Uzbek Pilaf (Plov)

Like us on Facebook
www.familytc.com

We continue our recipes around the world.

This blog post is presented by Elaine Paperman, our guest food blogger.
Visit Elaine's web site to get various restaurants' reviews and very delicious food recipes.
http://homecookingwithflair.com

Plov is a traditional dish of Uzbekistan made with rice. There are endless varieties of plov recipes, but I wanted to recreate a traditional Uzbek plov made with lamb, onion, carrots, cumin (it’s called “zera” in Uzbekistan), and other components without which you can’t call you pilaf an Uzbek plov. And that was what I wanted, craved, salivated imaging nice, aromatic, steaming bowl of soft, melting in your mouth pieces of lamb peeking out from the uniform, grain to grain, fully cooked, but holding its shape and yellowish from saffron, rice; with orange specks of sweet carrots; dark dots of sour barberries; and crowned with whole, unpeeled, soft inside, mild aromatic garlic head!
Please cook this dish and will understand why traditions are so strong and tenacious in the Middle East – once start neglecting traditions, then neglect plov, and then what are we going to do? 

4 lb lamb shoulder, cut into about 2 by 2 inches pieces
2 large onions, chopped
4 large or 8 small carrots, peeled and julienned (can be grated)
¼ cup vegetable or corn oil
2 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon ground coriander
4 cups rice (Basmati or Uncle Ben’s parboiled rice)
a pinch of saffron (optional)
2 tablespoon whole barberries (optional)
1 large garlic head, cleaned from the most outer skin, but unpeeled
2 teaspoon salt,
1 teaspoon black pepper
8 cups beef stock or water

I like to toast cumin seeds before adding them to the dish. It will intensify their flavor. However, this step is totally optional.
Heat stainless steel skillet on medium-high heat, add oil and sauté onions until golden color. Transfer onions to the cast iron Dutch oven. Arrange carrots on top of onions. On the same skillet brown lamb pieces until golden on all sides. Do not overcrowd the skillet, so meat would brown, not steam. Transfer meat to the Dutch oven. Add some stock or water to the skillet and dislodge the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add that liquid and all remaining water or stock to the Dutch oven. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, add cumin seeds and coriander, barberries, about 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper and cook for about 1 hour, or until meat is tender.
When lamb is cooked, add another teaspoon of salt, add your rice to the Dutch oven and even it out on top on meat. DO NOT MIX RICE WITH MEAT! Liquid has to be 1 inch above the rice surface. If there is not enough liquid, make a hole in the middle of the rice layer with the wooden spoon handle and very carefully add liquid trying not to disturb all the ingredients. Cut off about ½ inches of the top of the garlic head exposing the cloves. Add saffron to the Dutch oven and carefully push the garlic head cut side down in the middle of the pilaf so it would be covered by rice.
Now, the next step IS IMPORTANT! Find a metal plate or a pot cover that would fit in your Dutch oven to sit directly on top of rice! Then, cover your Dutch oven with its own cover. Cook on very low heat until all liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked, but NOT MUSHY! for about another 30-40 minutes. To check rice’s doneness, carefully remove all covers and taste the top rice, DO NOT MIX THE PILAF UNTIL IT’S COMPLETELY DONE! If all water is evaporated, but your rice is still al dente, you can make holes in the rice with a wooden spoon handle and add some more liquid. Try to avoid doing it, since you rice on the bottom can get mushy. If you are using a metal plate or smaller pot cover on top of the rice, almost certainly your rice will be cooked perfectly. When you pilaf is ready, remove garlic head from pilaf, set it aside, and carefully mix all ingredients of the pilaf. Arrange pilaf on a large platter and put garlic head which you took out earlier, on top. The rice grains should not be sticky; they should rather be separated from each other.