Pilaf is a national dish of Uzbek cuisine. Traditionally, pilaf is cooked with beef, but chicken can also be used as a meat filling. The dish will turn out less calorie and budget, but the taste will not suffer from this.
Pilaf with chicken can be called a quick dish. The main cooking time is spent on preparing food, cleaning vegetables and frying meat. And then you just need to throw everything in one cauldron, pour hot water and simmer! Spices in pilaf are always added to your own taste. It can be simple salt and ground pepper, or it can be turmeric, saffron, barberry, zira or a special mix of spices for pilaf, which often also includes dried garlic.
Pilaf with chicken (step by step recipe) - general principles of cooking
For pilaf, you can take any parts of the chicken. The meat must be washed and slightly dried. First of all, in a casserole chicken is roasted to a rosy color.
Fry together with chicken immediately all vegetables. Only then can you add dried fruits and spices.
Rice can be taken any, but it is better if it is long-grain. Rinsing it is not necessary. Rice is spread on top of vegetables and meat in an even layer. In no case should you mix. Boiled water flows from above in a thin stream. It should be two fingers above the rice, thereby completely covering it. At the same time, fire is put at the very minimum.
For pilaf, garlic does not need to be peeled. The head should only be washed thoroughly, remove the top layer of scales and dry. Before putting the cauldron on the fire, you need to put a large head of garlic directly with the peel in the center of the pilaf.
Garlic plays a major role in eating pilaf. Pilaf is laid out on a large common dish, in the center of which are placed the stewed heads of garlic. Everyone who takes part in the meal takes as much garlic as needed. They cleanse it of thin skin and eat soft and fragrant garlic directly with their hands.
Pilaf with chicken and vegetables: a step by step recipe
Ingredients:
• 150 g chicken breast fillet;
• 50 g of onion;
• 50 g carrots;
• 40 g of parsley;
• 20 g squash (or zucchini);
• 200 g steamed rice;
• 40 ml of vegetable oil;
• 10 g of barberry;
• 5-7 g of saffron or turmeric;
• salt to taste;
• ground pepper to taste.
Cooking method:
1. To prepare pilaf with chicken according to a step-by-step recipe, you must first prepare all the vegetables. We clear onions from scales and wash in water.
2. For carrots, remove the skin with a housekeeper or a small knife. Rinse with water.
3. Peel the zucchini from the skin. If you use young zucchini, you can not cleanse the skin.
4. Onion, carrots and zucchini cut into thin strips using a sharp knife and cutting board.
5. Rinse the chicken breast fillet in cold water, then dry it with paper towels.
6. Cut the meat into strips.
7. Pour vegetable oil into a cauldron.
8. We put the cauldrons on a moderate ring fire.
9. When the oil warms up, put the pieces of meat.
10. Pour a mixture of chopped vegetables onto the meat.
11. Do not touch the cauldron until the liquid released from the products evaporates.
12. Then we fry the products until they are rosy. We make sure that the onion does not start to burn.
13. Add barberry to the chicken. You can take fresh or dried.
14. In the meantime, set the water to heat in the kettle.
15. When the water boils, pour about 20 ml of water into a small bowl.
16. Pour saffron into this water, mix and leave to insist for the time being to the side. This mixture will be needed almost at the end of cooking pilaf with chicken.
17. The remaining water in the teapot will soon be needed; we can’t remove it far.
18. We season meat and vegetables with salt and ground pepper.
19. Mix the contents of the cauldron.
20. Pour rice into a cauldron. Do not wash it! It is very important!
21. It is also not necessary to mix the pilaf blank. The meat must be at the bottom. So it is well stewed and will be soft and juicy.
22. Pour hot water from the kettle there so that the rice is covered with it and even 3-4 cm above.
23. We level the rice, but do not mix it.
24. Cover with a lid and reduce the heat to small.
25. Water in the pilaf should boil a little.
26. Stew the pilaf with the lid closed for about 20-25 minutes.
27. In the meantime, you can prepare greens for pilaf with chicken. According to a step-by-step recipe, we parsley and rinse with water.
28. Then the greens are dried in the air and finely chopped.
29. After that, open the lid of the cauldron and pour there the present mixture of saffron and water.
30. Stir gently to knead rice.
31. Put the pilaf on the dish and sprinkle with parsley.
Pilaf with chicken and raisins: a step by step recipe
Ingredients:
• 150 g of chicken meat;
• 200 g steamed rice groats;
• one onion head;
• one head of garlic;
• 60 g pitted raisins;
• salt to taste;
• 15 g of prepared spices for pilaf;
• 40 ml of vegetable oil.
Cooking method:
1. Rinse chicken meat in water, remove all unnecessary.
2. Dry a little.
3. Cut into small pieces.
4. In garlic, cut the bottom and remove the first layers of dry husk.
5. Then rinse the garlic in water and put it aside for now.
6. Peel and wash the onion head.
7. Then finely chop the onion into cubes.
8. Pour vegetable oil into a high stewpan or pan with a thick bottom.
9. We put on a moderate fire.
10. Put the chopped chicken meat and onion in the heated oil.
11. Fry until golden brown.
12. Throw raisins in a bowl with warm water and rinse with your hands.
13. Then we take the raisins out of the bowl and put them on a paper towel to dry.
14. Stir the fried meat.
15. Add raisins to it.
16. Then we fall asleep unwashed rice.
17. With a spatula or spoon, smooth the rice so that it covers the meat with an even layer. Chicken should be below, and rice above.
18. Season with salt and spices.
19. Pour over rice with meat of hot water 3 cm higher from the cereal.
20. In the center of rice with meat, we heat the head of garlic.
21. Close the pilaf with a lid.
22. Reduce the heat so that the pilaf stewed at a minimum boil.
23. Stew until all the liquid has evaporated. At this time, do not open the lid and in no case mix rice.
24. When the broth has evaporated, it is ready to eat pilaf with chicken. A step-by-step recipe ends by spreading rice on a dish, where in the center is laid out the garlic stewed in pilaf.
Pilaf with chicken and dried fruits: a step by step recipe
Ingredients:
• 3-4 chicken legs or 2 legs;
• one head of onion;
• a few cloves of garlic;
• 50 g pitted prunes;
• 50 g pitted dried apricots;
• 300 g of long-grain rice groats;
• 10 g of turmeric or saffron;
• 10 g of prepared spices for pilaf;
• 30 ml of vegetable oil.
Cooking method:
1. We wash the chicken legs in water. If legs are used, each of them needs to be cut into two parts along the joint in the middle.
2. Dry a little with a paper towel to remove excess moisture.
3. Pour the vegetable oil into the pan.
4. We put it on fire.
5. When the surface of the pan is heated, put chicken legs on it for frying. Stir meat periodically.
6. While the legs are fried, we do vegetables. Rinse garlic cloves in water. The peel is not removed.
7. Rinse the onion head and clean it of scales.
8. Cut the onion into small cubes. First, you should cut the head in half, then thinly along the fibers, and then you need to chop across the fibers.
9. Return to the pan. Mix the chicken legs with a spatula again.
10. Add onions to them. Pour ready-made spices for pilaf there. We stir everything with a spatula.
11. In a separate bowl, soak dried apricots and prunes in hot water for 5-10 minutes.
12. Fried chicken legs with onions are transferred to a pan for cooking pilaf.
13. Dried fruits are pulled out of a bowl and washed in clean water. You can do this under a stream of tap water.
14. Then we put dried apricots and prunes on a cutting board and cut into strips. If the dried fruits are small, you can not cut them, but use them whole.
15. Transfer dried fruits to chicken legs in a pan. Leveling.
16. Pour rice in the same place.
17. Level with a spatula so that the rice evenly covers the legs and dried fruits.
18. We stick in the rice about half the cloves of garlic. They should be hanging around.
19. We mix hot water with turmeric or saffron. We add salt and pepper to taste there. Gently pour hot water with spices into the pan. Water should be 2-3 cm higher than other products.
20. We put the pan on a slow fire.
21. Stew with the lid closed. In this case, pilaf is not necessary.
22. When the broth evaporates, remove the pilaf from the stove. With the help of two forks, we gently interfere everything from the bottom up.
23. When laying the dish on plates, we try to keep the garlic cloves on top.
Pilaf with chicken (step by step recipe) - tricks and useful tips
• Raisins can be replaced with small seedless grapes if desired.
• To prevent carrots from boiling during cooking, you can first sprinkle it with lemon juice and sprinkle with sugar.
• For cooking pilaf, it is better to use cast-iron utensils.
• It is better to cook pilaf in corn or vegetable oil.
• Spices can be added immediately ready, but it is better to purchase them individually.
• If all the water has evaporated during cooking and the rice is not ready yet, you can add a little more boiled water with a little salt.
• All the above step-by-step pilaf recipes with chicken can be cooked in a multicooker by turning on the corresponding mode.
