaf, is grown in this area. It is hard, reddish in color, and absorbs a lot of liquid - in Fergana they prepare pilaf only from it. And not only in Fergana, but also in neighboring Namangan and Andijan. This type of pilaf is also called kovurma palov - fried pilaf. All ingredients are fried in a large amount of oil, and because of this the pilaf itself gets its characteristic brown color. Fergana pilaf does not tolerate any sweet additives, no raisins, only garlic and hot pepper. Less often - chickpeas and barberries. Yellow carrots are most often used - they have less sweetness. But it can be red too. The meat is fried in small portions. This is perhaps the most difficult of all types of pilaf to master, but also the most canonical - this is how we are used to seeing Uzbek pilaf. By the way, dev-jeera rice has many different types, so don't be surprised. Due to its fat content, Fergana pilaf is almost always served with a traditional achik-chichuk salad made from tomatoes and onions.

Samarkand

This ancient city, once the capital of the kingdom of Amir Timur, certainly has its own strong flowing traditions. Local residents like to say that it was the oshpazy from Samarkand who once won the All-Uzbek pilaf championship. The local pilaf is a must try. There are several variations of Samarkand pilaf, but most often you will see yellow carrot pilaf with long Khorezm varieties of rice. The main feature of this pilaf is that it is not stirred during cooking. It is prepared in layers - meat, carrots, rice. And it is also served in layers. The meat is fried in large pieces and cut by the eaters themselves - to their taste. For this purpose, each table has a special wooden block and knife. This is a rather fatty pilaf, but still lighter than Tashkent or, especially, Fergana pilaf. Carrots in Samarkand pilaf are practically not fried, but only stewed, retaining their taste. Sometimes chickpeas are added.

Bukhara

Another notable tourist point on the map of Uzbekistan, undoubtedly, is blessed Bukhara. It is interesting that Bukhara, with its more than two thousand-year history, of course, has its own unique type of pilaf, but pilaf, in principle, is not considered the pinnacle of cooking there - Bukhara residents are more attached to other dishes. Bukhara pilaf is sweet in the oriental way, with a lot of dried fruits - raisins, dried apricots, and sometimes nuts. Here you will find a little butter and always sweet red carrots - Bukharians emphasize this separately. Of course, Bukhara pilaf does not require any garlic or pepper. This is a light dish that mixes a variety of flavors. Bukhara pilaf was not invented for the purpose of stuffing yourself with it until your stomach hurts - it is for leisurely tasting it while drinking tea on the shore of an ancient pond in 40-degree heat.

Khorezm

The last region I would like to dwell on is ancient Khorezm. This area is on the border with Turkmenistan, and at one time it was a very prominent place on the Great Silk Road. Now the most famous cities of the Khorezm region are Khiva and Urgench. An amazing and most laconic Uzbek pilaf is prepared in Khorezm. Only the main ingredients - long and soft Khorezm rice, meat, onions and carrots. A minimum of spices, a minimum of oil, exclusively natural taste of products. Carrots in Khorezm pilaf are not cut into strips, as we are used to, but into slices, so that their taste is more noticeable. Khorezm pilaf is truly unlike all other Uzbek varieties of this dish - it is light, bright and amazing, you definitely need to try it.
I guess I'll end here. You can write endlessly about the types of Uzbek pilaf, because there are countless of them - Beshkent, Jambay, Gulistan, Kokand, Zarafshan, Namangan, Karakul, Pakhtaabad, Zafar, Yangiabad, Uchkurgan, Belyaletdin and so on, so on. Not to mention pilaf from neighboring countries, including our native Kazakh. Each type of pilaf has its own characteristics and is loved by residents of their native region, but this is for those who like to delve into it. I told you about the main varieties that are easily available on a tourist trip in Uzbekistan. Choose any or all at once and enjoy the wonderful invention of Uzbek culture. All the best to you!

It is not possible to say correctly who first invented pilaf. History does not contain any precise mention of the recipe for the first pilaf, just as it did not preserve the name of that brilliant culinary specialist who came up with the idea of ​​​​combining the beneficial properties of rice, carrots, onions and meat.

Let's say more: no one was interested in the emergence of this main dish for the peoples of Central Asia and the Middle East until William Pokhlebkin, the famous culinary specialist and chronicler of culinary fashion. But whoever came up with it first, this bright head needs to be thanked a million times for a dish that has become so popular and multifaceted. We have collected several interesting facts from the vast history of pilaf for you.

Who invented pilaf

Residents of many countries prepare dishes with rice - which food is worthy of being called the ancestor of modern pilaf? And whose national dish ultimately became the dish we know and love today?


If you look at the etymology of the name, you will be surprised by the geographical breadth of application of this word, and, accordingly, the spread of the dish. Thus, it originates from the Hindi language, which in turn took it from Sanskrit, meaning cooked rice by the word “pilov”.

There is an analogue in both Turkic and Bulgarian languages. And, of course, with slightly different pronunciations, the word sounds similar in Tatar, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uzbek and other Central Asian languages.



This can be explained by the fact that the dish is ancient. According to the most conservative assumptions, it arose in the 1st-3rd centuries BC, when rice began to be grown in the Middle East. Some lovers of culinary history believe that Chinese chefs became the founders, because the Chinese began to cultivate this culture even earlier.

But if you look closely at the culinary traditions of cooking rice in Japan and China, it will become clear that the borrowing does not come from these countries at all.

But India, where vegetarian rice dishes have existed since ancient times, could well have become the birthplace of pilaf. By the way, the fact that rice is traditionally tinted with saffron or turmeric speaks in favor of this version. Later, Persia enriched the vegetarian version of Indian pilaf with meat, bringing it even closer to the modern classic version.


The first mentions of “pilaf” (this is how the name sounds in the Arabic manner) are contained in the well-known fairy tales “A Thousand and One Nights” - a monument to the Arabic written culture of the Middle Ages.

The widespread spread of pilaf from the East throughout Central Asia, where it became perhaps the most popular dish.

From Turkey, the tradition of preparing a dish from rice, vegetables, adding some meat, fish, dried fruits and other ingredients migrated to the eastern part of Europe, to the Balkan Peninsula. And wherever pilaf appeared, it acquired national characteristics associated with local traditions.


Pilaf came to the Western part of Europe only at the end of the 17th century. And not in the form of an exact description of the preparation, but only as an impression, it was brought with him by the king’s envoy, returning from Turkey. This, of course, was not a recipe, but only an emotionally charged description of an unusual and tasty dish that he was treated to on the Turkish side.

Attempts by French culinary specialists to apply the description to their own skills in working with rice did not lead to anything. The secret remained unsolved and was consigned to oblivion exactly until the moment when, already in the nineteenth century, a group of French engineers engaged in the construction of the famous Suez Canal brought with them to your homeland an authentic recipe for cooking oriental pilaf.

This is how the story of the appearance of pilaf as a dish in principle sounds quite plausible, although authorship is also attributed to individuals. For example, to the cook of Alexander the Great or the camp cook of Genghis Khan, who prepared him for this strong and resilient army. There is even an opinion that the famous Avicenna (Abu Ali ibn Sina) was involved in the creation, which is very doubtful, because the healer probably had something to do other than creating new culinary delights.



As for Rus', there is a mention of pilaf in the poems of the poet and great gourmet Gavrila Derzhavin. In his dreams of a table with festive dishes, he sees “links of Astrakhan fish, / There are pilaf and pies there...” And then Dahl and the etymologist Vasmer, the compilers of the encyclopedia Brockhaus and Efros, and in Soviet times, the main cookbook, already talk about pilaf to all housewives about tasty and healthy food.

History of pilaf

However, it is better to talk about the origin of this dish from the moment when its Central Asian version became known. It is this pilaf that can be called canonical today, because it contains all the main historically established and most popular cooking traditions.


The history of Uzbek pilaf is as follows.
If we take it on faith that the birthplace of the very first pilaf is India, then the development of ideas and its improvement belong to Central Asian and Iranian culinary specialists. It is no coincidence that it was these two “schools of pilaf” that gave birth to two cooking traditions. The first, Central Asian, is based on the use of zirvak combined with rice during the cooking process. The second tradition, Iranian, better known to us as Azerbaijani pilaf, is based on the separation of meat and vegetable parts (gara) from cereals.

For most modern pilaf lovers, it is still associated with the Central Asian recipe. It is all the more interesting to know what the history of the origin of pilaf is in Central Asia.

The great rice route to the modern territory of Uzbekistan began after the Chinese introduced the Uzbeks to rice, and the Indians to spices.

This happened due to the fact that the Great Silk Road passed through these territories; trade opened up many previously unknown goods to the Central Asian population. In the same way, the technology of preparing the dish was borrowed - both vegetarian and meat-based.


The main recipe for Central Asian dishes today is Fergana. This is a classic that did not arise on its own, but again thanks to the historically and geographically established characteristics of residence. Thus, in the Fergana Valley there were ideal conditions for growing our own rice, which they began to cultivate here and prepare pilaf from local varieties of cereals.

The bright sun and mountain water flowing from the ridges have become ideal conditions for the growth of this cereal. In this area it was a devzir variety.

In general, the recipe for pilaf was adjusted to the variety that was most widespread in a particular territory. Depending on rice, on its ability to remove starch, absorb oil and water, Uzbek cooks adjusted the recipe for their pilaf.


And then they “corrected” it with their own traditional products - yellow carrots, onions, garlic. The main meat of Uzbek cattle breeders was used - lamb, fat tail fat and cottonseed oil, which was cheap and abundant here. And since the only example of kitchen utensils and utensils here most often was a cauldron, they began to cook just like that - in a large cauldron, over an open fire, seasoned with spices. It turned out not only nutritious, but also very tasty.


From these dishes came numerous branches and variations using other types of meat, fish, dried fruits, and other ingredients, which were less and less like traditional Uzbek pilaf as a classic national dish, but expanded the horizons of cooks and the geographical horizons of the pilaf itself. Today, people all over the world know what pilaf is.

Useful properties of pilaf

The Uzbeks themselves claim that there is simply no main, most precise recipe. Each region, each city cooks in its own way, and therefore Samarkand and Fergana, Khorezm and Bukhara pilaf is delicious. If you count, you will come up with a hundred options, or even more. Honing their skills over the centuries, continuing the traditions of their ancestors, in every corner of Uzbekistan they prepare their own pilaf and come up with new varieties.


Do you know what is the secret of such popularity? Firstly, the Uzbeks, a sedentary people, and not nomadic, like many of their neighbors, were engaged in agriculture. Hard work forced me to look for good, fatty, and at the same time affordable food. Another thing is also important: traditionally families here are large, and therefore it was possible to feed everyone with this simple, nutritious dish.


The second reason for its popularity is its usefulness. After all, it is only at first glance that this food seems excessively fatty. Any nutritionist will tell you that a person cannot do without fat, and the fat content in one serving is 30 g. This is half the amount of fat consumed per day. This food is balanced and contains the carbohydrates and proteins that a person needs, which we get from meat and rice.

Vitamins, microelements, healthy fiber are provided to the body by vegetables, fruits, herbs, and berries.

At the same time, the dish gives you a feeling of fullness for a long time due to slower absorption of carbohydrates and proteins. And it is fats that slow down this process. So one serving is enough for a long time to feel full of strength and energy.