Fergana Pilaf
⏳ Time
1 hour 40 minutes
🥕 Ingredients
10
🍽️ Servings
10
Description
For the salad: 3–4 ripe tomatoes, 1–2 heads of white onion, ground red pepper, cumin. In the last 15 minutes before it's done, thinly slice the tomatoes and chop the onion into thin rings. Rinse the onion well in cold water, add it to the tomatoes, season with salt and red pepper, add a pinch of cumin, and mix well.
Ingredients
- Devzira Rice - 2 lbs
- Carrot - 2 lbs
- Lamb - 2 lbs
- Fat Tail Fat - 7.1 oz
- Onion - 3 heads
- Garlic - 2 heads
- Cotton Oil - 5 fl oz
- Cumin (Zira) - 1½ teaspoons
- Red Long Chili Peppers - 2 pieces
- Salt - to taste
Step by Step guide
Step 1
Prepare the ingredients right away, as you won't have time for chopping and cutting later.
Step 2
Separate the meat from the bones and cut it into small pieces. Do not throw away the bones. Cut the fat into small cubes. Slice the onion into thin half-rings. Peel the carrot (do not scrape, just peel), cut it into thin strips, sprinkle with a pinch of sugar to start the juice extraction, and mix. Yellow carrot in pilaf is, of course, if you can find it. I order it in advance in Moscow. You can also substitute it with regular red carrot. Remove the roots from the garlic and peel off the outer skin, exposing the cloves.
Step 3
Carefully sort the rice. There may be small stones that can break your teeth while eating the pilaf. Rinse the rice well in water until the water runs clear. Soak it in warm water and set aside.
Step 4
Heat a cast-iron cauldron. If you have a gas stove, use a round-bottomed cauldron; if electric, it's better to use a flat-bottomed one. Pour in the oil. Heat the oil until it starts to smoke. Do not overheat the oil. Add a small onion. Heat the oil until the onion turns golden brown in a few seconds. Discard the onion and add the fat tail fat to the oil. Render it until golden, then remove it to a separate plate and sprinkle with coarse salt.
Step 5
A little aside — slice some black bread, pour out some cold vodka, and use our rendered fat (cracklings) as a snack.
Step 6
Continue cooking. Add the bones to the oil, season with salt, sprinkle with a pinch of cumin, and fry well. The color of the pilaf will directly depend on how well the bones are fried. The meat on the bones should be a bright brown color.
Step 7
Add the onion. Fry it until golden, stirring constantly. As soon as the onion is golden, add the meat. Fry carefully. The meat should not be overcooked. The ideal frying time is 10 minutes.
Step 8
Once the meat is browned, add the carrot. Mix it with the meat and onion carefully to avoid breaking it. Constantly stir all the ingredients. Once the carrot has softened, you can pour in the water. This sauce is correctly called zirvak.
Step 9
Pour in cold water, about 1–1.2 liters. Increase the heat under the cauldron. When the zirvak boils, add the garlic and peppers. Reduce the heat. The zirvak should simmer gently. After half an hour of boiling, taste the zirvak and add more salt so that it is slightly oversalted. Remove the garlic and pepper to a separate plate. Increase the heat under the cauldron again. Carefully use a slotted spoon to add the rice to the zirvak (of course, drain the water from the rice). Level the rice. Do not mix the rice with the zirvak.
Step 10
As the rice absorbs the liquid, gradually reduce the heat under the cauldron. Once the water has been absorbed, sprinkle the remaining cumin over the rice. Rub it in your palms to release the necessary aroma. Then gather the rice from the edges to the center without disturbing the vegetables, giving the rice a rounded shape. Wait a couple of minutes and taste the rice for doneness. Try to take a sample from the center of the rice. It should be firm but not hard. If it is hard, add a glass of water.
Step 11
Make a small hole in the rice and place the garlic and pepper inside. Cover them with rice, again giving it a rounded shape. Then tightly cover the cauldron with a lid, placing a towel over it to seal any gaps. By this time, there should be minimal heat under the cauldron. After closing the lid, keep the cauldron over the heat for another 10 minutes and then turn it off. But do not remove the cauldron. The rice should finish cooking with the heat off. Keep the rice for another 10–15 minutes. The pilaf is ready.
Step 12
Now open the cauldron. Remove the pepper, garlic, and bones. Mix the rice well with the vegetables and meat. Serve the pilaf on a tava (a large round dish, preferably clay). Garnish with bones, garlic, and peppers on top.
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