Uzbek Plov Recipes

Steps:

• Wash the rice. Allow to soak in salted water for 30 minute You can use Thai or basmati rice.
• Cut the lamb shoulder into cubes. It should have some fat. Bones are optional.
• Slice the onions thinly and cut the carrots into strips. You should approximately equal amounts of carrots, onions, and lamb.
• Heat a large cast-iron or metal wok with the oil. Don't use olive oil. Sunflower oil works well. Animal fat tastes richer but is even worse for you and too heavy for many taste buds. While you can get away with any kind of pot, it does taste better if you have an appropriate seasoned instrument.
• Fry the onions until golden brown.
• Add chopped garlic and lightly brown. You can alternatively put the whole cloves into the rice when you cook the rice.
• Add lamb and fry until cubes are lightly browned.
• Add carrots, salt, pepper, all spices (adjust to your taste), and 2 cups of water. Turn down the fire, mix well, and cover for 5 min to allow carrots to soften.
• This completes the first step called "zirvak". You are now ready to cook the rice in the second step. Drain your rice which should have been soaking for 30 minute.
• Push the ingredients to the outer parts of your cooking wok/pot creating a large hole in the centre which will be filled with liquid.
• Carefully add your rice to the centre of the pot. Do not mix it with the rest of the ingredients. Try to fit most of it in the centre "hole".
• Add another 1.5 cups of water, cover the pot and allow to simmer until the rice is cooked and water has been dried up. This will take approximately 30 minute.
• Stir the entire mixture well and serve on a hearty plate or bowl. Top with spring onions. It goes well with a side-serving of salad, tomatoes, and bread. Naan or other type of flat bread would be best.

Steps:

• Place basmati rice in a large bowl and cover with warm water. Set aside. Wash heads of garlic. Set aside.
• Heat vegetable oil in a dutch oven or large skillet over high heat until smoking, then add lamb, turning occasionally until the lamb is evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the onions; cook and stir until the onion has softened and browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the carrots; cook and stir until the carrots have softened, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with cumin, coriander, barberries, and peppercorns. Drop whole garlic heads into the mixture, stirring to evenly distribute ingredients. Reduce heat to medium. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.
• Wash and drain basmati rice with hot water. Pour cleaned rice over the lamb mixture in an even layer. Slowly pour in the boiling water. The rice should be covered with about 3/4 inch of water. Do not stir. Season with salt, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook until rice is tender, and the liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes. Stir rice and lamb together, and serve with the garlic heads on top.

Steps:

• Wash the rice under the tap until clear, cover with cold water and let it soaks for a while.
• Cut the meat with bones into match-box pieces.
• Cut the carrots into 0.5x0.5 cm thick sticks.
• Slice onions into thin rings or half-rings.
• Clean heads of garlic from the remains of roots and dirt.
• Heat oil in the cattle or dutch oven on a very high flame, deep-fry meat until golden-brown, in 3-4 batches. Fry the onions until golden, add meat to the cattle, stir well to prevent onion from burning. Add carrot, stir from time to time, until it starts to wilt and browns a little (15-20 min). Add 2/3 of the cumin - rub it in your palms a little to release flavor, stir gentliy to keep carrot from broking.
• Lower gas to moderate, pour hot water just to cover all the goods, add salt and let it simmer for 40 min to 1.5 hours until almost all water evaporate and meat became tender and juicy. Do not stir.
• Turn gas to max.
• Drain rice well, place it on top the meat and vegs in one layer, stick the garlic and whole chillies in it, and carefully pour boiling water over it (place a spoon or ladle on top of the rice to keep the rice layer from washaway). Cover the rice with about 2 cm of water, let it boil. Add salt to make the water a bit over-salted. When water will go down the rice, reduce the gas a bit, keeping it boils rapidly. Check when it will evaporate and absorb into rice completely - rice should remain rather al dente. Make a holes in the rice to the bottom of a vessel to check the water level.
• Reduce gas to absolute min, cover tightly with the lid and let it steam 20 minutes. Turn of the heat, remove the garlic and chillies on the separate plate. Carefully mix rice with meat and carrots, if the rice tastes a bit blind add some salt, mix and let it stand for 5 minutes. Pile the plov on a big warmed plate and serve with garlic, chilies and plain thinly sliced tomato-sweet onions-chili-salt salad.