Pork ribs pilaf in a cauldron. How to cook delicious pork pilaf in a cauldron, step-by-step recipe with photos

It’s no secret that in nature, all food from the coals of a barbecue seems tastier: appetizing, smelling of smoke, it instantly “flies away”, causing admiration. The recipe for pilaf in a cauldron, which we will discuss in detail below, will help to please vacationers with something other than slightly boring fried meat. We are sure that tourists who are hungry in the fresh air will enjoy this treat, especially if the main chef knows the secrets of creating the dish.

Not everyone knows how to cook delicious pilaf in a cauldron correctly, and therefore it is a common situation when, having tried the food once, cooks forget about the recipe, which did not please them with the results. But crumbly rice with meat and vegetables can turn out simply amazingly appetizing - provided that you follow the technique of creating the dish.

• In real pilaf in an oriental cauldron, only lamb is used, but in its absence any other meat will do. The main thing is that it was not lean, but had noticeable layers of fat.
• Carefully choose the rice you are going to use for cooking over a fire. It should be steamed, and the grains of rice themselves should be long and large.
• The best container for creating a delicious dish is a cast iron cauldron. Of course, it will be hard to carry it to a picnic, but it’s worth it! Before you start cooking rice in a cauldron, heat it over the coals for a couple of minutes.
• How to make pilaf to perfection, where the meat is fried and the rice is fluffy? Under no circumstances cover the cauldron with a lid when frying sliced ​​meats - this can only be done when the rice is already in the container, but not at the initial stage!

• You can start cooking the rice at home: rinse it thoroughly and fill it with water - this way it will have time to swell by the time you start cooking it in a cauldron.

Pilaf in the cauldron “Star of the East”

Ingredients

• - 1 kg + -
• - 1 kg + -
• - 2 pcs. + -
• — 300 g + -
• - taste + -
• - taste + -
• - 5 pieces. + -

Preparation

For everyone who wants to cook real Uzbek food, this recipe is just a godsend! The treat will certainly be a great success and will captivate lovers of country holidays with a mass of bright gastronomic shades. But we didn’t come up with anything innovative - we just give in detail tips for creating a dish that our great-grandfathers knew.

1. Peel the onion and chop it into thick rings. They should not be less than 3-4 mm in thickness, otherwise we risk getting a mountain of coals instead of the delicious pilaf in the cauldron, the recipe for which we have chosen.

2. Wash the lamb (the fattier the meat, the tastier it will be in the end) and cut into portions. The ideal size is bars with an edge of a couple of centimeters. Chop the carrots into small shavings or cut into cubes or circles.

3. If we forgot about the rice in our haste and getting ready for the picnic, now we wash it, fill it with water and leave it until the need arises to use it in cooking.

4. Rinse the cast iron container with boiling water and place it over the fire (the firewood should be properly ignited by this time). We give it a couple of minutes to warm up and dry and pour the required amount of oil into the cauldron. Before making pilaf in the cauldron further, we wait a little more. The oil should also be heated and bluish steam should begin to rise from it. This stage usually takes five to seven minutes.

5. Carefully place the onion slices into the hot oil (you should be careful here - the mass immediately begins to splatter heavily in all directions) and stir it continuously until it acquires a dark golden color. At the same time, we try not to miss the moment when the onion rings become too “tanned” - otherwise they will already be charred by the middle of the cooking process.

6. Immediately after the onion reaches the desired shade, place the lamb in a container and fry for about fifteen minutes, stirring constantly. As a result, the meat should be decorated with an appetizing light crust.

7. Add chopped carrots to the recipe ingredients and, continuing to work intensively with the spoon, cook the mixture for another ten minutes.

8. Now it’s time for seasonings: put salt in the cauldron (about two tablespoons, anyway, more of it will be absorbed later by the rice), add spices and fill with water above the level of the mass in the pan. In this form, all ingredients should simmer for at least 20-30 minutes, until the lamb and vegetables become soft.

9. We have very little left before the pilaf in the cauldron is completely ready. Spread the rice in an even layer on top of the other ingredients (do not mix!) and pour boiling water over everything so that it covers the entire pot. Cook for another 20-30 minutes. To determine the degree of readiness, we try a spoon - as soon as the grains of rice stop squeaking on the teeth, the product can be stirred. We do this very carefully, using a slotted spoon or a large spoon.

Yes, we had to work a little hard, didn't we? But from the moment we lifted the lid and a delicious aroma wafted around, it became clear that this pilaf in a cauldron, the recipe for which we studied, was worth making!

* Cook's Tips
— Gourmets advise using yellow and red carrots, mixed in equal proportions, to prepare oriental dishes.
— Garlic is an excellent helper for creating an even brighter and more expressive aroma. You can push the peeled slices into small recesses when adding rice.
— In Tashkent, a handful of raisins, ground red pepper and cumin are placed on top of the rice (these striped seeds can be found in spice shops).
— In the same wonderful country, at the stage of frying meat, they advise mixing in a little soaked peas, barberry and cilantro seeds. Those who have had the opportunity to feast on the dish assure that the taste is simply indescribable!

Now you know everything about how to cook pilaf in a cauldron and you can probably do it no worse than famous chefs!

Many people know how to cook pilaf, it is especially popular in Central Asia and the East. But, as many cooks as there are, there are as many recipes for this dish. As soon as someone adds a new ingredient to a well-known recipe, they immediately get another variety of pilaf. Analogues of pilaf are made in many countries. For example, in Spain a common rice dish is paella, and in Italy it is risotto. However, let's look at our usual recipe for pilaf in a cauldron. This dish does not need to be prepared in the kitchen. Pilaf in a cauldron over a fire is more convenient to cook, and it turns out tastier. Of course, as a last resort, you can cook pilaf in a cauldron on the stove, but, you see, the process itself will lose a lot from this, as well as the taste and aroma.

The classic recipe for pilaf provides equal proportions of rice, carrots and meat, and slightly less onion, about a third of these portions. This is the so-called Uzbek pilaf in a cauldron; it best conveys the aromas of all components of the dish. But this pilaf also has many options. The main common feature of preparing pilaf in a cauldron is the combination of two mandatory components: the meat and vegetable part, which is called zirvak, and the cereal part. The most suitable grain for pilaf is rice, but some recipes recommend using wheat, corn, pearl barley, etc. But these options are no longer called “Uzbek pilaf”; the recipe in a cauldron with other cereals besides rice is not for everyone. Although it is generally accepted that the classic is lamb pilaf in a cauldron, you should not be very scrupulous about this ingredient. Pork pilaf in a cauldron, pilaf with chicken in a cauldron, but it’s better not to cook this dish with veal. Tender veal will not give your pilaf the full meat flavor.

Pilaf is interesting because a true master will not strictly adhere to an existing recipe; he will find an opportunity to bring his culinary knowledge and imagination to life. Take a look at any photo of pilaf in a cauldron; they all differ from each other not only in content, but also in appearance. This quality of pilaf is appreciated by chefs. Therefore, they advise beginners, when studying pilaf in a cauldron, to carefully consider recipes with photos and notice any details and nuances of each option.

If you have not cooked pilaf before, a recipe with a photo that shows the stages of preparation step by step in a cauldron is the best instruction for you. There is another way to learn how to cook pilaf in a cauldron - a video. On videos filmed by experienced chefs, you can follow all the nuances of this tricky process and understand how to cook pilaf over a fire in a cauldron according to all the rules. And if you succeed in this dish, we will be happy to share your success with other lovers of this wonderful delicacy; your pilaf in a cauldron over a fire, a photo of which you will send us, will certainly be appreciated by many.

The best container for pilaf is a cast iron cauldron; it has excellent thermal conductivity, and the pilaf simmers in it as needed;

The strongest, most transparent varieties of rice, with medium and long grains, are suitable for pilaf. Avoid Indian or Thai rice varieties such as basmati or jasmine. They are too soft and boil over quickly; in pilaf they will turn out to be porridge. The best are Uzbek varieties of rice, for example devzira, or you can use our steamed rice and rice to prepare paella;

Lamb brisket is suitable for pilaf, but you can also use the shoulder or back. If you have lamb with bones, then use a little more meat than indicated in the recipe;

Spices are an important part of pilaf. Mix 2 parts of barberry, and one part each of cumin, turmeric, and a pinch of saffron. Without spices, the result will not be Uzbek, but Kazakh pilaf; Kazakhs, as a matter of principle, do not add spices, which, as they think, interrupt the true taste of meat and rice;

The rice in the cauldron is poured with water to cover them with liquid by 2 cm. Do not stir the contents of the cauldron ahead of time and cover it with a lid until the rice has completely absorbed the water;

At the very end of the process, the dish can be mixed by fishing out delicious fried pieces of meat with carrots from the bottom and placing them in a visible place;

It is advisable to serve in portions: place the finished pilaf on plates and sprinkle with cilantro.

Uzbek pilaf is not just a name, but a real national food brand - like, for example, Provencal cabbage, Siberian dumplings, Gurian lobio and so on. The aroma of spices, the unique consistency of the pilaf, where the rice is both crumbly and slightly sticky, the delicious taste - this is all about Uzbek pilaf. Although to be precise, there are many varieties of this dish. It is prepared in its own way in Tashkent and Bukhara, Samarkand and Andijan. Nevertheless, there are several common ideas that unite all types of Uzbek pilaf. We will tell you how to prepare real Uzbek pilaf while maintaining all the traditional cooking features.

In addition to the fact that it is prepared differently in different areas, there are also traditions of preparing pilaf from different components. In Uzbekistan, you can find wedding pilaf and pilaf with dolma, dried fruits and other ingredients. However, Russians are accustomed to the classic Uzbek pilaf, which is prepared from rice, meat with carrots and onions. This is what we will talk about.

In Uzbek pilaf, the meat can be different, even chicken, but the classic recipe calls for lamb or beef.

But here are the differences that are characteristic of this particular pilaf:

• carrots are taken not orange, but yellow;
• meat and vegetables are simmered in a sauce called zirvak, and then combined with rice and cooked all together;
• Vegetable oil is used, but usually the dish is enriched using a mixture of different oils. It can be sunflower, sesame or nut;
• lamb pilaf is prepared using fat tail fat combined with vegetable oil;
• Proportions are strictly observed - carrots and meat are taken in equal quantities, and there should be approximately the same amount of rice.

Important! The choice of rice is an important point. For traditional pilaf, you should not spare time and find the real rice that Uzbeks use to prepare pilaf - this is devzira rice, long-grain and transparent. It will not turn into porridge and will not be dry; this rice steams perfectly, increasing greatly in volume.

Real Uzbek pilaf in a cauldron with lamb

A cauldron is used for cooking - it can be either on the fire or on a regular stove. The thick cast-iron walls of the cauldron retain heat for a long time, and quick and uniform heating of all the walls of the cookware ensures that the dish turns out to be the most delicious and aromatic. The ideal option is a copper outdoor cauldron on an open fire, but if this is not available, then a heavy cast iron cauldron-saucepan will do. The vessel must have a well-fitting lid so that the pilaf simmers covered for as long as possible.

You will need:

• kilogram of rice;
• kilogram of carrots;
• 4 large onions;
• 2 liters of water;
• vegetable oil 300 g;
• salt, pepper, cumin and other spices to taste, a head of garlic.

And here’s what the step-by-step preparation of pilaf looks like:

1. Place the rice under running water to rinse. It is very important to rinse the rice until the liquid is transparent, so that not a trace of rice flour remains, then it will be crumbly and at the same time moderately sticky.
2. Meanwhile, cut the lamb into cubes, cut the carrots into medium-sized strips about 1 cm thick. Cut the onion into half rings, taking three heads.
3. Heat a cauldron and put oil in it. Uzbek pilaf is always quite fatty; cooks pour two glasses of vegetable oil into a five-liter cauldron, adding fat tail fat to it. If there is no fat, and you are not a fan of excessively fatty foods, then you can limit yourself to less oil. This recipe uses 300 g. To check if the oil is well heated, throw in a little dry salt. It starts to crackle - it's ready.
4. Place the washed and dried remaining onion in hot oil and fry it directly in the husk until black. After that, take it out and throw it away. The point of frying this way is for the oil to become saturated with the intensely fried flavor of the onion.
5. Add chopped onion to oil and fry until dark golden brown. This will take about seven minutes, after which add pieces of meat to the onion and quickly fry them until evenly browned.
6. Add carrots and continue frying for another three minutes without stirring. Then mix everything and fry for another 10 minutes with constant stirring.
7. Pour in a little boiling water, pepper, salt (about two level tablespoons of salt) and add spices. Uzbek spices are cumin (1 tsp), barberry (2 tsp), a pinch of turmeric or saffron for color.
8. As soon as the meat is almost ready (you need to bring it until soft), add the rice and smooth it out with a slotted spoon. Stick in an unpeeled head of garlic. If the heads are small, then two are possible. Add the rest of the boiling water, bring to a boil and leave over low heat until the rice has absorbed all the water.
9. When the rice is almost ready, collect it in a cauldron in a mound, pierce it in several places with the handle of a slotted spoon to allow steam to escape, and then cover with a lid and let it cook over low heat or wrapped in a warm blanket. You can put the dishes under the pillow. But the best option is Uzbek-style pilaf in a cauldron, standing right in the oven when the boiler is built into the firebox. Then its hot walls will retain all the necessary heat.
10. Before serving, the contents of the cauldron are mixed, placed on plates and sprinkled with finely chopped cilantro.

Important! The classic way to serve pilaf in the East is with a salad of thinly sliced ​​tomatoes and onions. Vegetables, as a rule, are not seasoned with anything other than salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Uzbek pilaf with beef

Of course, the best pilaf is lamb. It has a special oriental aroma and delicate taste. However, as true Muslims, Uzbeks avoid pork, but respect beef. Uzbek pilaf with beef can be made with lamb flavor if you add a little fat tail fat.

The Uzbek version with beef is prepared from the following products:

• meat - 0.8 kg, including a small piece on the bone;
• rice - 0.6 kg;
• half a kilo of onion;
• carrots - 0.6 kg;
• vegetable oil and tail fat - 250 g in total;
• spices - salt, pepper, cumin;
• garlic.

Finely chopped pieces of fat tail fat are heated in a cauldron, the cracklings are collected and discarded. Place the meat with the bone and fry until deeply browned. Next, oil is added, heated, and then everything proceeds in the same way as in the previous recipe. This pilaf is slightly different in proportions; it is also called Fergana pilaf.

Uzbek pilaf with pork

Pilaf with pork is, rather, a Russian derivative of the famous Uzbek one. However, the dish turns out no worse than the classic version.

To prepare, you will need 700 g of pork, onions and rice, 300 g of carrots and 200 g of vegetable oil. Fry the pulp cut into pieces in oil, add chopped carrots and onions, fry well and then simmer with a little water. Place long-grain rice, pre-washed, into the prepared zirvak. Salt and pepper. Add bay leaf (optional) and spices you like. Pour two fingers of boiling water over the rice and cook covered.

How to cook with chicken?

You can also make Uzbek pilaf with chicken - this is the fastest and most win-win dish. In equal quantities we take rice, carrots and chicken breast 3 x 500 g. Onions are enough 300 g. Spices are taken to taste, but usually it is pepper, cumin, you can also take ready-made seasoning for pilaf.

In a cauldron in hot oil (1 cm at the bottom), first fry the chopped onion until golden brown, then add the chicken, cut into small pieces. If you don’t have breast, then meat from the chakhokhbili kit or any other chicken meat will do. Cover the fried chicken with coarsely grated carrots and simmer for another 15 minutes, then add washed rice, salt and pepper, add spices and the whole head of garlic. Pour boiling water over two fingers over the rice and simmer until done. Wrap the pilaf well and leave for another forty minutes.

Yesterday we went to visit friends at their dacha. And our very close friend, knowing my ability to cook pilaf, invited me to cook it. And although I have been preparing it for so many years, I thought that I could cook it with my eyes closed. But no, it didn’t work with my eyes closed. Since we were in nature, we also had to cook in nature.

Our friend is a jack of all trades. He not only easily builds, makes repairs, and makes everything he needs on the farm. He also cooks very tasty food! And especially for the dacha, he made a unique barbecue from an antique Singer sewing machine, and independently made a smokehouse and a stove for a cauldron from a gas cylinder. And with all this he prepares all sorts of culinary delicacies.

It was on this stove that I was asked to cook this Uzbek dish. Yes, not simple, but made from pork. It’s not simple because, having lived long enough in Uzbekistan, we never prepared this dish from pork either there or here. Well, what's on the stove, so on the stove - from pork, so from pork. This is a wonderful new experience for me.

A dish prepared in this way can be prepared both in the kitchen, on a gas stove, and outdoors, on a fire.

Pilaf with pork

I was provided with a set of products for cooking. And he turned out to be like this:

• pork meat - 1.3 kg
• onion - 1 kg
• carrots - 1 kg
• rice - 800 gr
• garlic - 2 heads
• spices - you can have a ready-made set
• zira - 1 tbsp. spoon
• barberry - 1 tbsp. spoon
• vegetable oil - 2/3 cup
• salt, ground black pepper - to taste

Preparation:

1. Cut the meat into large pieces.

2. Peel the onion and cut into half rings, 0.4-0.5 cm thick

3. Cut the carrots into thin strips. To do this, first cut it diagonally into long thin slices. And only then cut into long strips 0.4-0.5 cm thick. Men cut the onions and carrots for me. (Well done!!!)

4. Peel the garlic from the top layer of husk and cut off the remaining roots to the very base. Rinse it under water.

5. Rinse the rice under running water until the water becomes clear. Then fill it with water at room temperature and leave to swell for 20 minutes.

Preparation:

1. Heat a cauldron and pour vegetable oil into it. Heat the oil until lightly smoking.

2. Select meat on the bones and fry it until golden brown. The fire should be large enough, this is necessary so that the meat is fried quickly, then it will be juicy. All the juice will be “sealed” in the meat and will not go into the oil.

3. Remove the bones to a plate using a slotted spoon.

4. Place the meat right there. We lower it along the edge of the cauldron so as not to get burned by splashes of oil. We also quickly fry until golden brown.

I don’t describe the time anywhere, since I cook on the stove and I have to put wood in it and regulate the fire. The photographs give an idea to what state you need to fry if you fry on a kitchen stove. While we are doing everything over high heat.

5. As soon as the meat reaches the desired state, add the laid out bones and immediately add the onions to the cauldron. It should be mixed and then fried, stirring occasionally. Make sure that the onion does not burn. Fry it until golden brown and translucent. It should not be visible at all in the finished pilaf.

6. When the onion is ready, you need to add the carrots. Then mix the contents. Add spices: cumin and I have ready-made spices for pilaf. If you don’t have spices in your set, then be sure to buy cumin, ground coriander (or you can grind it yourself in a mortar) and barberry. Other spices can be added as desired. I usually add a pinch of saffron for flavor, paprika for color, and dried herbs for scent.

7. You also need to add salt. This is about a dessert spoon. At first I add a little more than half a tablespoon, and when I add the rice and add water, I taste it and add salt completely. And of course you need pepper. Add it to taste. Just a pinch, maybe half a teaspoon. And who likes it spicier, you can add a small piece of red hot pepper.

Today I was told that “pepper opens the heart.” In my opinion, pilaf also has the same property. that is why they love to cook and eat it so much.

8. Fry the carrots for 3-4 minutes and add a little boiled water. What we have achieved is called “zirvak” in Uzbekistan. That is, this is the basis of any pilaf. If everything is done correctly, it will be tasty and aromatic.

9. Stew the meat with vegetables for about 20 minutes. During this time, the meat becomes 80-85% ready. You can cut off a small piece and try it. It is already chewy well, but while it is cooked with rice, it will become completely soft.

10. Almost all the water has boiled away, if there is a little left, it’s okay, it won’t hurt. Add garlic to the zirvak. We place it, sticking it between the meat pieces so that it does not float up. Being half in zirvak and half in rice, it will give off all its aroma both up and down. And the dish will receive that unforgettable aroma of real Uzbek pilaf.

11. Drain the water from the rice and place it in a cauldron, distributing it evenly over the entire surface. You need to lay it out in such a way that it completely covers the meat and carrots.

12. Boil water in advance. And through the holes in the slotted spoon, pour water about 2 cm above the rice level. Uzbeks check the water level with their index finger. They lower it into the water, the water should reach its first phalanx.

13. Let the water boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Try salt and pepper. If you need to add, then add. As long as there is a lot of water, it will “carry” the salt where it is needed. When the water has already boiled away, it will be too late to add salt.

14. Also cook the rice over high heat until the water becomes invisible. That is, it should still remain at the lower level, but it will no longer be on the surface. At the same time, the rice is almost 90% ready.

15. It's time to make a slide and turn down the heat. I rake the wood, put it to the sides, and close the damper so that there is no access to air and the fire becomes very small. I make a slide using a slotted spoon. To do this, I take the rice from the edges and move it to the center. At the same time, there is no need to touch the lower layers with meat and carrots.

16. When the slide is ready, take a thin stick, maybe a Chinese one, and make several holes all the way to the bottom. I don't have a stick, so I make holes with a spoon handle. Why do we make holes? Firstly, we need to evaporate all the water, and secondly, bring the rice to full readiness. Therefore, the steam will escape through the holes so that there is no water left, and at the same time it will steam the rice. The lid will need to be closed.

17. The dish will simmer in this way for 10-15 minutes. You can check whether there is water left or not by opening the lid and looking to see if there is still liquid around the edges and in the holes made. Or by slightly moving the rice away from the edge of the cauldron with a slotted spoon. When you open the lid, make sure that water does not drip back into the cauldron.

18. When there is no water left at all, turn off the heat (and in my case, completely remove the wood). Cover with a lid and leave to rest and infuse for 15-20 minutes.

Innings:

1. Pilaf is served on a large flat dish, laid out in layers in the reverse order, as it was laid. There is no need to stir anything in the cauldron.

2. First, put rice in the dish. Then carrots.

3. Our meat is cut into large pieces. Therefore, we take it out onto a cutting board and cut it into smaller pieces. Place it on top of the carrots. And put garlic on top.

4. You can sprinkle chopped herbs on top.

10 Cooking Secrets

In my cooking recipes, and I have already described and shared in the most detailed way all the secrets of cooking. Therefore, I will focus on the most basic ones. This will make the dish truly tasty.

• To prepare this dish, be sure to use meat with bones. Even in this recipe, where we used pork, we took pieces of brisket on the bone, and the rest of the meat in the pulp.
• The meat must be fried over high heat to “seal” the juice, in which case it will turn out juicy and tasty.
• You need to learn how to cut carrots correctly. Not in cubes, not in circles, not in bars, but in thin long strips.
• The usual proportion of ingredients for cooking is all in equal quantities. For 1 kg of rice - 1 kg of meat, 1 kg of onions, and 1 kg of carrots. You can take more meat so that everyone can eat. But it’s better not to take less carrots and onions. Both provide the necessary juiciness and taste to our dish.
• I usually use steamed long rice, this kind of rice practically does not boil, and the finished dish will never taste like porridge. Today I cooked from purchased “Rice for Pilaf” and I am not 100% happy with the result. The rice, already in the package, was cracked and uneven. This kind of rice naturally cooks unevenly. In my opinion, this is a promotional ploy for the name of regular rice, and it is not for it at all. Choose long steamed rice of the same size - the result will always be predictable.

• do not overfill the water. If there is more of it than necessary, the rice will be like porridge. But in real pilaf, the “grain of rice” should move away from the “grain of rice”.
• Be sure to use cumin and ground coriander as spices; without them, a real Uzbek dish cannot be prepared. Other spices are optional. But don’t “overdo it”, of course.
• During the cooking process, do not mix the rice with the rest of the contents.
• When preparing pilaf, you should remember two main stages. The first is the preparation of zirvak, it gives the desired taste to the dish. The second is proper cooking of rice. This is the appearance of the dish.
• and one more, almost the most important secret - “preparing a dish does not tolerate fuss.” Therefore, prepare and cut everything in advance so as not to be distracted later. And be in a good mood, this is very necessary for preparing a tasty and healthy dish.

Well, based on my experiment today, I can say that everyone liked the dish prepared with pork. We prepared it for guests who had gathered on the occasion of the birthday of the owner of the house. And although calling it “Uzbek” can be very conditional, since it was prepared from pork, it turned out to be no less tasty than when prepared from beef or lamb. Well, it was prepared, of course, according to all the rules for preparing real Uzbek pilaf.

Bon appetit!

Recently, pilaf has become very popular, which is not surprising; it is a very tasty, aromatic and satisfying dish. Before cooking pilaf in a cauldron, you need to choose the right dishes.

The classic option is to cook pilaf in a cast iron cauldron. The thickness of the walls of the cookware must be at least 3 mm. Cast iron has high thermal conductivity, which ensures even heating of cookware. At the same time, cast iron cauldrons for pilaf retain heat for a long time and allow the food to “reach” the required condition after the dishes are removed from the heat.

Now as for the form, there can be two options. The first is a cauldron with a flat bottom, used if pilaf is cooked on the stove. The second is a cauldron with a rounded bottom, for cooking over an open fire: fire, stove. You can also use a cauldron with a round bottom for a gas stove, but in this case you will have to hang it on a tripod above the stove.

The lid for the cauldron can be made of glass, aluminum or duralumin, but the best option is cast iron. The most important thing is that it fits tightly to the cauldron and does not let steam out.

And yet, if you bought a new cauldron, then before you start cooking, you need to fry the dishes to eliminate technical oil and form a protective layer against burning and rust.

How to make pilaf in a cauldron

Today there are a large number of recipes on how to make pilaf in a cauldron. Each chef strives to make it unique and add his own “zest” to the recipe. But we’ll talk about the classic version of how to cook pilaf in a cauldron on the stove.

Let's start with the fact that we need a cast iron cauldron, the maximum volume for cooking on an electric or gas stove is 7-8 liters. If you take a larger cauldron, it simply will not warm up properly. To prepare pilaf you need:

• 1 kg of meat, preferably lamb, but pork, chicken or beef can be used. All veins and bones will need to be removed from the meat;
• 4-5 pieces of medium carrots;
• 1.5-2 glasses of drinking water;
• Spices: turmeric, barberry, raisins, black pepper, cumin, saffron;
• Greenery;
• 2 pcs. onions, 1 garlic;
• 200 gr. sunflower oil, preferably odorless or fat tail fat;
• 0.5 kg rice. The cereal must be unsteamed so that it absorbs water and fat well. Before cooking, rice is usually soaked for several hours and thoroughly rinsed to clean water.

How to cook in a cauldron?

We put the cauldron on the fire and wait until it warms up, add fat or oil. As soon as the fat is hot, add the onion and fry until golden brown. Place the meat in the cauldron, stir, wait until a golden crust appears. Add carrots, cut into medium strips. Some people grate carrots, but this is wrong.

Fry everything over high heat for a few minutes, and then set the flame to low and wait for about an hour. Salt, pepper, add spices and carefully pour rice on top so as not to disturb the bottom layer with meat. You can’t mix it right away, just level it out. Add hot water, preferably boiling water, so that there is a finger-thick layer of water over the rice. Cook for 3-5 minutes, you can gently stir the rice, but without meat.

Now lay out the rice in a heap, make a small depression in the center and put garlic in it, cook over low heat for another 18-20 minutes. The readiness of pilaf can be determined by the condition of the rice.

As soon as the dish is ready, turn off the heat, cover tightly with a lid and wait another 20 minutes. Now you can serve. Don’t forget to sprinkle the pilaf with finely chopped herbs before serving. As you can see, to cook pilaf in a cauldron, you don’t need a lot of experience or special skills.

If the pilaf is slightly burnt or the food in the cauldron has dried out, under no circumstances should it be rubbed with a metal brush. Just pour a little water, add soda and put on low heat, closing the lid tightly, after 5-10 minutes the cauldron can be easily washed with a regular dishwashing sponge.

Based on materials from shelkoviyput.ru