There are tens of pilaf variations within Silk Road geographical areas.
Shown here is the simplest and most basic recipe with minimum ingredients. Flavorful and truly delicious. Original pilaf comes with the lamb. Instead of lamb pieces any other meat including ground beef can be used. With ground beef cooking time is about 35 mins (add rice to the pot after cooking ground beef for 10 minutes).
Note: original pilaf has to have a lot of meat. The recipe below is a lighter version, only 1/2 pound meat. Divided between four people, this amount of meat is only for taste, not for adding calories.
Silk Road Pilaf
Prep time: 5 minsCook time: 55 minsTotal time: 1 hour
Serves: 4
Ingredients
3 Tbps cooking oil
1 large onion, cut
½ pound meat (lamb, beef or chicken) cut into stew size pieces
2 medium carrots
1 tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp caraway seeds (optional)
salt/pepper to taste
2 and a half cups of rice (basmati preferred)
4 cups of boiled hot water
3 cloves garlic
Instructions
Rinse rice under warm water in a deep bowl until water is clear
Pour in cold water to cover rice completely and set aside
In a thick bottomed heavy pot heat the oil
Saute onions until golden
Add carrots and continue frying for 1 minute
Add meat and stir until it browns a bit
Add turmeric, paprika, pepper, caraway seeds (optional)
Pour in hot water 1 inch above the contents
Salt to your taste
Simmer over low to medium heat covered, for 30 min
Drain rice and add to the pot
Do NOT stir, rice should be covering all contents below
Add water to the pot until it is ½″ (half an inch) or 2.5 cm above the top of the rice
Sprinkle a small pinch of salt on top of water which covers rice
Cover the pot with its lid and simmer pilaf for another 20 min
Stir pilaf well, mixing up meet, carrots and rice
Add minced garlic to pilaf and cook for 5 more min in a covered pot
Images of Silk Road pilaf cooking process:
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