Azerbaijan: Plov
- Sep 25, 2016
- 2 min read
As you'll start to notice rice and meat are a staple in the middle-east, here is another variation of pilaf. So many kinds of meat, fruit, and nuts have been cooked together to make plov's and there are so many different types of plov (some say over 100) that it was challenging to pick which type to make. I chose lamb because it's a favourite of mine and then went with traditional pairings of dried apricots and chestnuts.
Stew:
-2 pounds lamb shoulder, cut into 1 inch pieces
-1/4 cup coconut oil
-1 small sweet onion, cut into thin rings
-1 large carrot, cubed
-1 cup of tart dried apricots
-1/2 cup of roasted shelled chestnuts
-3 gloves of garlic, crushed
-1 tsp of cumin
-s&p to taste
-1 cup of beef stock
Pilaf:
-1.5 cups of basmati rice, soaked for half an hour before cooking
-1 pinch of saffron, soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes before cooking
-2.5 cups beef stock with water (try about half and half)
Stew:
-Melt your oil over medium heat, add your lamb and allow it to brown (about 5 minutes). Remove from pot and set aside.
-Add your carrots and onion to the oil and allow to soften and caramelize (about 7 minutes), add garlic for last minute.
-Mix your apricots, chestnuts, and cumin in, stirring until all softened. turn the heat to low and place the lamb back into the pan.
-Pour the broth over the mixture, stirring to combine. Add your salt and pepper, cover the pot and let simmer until lamb is tender, stirring occasionally.
Pilaf:
-Remove your rice from the water it was soaking in and rinse under water.
-Melt a small amount of butter in your pan and lightly fry your rice (1 minute), add some salt.
-Pour your saffron evenly over your rice and then cover the rice with you stock/water mix, turn heat up and let water boil.
-Cover rice and immediately turn heat to low and let cook for approximately 10 minutes, try not to the remove the lid.
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