Plov (Pilau)

- Russian Cereals & Puddings Recipe

How to Cook & Prepare Plov (Pilau):

(Pilau)

Plov is a rice dish cooked in a special way. The different plov derivatives have been known to include such a variety of ingredients as roast or stewed lamb, poultry, fish, eggs, cooked or dried fruits, nuts and vegetables.
The usual procedure for making plov is to wash and soak the rice for an hour in warm water, drain it thoroughly in a strainer and then cook it in one of the two following ways:

I
Plunge the washed rice into boiling salt water and cook until the grains are soft, but still firm on the inside. Drain in a strainer and then pour over cold water to cool. Melt fat in a deep casserole, put in the rice and pour over the rest of fat. Cover tightly with a lid and keep it on the hob 40 to 45 minutes. To prevent the rice from stocking to the casserole, put a thin flat cake of noodle dough on the bottom. The cake is served along with the plov.

II
Bring to a boil two cupsful of salt water, add half the butter or rendered fat and throw in one cupful of rice. Boil gently without stirring. When the rice absorbs the water, pour in the remaining fat, cover the casserole tightly and cook for 30 to 40 minutes longer.

Plov with Lamb

½ cupful rice ½ cupful boiled
500 g lamb butter
2 onions salt
2 medium-sized Pepper
pomegranates

Cut the meat into small pieces and dredge with salt and pepper. Saute in butter or drippings together with finely sliced onion. As soon as the onion and meat are browned, add water to cover and the pomegranate kernels. Cover with a lid and braise until tender. Serve the meat together with the pan juices. Heap the hot plov on top. Cook the plov as directed in Recipe l.

Georgian Plov

2 cupsful rice 150 g honey
150 g raisins ½ cupful boiled butter

Prepare the plov as directed in Recipe I. Mix the honey with an equal amount of hot water and add the raisins. Pour this sauce over the plov and cook for 10 minutes.

Uzbek plov

400 g fatty mutton 200 g mutton (beef)
2 or 3 cuspful rice fat or vegetable oil
200 to 300 g carrots salt, pepper
150 to 200 g onion

Cut the mutton into small pieces and brown in kettle (preferably of cast iron) in hot fat. Add the shredded onion and then the shredded carrots and brown together with the mutton. Pour over 4 cupsful of water, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Wash the rice, add it to the meat and smooth off on top. When the water is absorbed, with a paddle make several vertical pipe holes through the plov to the bottom of the kettle. Pour 1 or 2 tablespoonful of water into the holes to keep the plov from burning. Cover the kettle tightly with a lid and cook for 25 to 30 minutes over low heat. Serve heaped on a platter with the mutton on top. Garnish with sliced raw onion.

Plov with Pumpkin and Fruit

1 ½ cupsful rice 100 g quinces
500 g pumpkin 100 g raisins
200 g apples ½ cupful butter

Pare and core fresh apples and quinces; dice finely and mix with raisins. Melt part of the butter in a casserole and line the bottom with a layer of pumpkin. Put 1/3 of the rice over the pumpkin and a layer of mixed fruit over the rice. Add two more alternating layers of rice and fruit. Pour over the remaining butter and add water to cover the top layer of the rice. Cover the casserole tightly and cook over low heat for one hour.

Plov “Ararat”
(Armenian)

1.7 kg rice 200 g raisins
800 g apples 100 g shelled almonds
900 g quinces 100 g dried apricots
300 g butter 50-100 g alcohol

Prepare the plov as in the preceding recipe and heap it in an oblong platter. Place around the plov rows of baked apples and quinces, raisins and dried apricots fried as in the above recipe and the shelled almonds. Hollow out two raw apples and pour alcohol into them. Place an apple at each end of the platter. Turn out the lights, ignite the alcohol in the apples and serve.

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