Uzbek Pilaf with Duck
Main Dishes • Uzbek
Description
Uzbek Pilaf with Duck
Ingredients
- Devzira Rice 0 lbs
- Onion 6 pieces
- Carrot 10 pieces
- Duck 1 piece
- Garlic 1 head
- Cumin (Zira) 1 tablespoon
- Vegetable Oil 1 cup
- Salt to taste
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1
Cut the carrots into large strips. Do not grate them or buy pre-cut thin carrots used for Korean salads. Thin carrots will disappear in the pilaf during cooking, which is unacceptable!
Step 2
Slice the onions into rings. The thinner you slice the onion, the faster and more intensely it will fry. It is easier to burn thinly sliced onions than coarsely chopped ones, and burnt onions in pilaf are at least unappealing (and not tasty).
Step 3
Wash and cut the duck into fillet pieces. Pilaf can be cooked on a gas or electric stove (it is more challenging on electric and requires certain skills, and it is impossible to make pilaf on induction), or over an open flame (fire), but exclusively in a kazan! No pots, enamel bowls, or buckets! This is pilaf, not army porridge.
Step 4
Heat the kazan well over high heat, then heat the oil. Add the bones that you separated from the meat. Fry for about 5 minutes. (If you only have pieces of meat, start from step 5)
Step 5
Add the onions. The onion gives color to the pilaf. The more you fry the onion, the richer the color of the pilaf will be. If you cook pilaf without onions, it will be almost white (this pilaf is made for weddings and is thus called 'wedding pilaf'). You need to stir the onions constantly to prevent them from burning. The remaining color will be given to the pilaf by the carrots.
Step 6
Now it's time for the meat. Add the chopped duck to the fried onions and fry until half-cooked, stirring thoroughly. The meat should be almost cooked and slightly fried when you add the carrots. At first glance, it may seem that there is too much carrot. I put it right to the edges of the kazan. Don't be alarmed. It's just right! Without carrots, it won't be pilaf anymore. Fry over moderate heat, stirring the onions, meat, and carrots thoroughly. To check the readiness of the carrots, they should bend but not break. By this time, the onions will almost disappear. You should not see them in the cooked pilaf. They will completely disappear before adding the rice, but more on that later. Now is the time to put a kettle of water on the fire. You should have boiling water ready.
Step 7
Pour boiling water over the fried onions, meat, and carrots. This is the BASE of the pilaf. It is called zirvak. It needs to be prepared correctly, in the order described above. The quality of your pilaf will depend on it. Zirvak cooks for 40 minutes. Better yet, for an hour! In fact, an hour and a half! By the way, you can prepare zirvak in advance, even a day before guests arrive. The base is still the base. This is not pilaf yet :) While the zirvak is cooking, we prepare the devzira rice (I use Barakat) and the garlic with cumin.
Step 8
After 45 minutes from the boiling of the zirvak, add the garlic (I peel it and add it whole) and cumin.
Step 9
SALT!!! You need to salt it so that the broth is slightly over-salted. Some of the salt will be absorbed by the rice. Stir and cook for another 15-20 minutes. Do not add any other spices to the pilaf! No khmeli-suneli for aroma, dried parsley, marjoram, basil, or curry. Only cumin.
Step 10
If you take cumin in your palm and rub it with your fingers, the aroma of this spice will be richer and brighter. The zirvak is ready. Bring this broth to a boil and add the rice. Spread it in small heaps all over the kazan, then gently level it with a slotted spoon. DO NOT MIX!!! The water should cover the rice by 1.5–2 cm. If needed, you can add a little boiling water, which should always be on hand.
Step 11
As soon as you level the rice over the entire surface, make the fire strong. It is now important to make the water boil and evaporate as quickly as possible. You can briefly cover the kazan with a lid to speed up the process, but as soon as the water boils, you need to remove the lid. Help it evaporate slightly by pushing the rice from the walls to the center of the kazan with a slotted spoon and making holes in the pilaf with a wooden stick (you can use a chopstick or the handle of a wooden spoon) to allow the water to evaporate more intensely from the middle. As soon as the water stops bubbling from the holes you made, level the rice across the entire kazan and cover with a lid. Turn the heat to the lowest setting. Once you close the kazan with the lid, wait for 20–25 minutes.
Step 12
Mix the pilaf from the bottom to the top. Stir thoroughly but gently so that the carrots are mixed with the rice and meat. Your authentic Uzbek pilaf is ready!
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