As you know, pilaf is an ancient dishUzbek cuisine. Its classic recipe includes seven ingredients: meat, rice, water, onions, carrots, salt and fat. But just mixing them does not at all mean cooking a truly delicious flavorful dish. Most likely, you will only get a good rice porridge, which will have nothing to do with plov. To have on your table a large dish with food that you can admire, you need to know some secrets. Firstly, the quality of plov is largely dependent on the type of rice that forms its basis. The point is not even how shaped it is - a long or more round one. According to experienced housewives, the most friable pilaf can be cooked from steamed rice. Secondly, the classic recipe provides for the use of lamb or veal. Thirdly, pilaf is cooked on an open fire in a special dish, called a cauldron. Wait to get upset and upset if in the near future going to the countryside with a sit-round at the burning fire is not included in your plans. Indeed, it is often very difficult to get out into the fresh air and cook something unusual on an open fire. But this is not a reason to deny yourself the pleasure of enjoying a delicious meal. A real Uzbek pilau can be made in an ordinary oven. And about what secrets you need to know for this, it will go further. There are no special tricks here, so if desired, any hostess in her own kitchen can pamper loved ones with a delicious Uzbek national dish. 
A classic recipe for pilaf in the oven
Currently, you can meet a hugethe number of recipes for how to cook an excellent pilaf in the oven, while using different types of meat. It can be chicken, turkey, pork and even duck. And each dish will turn out delicious in its own way. Chicken and turkey meat will surely appeal to fans of diet food, but those who do not believe in calories and who are accustomed to rely more on their own food preferences than on the scales arrow will appreciate the pork. The recipe described below, involves the use of lamb or veal, but, depending on personal preferences, they can be replaced by another species.
- rice oblong steamed - 500 grams
- meat (lamb, veal) - 1 kilogram
- vegetable oil - 1 glass
- onion - 2 pieces
- carrots - 500 grams
- water
- Salt, pepper ground red and black - to taste
Cooking method: Take a saucepan or a thick-walled cauldron, into which you will add all the components of the future pilaf and bring them to the right condition in the oven. Soak rice in hot water. Meat cut into pieces of medium size and quickly fry in a heated frying pan in a large amount of sunflower oil. If you want to give the dish a kind of Italian accent, you can use olive. Before you move the meat into a saucepan or cauldron, season with salt and sprinkle with pepper. Finely chop the onion and fry it in oil until golden colored. Add the carrots, previously cut into small strips. Do not speed up the process and use a grater. Carrots boil, and pilaf will lose all the beauty. So do not save time and work with a knife. If you want to avoid the sweetish taste in a dish, then choose a carrot yellow instead of orange, or mix both varieties. Keep onions and carrots in a pan for several minutes, carefully watching that they are not burned, and shift the vegetables to the meat. Add salt and two kinds of ground pepper. If you want to give the dish a more piquant or rich taste, use other spices, although the classic recipe does not provide for them. But in any case, take into account your own preferences. Wash the soaked rice under a stream of cold water, repeating the procedure several times. This method allows you to remove excess starch from the cereal, providing plov his notorious friability. When water draining from rice becomes transparent, it is possible to stop rinsing. Express the excess moisture and distribute the rump over the vegetables as evenly as possible. In a thin trickle, pour water into the pan with the future plov at the level of rice. If the liquid is in excess, the croup will stick together, excessively boiled. Salt the dish, and for the flavor of the culinary experts recommend placing in the center a previously cleaned garlic head of medium size. Pour a saucepan or cauldron with plov foil and send it to the oven for about an hour. The temperature should be small, about 160 ° C, because the dish needs to languish, and not boil on fire. After the specified time or a little more, get the pilaf, remove the impromptu cover and enjoy the fullness of its aroma. Well, has the appetite already woken up? Then rather get down to business, after all to prepare pilaf in an oven it is completely not difficult. 
Pilaf in the oven with brown rice and turkey
And this recipe will please those who are concernedthe problem of excess weight and seeks to lose weight, denying yourself the usual goodies. If you sometimes pamper yourself with such a dish, then especially worry about the waist will not have to. True, and still not be abused, because the process of frying meat and vegetables is present, which means that pilaf can not be called truly dietary. Although the recipe itself provides lean meat and a small amount of vegetable oil, which can not but please the supporters of rational nutrition. Ingredients:
- Turkey meat (hip) - 800 grams
- brown rice - 2 cups
- carrots - 2 pieces
- onion - 2 pieces
- garlic - 2 heads
- Sunflower oil - 2 tablespoons
- Salt, ground pepper - to taste
Cooking method: Rinse rice thoroughly under running water, pour it and leave it for a while. Cut the turkey meat into small pieces, salt and fry in a frying pan until half cooked, then transfer to the dishes in which you plan to make pilaf. Do not forget that the pan or cauldron should have thick walls and a bottom. Carrots cut into strips, and chop the onions finely. Send vegetables to the frying pan and fry. With rice, drain the water and lay it on top of slices of turkey meat, from above lay a uniform layer of onions and carrots. Salt and season with spices. Pour the future pilaf with 3 glasses of steep boiling water, and in the center place 2 heads of garlic. From the foil, make a lid and send the pan or cauldron to the oven, heated to 160-180 ° C for about 1 hour or slightly more (depending on the rice). After the specified time, take out the prepared dish, lay it on a beautiful large plate and invite the households to a tasting. If you did everything correctly and did not violate the recipe, the pilaf in the oven will turn out to be very friable, and the turkey meat will remain soft and juicy.
Pilaf in the oven with zira and barberry for a large company
Everyone knows that oriental chefs are able to simplywith the magic art of using all sorts of spices. They unmistakably know what exactly will emphasize the taste of meat dishes, delicates the delicacy of vegetables and gives piquancy to even the simplest side dish. Just as expertly spices can be improved and the classic recipe, which is to cook a pilaf in the oven. The number of components indicates that this dish is quite possible to feed a large company of guests. Ingredients:
- rice (long transparent steamed) - 1 kilogram
- lamb - 500 grams
- onion - 4 pieces
- carrots - 6 pieces
- 1 tea spoon
- barberry - 3 tablespoons
- garlic - 1 piece
- Sunflower oil - 0, 5 cups
- salt, ground black pepper - to taste
- soy sauce - 2 tablespoons
Cooking method: First, rinse the rice thoroughly and pour it with water. Now cut into pieces of medium-sized meat and lay it on a hot skillet with sunflower oil. Fry for 10 minutes and lay the lamb in the cauldron. Onion chopped into half rings, carrots - straws. Put them in the frying pan and afterwards send them to the cauldron. Make sure that the vegetables do not burn, otherwise the taste of the dish will suffer. With rice, discard the water, add a pinch of ground black pepper, salt to taste and soy sauce. Transfer all to a skillet and fry for 5 minutes. After use rice with barberry and zira and put on top of vegetables. And here there is a very important nuance: do not try to mix all the ingredients in the cauldron - so you'll spoil everything and cook not a pilaf in the oven, but a porridge with meat. From above, stick the garlic head and gently add boiling water so that it covers the rice by about 2 centimeters. Cover the cauldron with a lid or foil and put in the oven for 40 minutes at a temperature of 180 ° C. When this time runs out, remove the pilaf, mix and place on a large flat dish. To the table to call no one will have to, because the aroma of this delicious food and so will collect everyone who wants to eat delicious. Bon Appetit! 
Pilaf in oven with beef ribs and chicken breast
The recipe for this dish is different from those described abovethe fact that, in addition to the usual set of vegetables from onions and carrots, it includes tomatoes and bell peppers. By the way, the pilaf itself is not cooked in a cauldron or a pot with thick walls, but is laid out in a deep baking tray. It should be noted that the meat in this case does not become dry at all, it retains softness and juiciness. And the rice turns out to be really crumbly and very fragrant thanks to several spices. Ingredients:
- beef ribs - 300 grams
- chicken breast - 1 piece
- rice (long steamed) - 1 glass
- carrots (large) - 1 piece
- onion - 2 pieces
- garlic - 1 head and 5 denticles
- tomatoes (ripe large) - 1 piece
- pepper bulgarian - 1 piece
- olive oil - 1,5 cups
- salt - to taste
- Spices (black ground pepper, saffron, zira, barberry, bay leaf) - to taste
Cooking method: Rinse rice thoroughly, soak it in cold water and leave for 2 hours. Beef ribs and chicken breast wash, dry and cut into small pieces. In a frying pan pour a little olive oil, reheat it well and quickly fry the meat until golden brown. Then put it on a baking tray. Onion chop with half rings, carrots with long straws, and chop the cloves of garlic finely. All these vegetables, send in a skillet, which was before meat, add a little olive oil, fry and also put it in a pan. Tomato dip in boiling water for half a minute and remove from it peel. Remove the seeds from the pepper. Two of these vegetables are cut into small cubes and spread over onions and carrots. Now add all these ingredients and season with spices. With rice, discard the water and lay it evenly on meat and vegetables, sprinkle a little. In the middle of the future pilau place the washed head of garlic, and along the perimeter of the tray insert laurel leaves. Now attention! Water pour no more than half a glass, otherwise the rice will turn into a viscous mess. Cover everything with foil and put in the oven at a temperature of up to 160 ° C for about an hour. When the pilaf is cooked, remove it, mix the layers together and serve them to the table. 
Vegetarian version of pilaf in the oven
The recipe for a vegetarian plov is very simple,it can even the most inexperienced mistress. Meat replaces mushrooms here, and sweetish raisins give a special piquancy to the taste. The dish turns out very tasty and, like any pilaf, quite satisfying. This recipe really helps people who do not eat meat, stick to a diet or fast. But you can cook it and just like that, it's very tasty! Ingredients:
- rice (long steamed) - 600 grams
- champignons - 500 grams
- raisins - 200 grams
- carrots (large) - 1 piece
- onion - 2 pieces
- Sunflower oil - 50-100 grams
- tomato sauce - 2 tablespoons
- pepper black ground, salt - to taste
Cooking method: As always, thoroughly rinse the rice and leave it in water for at least an hour. In a deep cauldron, pour in the sunflower oil and heat it. At this time, cut mushrooms and onions (arbitrarily, as you like). When the oil warms up, put them to fry, then reduce the heat and put it out. After 7-10 minutes, add to the mushrooms carrots, cut into thin strips, and continue to stew. Raisins wash and pour boiling water to make it swell. When the carrot is ready, add the tomato paste to the cauliflower, lay out the raisins, salt and season. With rice, discard the water and evenly spread it over mushrooms and vegetables. Pour everything lightly salted water so that it covers the future pilaf by 2-3 centimeters. Allow the dish to boil and place it in an oven with a temperature of 180 ° C for 40 minutes. As a rule, when the water completely evaporates, the rice will become soft, and on top will appear an appetizing golden crust. Before serving, mix the layers together and enjoy! As you can see, pilaf with meat or a vegetarian version of it is prepared quite simply, especially if you do it in the oven. The main secret is not to pour too much water and turn such a delicious national dish of Central Asian people into a commonplace rice porridge. To do this, you must strictly adhere to the proportions that this or that prescription provides. And if you want to experiment a little, try using different combinations of spices. In addition, you can add plums to prunes or dried apricots, Asian notes will be introduced by quince. Many housewives put in the dish cashew nuts. And if you want something unusual, you can replace meat with sea or ocean fish without bones, as they do in Turkmenistan. The dish will not be less tasty and more useful. By the way, if you put a variety of seafood in plov, then you will get a real Spanish paella. And all this can be cooked in an oven that, although it will not replace an open fire, will make it a worthy competition. Try to master the pilaf's recipe in the oven, and this dish will surely become one of the most loved in your family.
