Pilaf with pork in a frying pan - recipe with photo
So, as I already wrote above, let’s start with the simplest thing - how to cook simple pilaf at home for dinner (or lunch) in an ordinary frying pan, on an ordinary stove. And here is a recipe for pilaf in a slow cooker
Ingredients:
- pork shoulder – 400g;
- rice – 350g;
- carrots – 1 piece;
- onion – 1 piece;
- salt - to taste;
- tomato paste – 1 tsp;
- spices for pilaf;
- vegetable oil – 0.5 cups.
How to cook pilaf with pork
- First, let's prepare the products. Cut the meat into medium-sized pieces.
- Carrots are usually cut into strips, but for simplicity and speed, we grate them on a coarse grater. There should be a lot of carrots. Finely chop the onion.
- Pour vegetable oil into the frying pan. Despite the fact that pork is fatty meat, you will need a fair amount of oil. The rice will then absorb it well, become oily, and the pilaf will not be greasy. Warm it up well.
- Add the meat and stir until all the pieces are coated with oil. Fry for 10-15 minutes until a crust forms, stirring occasionally.
- Add carrots and onions. Mix everything well. Cook for about 5 minutes so that the vegetables also fry a little.
- Add spices. Their number depends on your preferences. Some people like the aroma to be very subtle, others like it to be pronounced. The quantity also depends on the quality; you will need less fresh spices. So take a look for yourself. I usually put about 1 teaspoon.
- Salt and add tomato paste.
- Pour the rice into a cup in advance, so that you can then pour water into it. Spread the rice on top of the zirvak in an even layer.
- And fill it with hot water from the kettle (boil it a little in advance). The amount of water is determined by the volume of rice. Let’s say you had 1 glass of rice, which means there should be 2.5 times more water, i.e. 2.5 glasses.
- Cover the pan tightly with a lid. Reduce the heat to the lowest possible level and leave to cook until all the water is absorbed and the rice is soft.
- When we see that there is no more water on the rice, we taste it. If it is soft, the pilaf is ready. But pay attention, the top layer of rice can be, as the Italians say about pasta, “al dente”, i.e. slightly hard, while inside it will be completely soft. If you notice that there is still liquid left in the pan, close the lid and wait a little longer.
- Usually pilaf is not stirred, but I like to do it this way: when it is ready, I turn on high heat and, heating it strongly, stir the contents of the pan for 1 minute.
That's it now! The dish is ready, you can call everyone to the table.
Author: Victoria S.
Beef
This is the favorite meat in almost every family. Fragrant, tasty, not too greasy, ideal in a stew. Beef is also suitable for pilaf. What kind of meat is better to take? For stewing, the preferred ones are shank, shoulder, brisket and shank. As with lamb, it is best to leave the hind leg out. The meat here is fibrous and tough. It is better to twist it into minced meat and add a little pork for tenderness.
Many people believe that only veal is used for cooking. In fact, properly prepared and aged beef is significantly superior in taste to veal. It needs to simmer for at least 3 hours, only after that it will be possible to cook pilaf on the resulting basis. Otherwise, the meat in the finished dish will be tough, and the aroma of the stew will not have time to develop.
Chicken
Poultry is considered a light and dietary type of meat, used for preparing various dishes and treats. For pilaf, the whole chicken or parts of the carcass are often used.
For low-calorie pilaf, it is better to take chicken breast without skin and bones; for a rich and aromatic dish, use chicken legs or drumsticks.
The whole chicken is suitable for cooking. Since pilaf is prepared from fatty meats, try to choose homemade or farm products. When using fillet, vegetable oil is added - it prevents the flesh from drying out during cooking.
What part of pork
Neck part of pork
✅ From the pork carcass for pilaf they take the neck part, brisket, ham, and shoulder blade. Ribs are also acceptable, just be sure to trim off the fat layer.
The shank is suitable for recipes where meat and rice are cooked separately and assembled into a single dish at the final stage.
Fresh chilled pork has pinkish-red flesh, white or creamy fat, and a neutral odor. The softer the cut, the fattier the meat; for pilaf you should prefer a thicker piece.
Oriental seasonings
Spices such as barberry, cumin, and ground saffron give pilaf a special oriental aroma and taste. It is better to buy them in the market by weight. To distinguish cumin from spice-like carrot seeds, crush the grains with your fingers - the real spice is not difficult to distinguish by smell. Cooks recommend buying dried black barberries for rice, but if this is not available, red berries will also work. They will give the food a pleasant sourness. Purchasing saffron is the most problematic matter, since the natural spice has a very high cost. What is sold on the market at a cost of 20-40 rubles per spoon is nothing more than turmeric. In terms of its properties, the spice is not much different from saffron: it has an islandy taste and a delicate aroma of pepper and citrus.
Uzbeks do not use dried fruits when preparing rice with lamb - they are placed exclusively in a vegetarian dish. Other eastern nationalities prefer to flavor their pilaf with dried apricots, figs, raisins, and prunes. If you like to combine meat dishes with dried fruits, choose fruits that are not very brightly colored to avoid chemically treated products. Dried apricots and prunes should be wrinkled, have a slight coating and uneven color.
Healing properties of the oriental spice cumin
Cumin owes its healing properties to its unique composition: B vitamins, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin C and essential fatty oils, as well as esters, are contained in this amazing spice.
It is not for nothing that Asian people value cumin, because regular consumption of its grains helps against various diseases:
- protects against the formation of blood clots;
- prevents strokes and heart attacks;
- stimulates digestion;
- restores appetite;
- improves vision;
- stimulates brain function;
- helps fight spasms, flatulence and dyspepsia.
Another property of oriental spice is to improve the functioning of a woman’s reproductive system. Water boiled with medium sized cumin seeds improves milk production in nursing mothers and prevents inflammation of the uterus.
Cumin is also beneficial for the nervous system: regular consumption of tea with the spice restores well-being, relieves tension and relieves migraines.
Jeera contains up to 16% gum, which accelerates wound healing and disinfects damaged tissue. This property allows the spice to be used as an external remedy for various injuries.
Methods for preparing rice for pilaf
To prepare pork pilaf, rice is needed either raw or folded. There is no doubt that in any of the options, the cereal should be sorted out and washed well, changing the water several times. No one will have any difficulties with adding uncooked rice, but with folded rice everything is a little more complicated. The fact is that in some types of pilaf (most often when it is prepared at home), the rice is first boiled until half cooked. To do this, the cereal is poured with a large amount of salted boiling water and cooked over low heat for a short time, only 10 minutes. You can also cook it in a mixture of water and milk in a ratio of 50:50. In some cases, the oil required for the recipe is added to boiling water. This method is suitable for crumbly pilaf.
If Khan or Pakistani rice is chosen for a dish, it has its own special method of preparation. First of all, the cereal should be thoroughly washed and sorted. Then, you need to take a pan and put 2-3 tablespoons of salt, wrapped in a piece of cloth, on its bottom. It should not have lint or coloring components. Then the prepared cereal is poured on top of this bundle and filled with cold water. All this is infused for at least 8-10 hours. After this time, the rice is removed and washed well. Now it is ready to be added to pilaf, which will turn out very tasty.
The most delicious rice, as they believe in the East, is obtained in the following way: the grain is sorted, washed and soaked for 20 minutes in cold water. Then the rice must be allowed to dry, for which it is thrown into a colander. Next, it should be mixed with hot oil in a cauldron and fried until the grains become somewhat transparent. After which, when the cereal has cooled down, it needs to be filled with salted boiling water or meat broth, also boiling. It is imperative to maintain a proportion of 1:1.5, where the last digit indicates the amount of water. Then the cereal should be cooked over high heat for several minutes, after placing a weight on the lid of the cauldron. Then reduce the heat and cook the rice until all the liquid has evaporated. In Central Asia they believe that such pilaf will be the real thing.
Composition and types of seasonings and spices for pilaf
Spices are necessary to prepare real pilaf. Depending on the type of meat and the desired result, you can use different sets of seasonings - buy them in the store or prepare them yourself from fresh, aromatic ingredients.
In addition to cumin, which is considered the basis for the spicy mixture, the following are used in the preparation of pilaf:
- Barberry. Dried fruits are placed whole. They add a sour note to the dish. In store-bought mixtures, barberry is often used in ground form.
- Coriander. Add whole seeds or in powder form. It has a pronounced aroma and is not used in all spices.
- Saffron. An expensive spice that is not used in all mixtures. A direct analogue of saffron, hundreds of times cheaper than it, is turmeric. Turmeric or saffron are used to prepare pilaf with meat - beef or pork.
- Garlic. It does not belong to the category of spices, but is always added to pilaf to add brightness to the taste.
- Capsicum and paprika. Add to taste. Red pepper adds a spicy flavor to the dish, while paprika softens it.
At home, you can prepare a set of spices for pilaf with different types of meat.
Set of ingredients for seasoning
The classic composition of seasoning for pilaf with lamb, beef or pork looks like this:
- 1.5 tbsp. l. ground herbs (dill, parsley, cilantro);
- 1 tbsp. l. dried garlic;
- 1 tsp. saffron or turmeric;
- 1 tbsp. l. khmeli-suneli;
- 1 tsp. paprika;
- 1 tsp. cumin;
- 15 g barberry.
The components are mixed in a dry container.
If necessary, you can grind them again using a coffee grinder.
Another option, which is suitable for pilaf made from any meat, is prepared on the basis of crushed dried tomatoes. Take 1.5 tbsp. l. tomatoes, 2 tbsp. l. chopped herbs and a handful of raisins. Add 0.5 tsp to them. curry, 0.5 tsp. rosemary and 15 g of barberry berries. You can also add 1.5 tsp. paprika, the same amount of turmeric and 1 tsp. cumin.
Chicken mixture
Chicken pilaf is a non-standard solution.
And you can use herbs that are not considered classic for Asian dishes:
- Italian and Provencal mixtures;
- caraway;
- thyme and parsley;
- chilli.
The ingredients are mixed to taste. You can use classic options, or combine cumin with Provençal herbs or an Italian mixture.
For pilaf with beef and pork
The taste of pilaf with pork is successfully emphasized by herbs: basil, marjoram, cumin, sumac, as well as cloves and bay leaves. Beef will be improved by: savory, oregano, marjoram, shamballa, sumac.
And if pilaf is made from turkey, then you can add allspice, parsley, sage, rosemary, curry or cloves to the cumin. You can choose the proportions yourself, or you can buy ready-made mixtures for these types of meat.
Alternative options
What kind of meat do you want to use for pilaf? Do you have a piece of horse meat at home? Great. It will make a very tasty pilaf. The only rule: it cannot be fried, otherwise the meat will become inedible. Simmer it well, then add it to the fried onions and carrots. At this point, the frying can be considered ready.
A tender rabbit can also become the basis for pilaf. But the sweetish meat cooks very quickly and does not require frying at all. Therefore, first we cook the vegetables, then lay out the rabbit and almost immediately add rice. Even with the spices, the taste is very delicate. Not everyone likes this option, but rabbit meat is considered dietary meat, unlike pork or lamb.
Features of lamb
Turkic peoples consider the most delicious meat to be young, castrated lambs no more than one and a half years old. The meat of well-fed sheep that have been grazed for up to three years is also delicacy.
High-quality lamb has a light red hue. The fat on it is springy and bright white. In old or poorly nourished sheep, the meat is burgundy, dark red, and the fat is yellow and quickly becomes rancid.
But stringy meat also finds good use in cooking: it can be cooked in the form of minced meat, used for making soups, shurpa, roast (beshbarmak), lula kebab, as well as manti, sausage and frankfurters.
The “characteristic” smell of lamb meat, which many people dislike and feel acutely, can be successfully “extinguished” with the help of spices.
Closed lid
Why is this so important? Is it really impossible to look in and check if the dish is burning? If you do everything according to the recipe, then there is no need to worry. Nothing will burn. This is why a tight lid is needed. When the temperature reaches 75 degrees, starch begins to form on the pilaf grains, which becomes the cause of the paste-like consistency of the porridge. But when the temperature rises higher, to 96 degrees, the starch breaks down and turns into glucose, which is absorbed into the grains. When the lid is closed, steam rises to the top. This will cause the destruction of starch. As you can see, everything is very interconnected. Uzbeks cook pilaf in cauldrons over a fire. The temperature there is completely different, so nothing sticks together.
Product Photos
In the photo of the spice cumin, you can see its differences from caraway seeds: the seeds are lighter and brown, while in caraway seeds they have a cold tint.
In general, it is difficult to distinguish cumin from caraway seeds by appearance. But you can do this by smell by rubbing the seeds in your hand. Cumin will have a bitter, nutty aroma, while cumin will have a bright and spicy aroma.
Which piece do you like?
You can, of course, ask the sellers at the market. But they have a slightly different task - to sell all the meat available. Therefore, you may not get what you need at all.
So, on the agenda is lamb pilaf. What kind of meat is better to take? Discard the back leg - there are a lot of tough muscles here. It is best to take the ribs, shoulder blade or neck. You will get a good taste if you add a few ribs and fat tail fat to the pilaf.
According to traditional recipes, the meat is cut into large pieces, about 150 g each. First, the pieces are fried until brown. After this, add water to the cauldron and simmer them until soft. And only then can you fry the onions and carrots and add rice. It is recommended to fry meat at an oil temperature of 180 degrees. If the temperature is higher, it will char on the top and remain raw inside.
How to properly add seasonings to pilaf
All spices, be it a complex mixture or pure cumin, must be added to pilaf correctly:
- after frying vegetables and meat;
- First, water is poured into the roast;
- the spice mixture is poured into the liquid.
If you fall asleep too late, the aroma of spices will not reveal itself. And if you add it at the frying stage, you can lose the specific taste and smell of cumin, no matter how many pinches or teaspoons you put in the dish.
