How to cook a delicious pilaf: 5 secrets

Pilaf is a rather complicated dish to prepare, for which it is not enough to just choose the right kind of rice and meat. But knowing a few nuances, you can definitely cook a very tasty and spicy dish.

The FoodOboz editorial team shares 5 secrets of cooking the perfect pilaf, which will definitely surprise your family and guests.

1. The type of rice

Rice is undoubtedly the main ingredient in pilaf, and the quality and taste of the dish depends on it by half. Therefore, you should choose only rice called dev-zira, which grows in the Ferghana Valley. This is a hard variety of rice that is low in starch, which is why it is able to absorb a lot of water and oil while remaining crumbly.

But if you can't buy this kind of rice, you can use other types of rice:

• Chungara
• dastar sariqi
• kora-koltakov
• Bugdai-gurunch
• Arpa-sholi
• coniligi

But if you cannot buy such rice, just replace it with Spanish varieties of rice "for paella" or "risotto".

Very often, pilaf is not tasty, because they use the wrong kind of rice with a lot of starch.

2. Be sure to rinse the rice

Before cooking, rice should be washed 5 times to remove all the starch, if you have chosen this type of rice. It is also important to soak it in warm water for 2-3 hours.

3. Meat for pilaf

As a rule, lamb is used, but if you don't like this meat, you can easily replace it with chicken, pork, or beef.

4. Spices

Zira is considered the main seasoning for pilaf, and hot peppers, a clove of garlic, as well as barberry, black pepper, and salt are always added. Also, to make the pilaf tasty, add a lot of carrots and onions.

Remember, bay leaves are not added to pilaf.

5. Cooking utensils

Ideally, a cauldron is the ideal cookware for cooking this dish. But if you don't have one, you can use a wok or deep frying pan, as well as pots with thick walls.