Uzbek Pilaf with Lamb and Chickpeas

⏳ Time

2 hours

🥕 Ingredients

🍽️ Servings

Description

There are many recipes for making pilaf. I will describe the one I used recently myself. It turned out very delicious. The lamb was cooked very well. But still, next time I will change something. I want to try pouring the zervak with cold water instead of boiling water — I’m curious what will change. I want to use less oil — the leftovers of the pilaf at the bottom of the pot literally float in oil. And I need to save the liver) I also want to try serving pilaf with pomegranate. And to make it sometime with two types of meat — with lamb and beef. And also try to cook it over an open fire and not with yellow carrots, but with our regular orange ones. That's how it is :) In making pilaf, the preparatory process is very important. Here are the sequential actions briefly: 1. Soak the chickpeas in warm water — the longer, the better. Overnight is best, but 4–5 hours is also fine. Some chickpeas need to be cleaned. When soaking, a film comes off, which is best to remove. If you can buy already peeled chickpeas, it’s better to take them. 2. Soak and rinse the rice. Also for about 4–5 hours. 3. Cut the onion into rings or half-rings. 4. Cut the carrot into strips. 5. Cut the tail fat into medium pieces — this way, all the fat will melt out more easily when frying. 6. Rinse and cut the meat into large pieces. 7. Prepare the spices. 8. Boil a kettle of water. 9. Prepare the garlic. 10. Rinse and remove the stems (if any) from the raisins. 11. There is a wonderful recipe for making Achik-Chuchuk salad on this website. Here’s the link: http://eda.ru/recipe/7665/ 12. Set the table and brew hot green tea ;) Uzbek pilaf has a very bright and self-sufficient taste. Moreover, it is still very fatty and heavy food. Therefore, it is usually served with a lightly salted salad of thinly sliced tomatoes and onions — Achik-Chuchuk. The only drink that pairs well with pilaf is green tea. Alcoholic beverages should be consumed while the pilaf is cooking. Enjoy your meal!

Ingredients

Lamb - 2 lbs
Boiled White Round Rice - 2 lbs
Carrot - 2 lbs
Onion - 3 pieces
Chickpea - 7.1 oz
Fat Tail Fat - 3.5 oz
Serviceberries - 2 teaspoons
Black Cumin (Cumin) - 2 teaspoons
Salt - 2 tablespoons
Raisins - 2 tablespoons
Pilaf Spices - 2 teaspoons
Cotton Oil - 7 fl oz
Garlic - 3 heads
Sugar - ½ teaspoon

Step by Step guide

Step 1

In a cauldron, heat 200 grams of sunflower oil (ideally cotton oil, but any refined oil will do). In it, melt the tail fat, previously cut into medium pieces, until golden brown. Together with it, you can fry a lamb bone on high heat if it is present in the purchased piece of meat. Remove it after about 10 minutes. Add 1 kg of onion, previously cut into rings or half-rings — the oil will start bubbling. Stirring the onion, fry it until golden on medium heat — it’s better not to overcook it. Add pieces of lamb — the pieces should not be small, their diameter should be about a third of a woman’s fist. This is important for the meat to cook properly — at the end, before serving, you will cut the already cooked pieces into smaller ones. You can increase the heat under the lamb again. The lamb is fried in oil with the onion until a crust appears, depending on the heat — from 10 to 15 minutes. Reduce the heat. Next, add 1 kg of carrot, previously cut into strips. Add 1 tablespoon of salt. The carrot will stew for about 15 minutes until it sticks to the meat. The carrot can be stirred. The volume of the carrot should decrease by almost 50% and become completely soft. Until this moment, the cauldron should not be covered!

Step 2

The second stage is cooking the zervak. Pour 1 liter of boiled (hot) water over the contents of the cauldron — onion, meat, and carrot, which have been fried in oil and salted, so that the pieces of meat are barely visible above the surface. Bring to a boil. Add the chickpeas, which have been soaked for 4–5 hours and cleaned (also known as nahat, essentially peas), spices (definitely cumin, pilaf mix if available), barberry, raisins, and ½ teaspoon of sugar, and place 3 heads of garlic on top. This aromatic mixture is covered with a lid and simmered on low heat for about 20–30 minutes.

Step 3

After 30 minutes, open the lid. Remove the garlic and set it aside on a plate. The zervak can be stirred. Next, an important moment — add the rice. Round-grain rice is used. It needs to be prepared for making pilaf. It is very important to sort it. Rinse and soak it for about 4–5 hours in warm water. The rice should be rinsed under running water or in a bowl until the water runs clear. During soaking, you can drain the water, rinse the rice, and lay it back on top of the zervak, leveling it carefully (do not press down), sprinkle with the second and last tablespoon of salt, and if necessary, pour a small amount of water over it, 1.5–2 cm above its level. Cook on medium heat. Do not cover the cauldron with a lid!

Step 4

The rice swells, absorbing the liquid for about 20–30 minutes. It’s easy to check — carefully push aside the rice along the walls of the cauldron with a spatula and see what level the water is at. It should be just below the middle of the contents of your cauldron by the time the rice is ready to be carefully piled up, sprinkled with another portion of cumin, make holes through it, place the reserved garlic on top (slightly submerging it inside), and cover with a plate or basin. Cover the cauldron with a towel and then with a lid. Reduce the heat to the minimum and let it simmer for another 15 minutes. Then remove from heat and let it rest for another 30 minutes or more. Note — during the entire cooking time, the rice must not be mixed with the zervak.

Step 5

After the rice has absorbed all the liquid and all the aromas, serve it. For this, you need to remove all the meat from the cauldron, and mix the rice with the rest of the contents of the cauldron. Cut the pieces of lamb into smaller pieces. Serve the rice on a large plate or simply on a large dish, placing the meat and heads of garlic on top.