An Armenian proverb says: “You can’t cook pilaf from words, you need rice and oil.” The two-time winner of the Gurman international competition of culinary books, the author of the book Pilaf, Stalik Khankishiyev adds: in order for this very pilaf to turn out delicious, you need to know the nuances of cooking its three main ingredients — rice, water and, in fact, this same oil. And he shares the intricacies of cooking, thanks to which you can achieve not only the amazing taste of this oriental dish, but also preserve the vitamins of all its components.
1. Rice — the main ingredient of pilaf, consists mainly of starch. And it behaves accordingly when it gets into hot water, that is, it swells, which leads to the formation of a paste. And the more it is between the grains of rice, the worse the oil will envelop them, and the pilaf will turn out to be tasteless.
• In order to minimize the amount of paste in pilaf, rice should be pre-soaked for 25-45 minutes in hot water.
• For maximum extract of the paste, it is good to add a few drops of lemon or dried barberry to the soaked rice. The latter will not affect the taste of pilaf, but it will create that acidic environment, thanks to which the rice will boil well in the future.
2. Water. When preparing a folding pilaf, when the rice is pre-boiled, and only then added to the dish being prepared, water is taken five times more than the volume of rice.
• Rice should be cooked in boiling water.
• Before dipping rice in water, it is heavily salted. Many mistakenly think that rice draws out all the salt. On the contrary, he will never take too much.
• Rice should be watered with boiling water to drain the released starch. If this is not done, the rice will stick together and cook in lumps.
• It is better to remove the rice from the pan with a colander, after which it should be rinsed with hot water.
• The less water left in the rice, the easier it will turn out in pilaf.
3. The onion enriches the oil with its aroma and gives it a good taste if cut across.
• Onions are cut into "petals", after which they are fried in ghee.
• When it begins to emit a tantalizing smell, spices are added: turmeric, cinnamon, cumin. Only after that meat is added.
4. Ghee is obtained by heating butter. Many complain that as a result, the taste of ghee turns out to be bitter, which further affects the entire dish. This is because in the process of evaporating water, some of the proteins rise along with the foam, and some are held at the bottom. When the water boils away, the proteins below burn, which leads to the appearance of such a taste. To prevent this from happening, you should remember a few rules.
• Butter is heated very slowly, at a temperature not exceeding 85°C. Only then can it exfoliate properly: fat rises up, while proteins, carbohydrates and water remain at the bottom.
• Melted butter must be refrigerated. After a while, it will harden and can be easily removed. The rest of the cream is easy to wash off, and the resulting ghee can be stored at room temperature.
5. Carrots are called the sun of pilaf. But at the same time, many do not know which one should be taken for cooking and how to properly prepare.
Choose coarse carrots. After all, she has a long way of heat treatment: first in oil, then in water, and at the end — underneath the rice. At the same time, some of them often mix it too, because of which young and tender root crops choke and turn into puree, and all vitamins lose their strength.
• Give preference to large carrots, but only those that have ripened by autumn.
Give up the habit of scraping or peeling carrots with a grater or food processor. Appearance of carrots and its taste — things are related. Therefore, the only tool suitable for working with it is — sharp knife.
• Carrots should be peeled in almost the same way as potatoes, carefully cutting off thin peels by moving the knife along the carrot towards you. You can use a vegetable peeler for this purpose.
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