Quite often, pilaf recipes contain such ingredients as raisins, dried apricots, dates, prunes, and other dried or dried fruits.
These and other sweet ingredients not only contribute to the variety of dishes with the name "pilaf".
Often dried fruits, despite their insignificant presence in pilaf, play the role of the "first violin", create a unique taste, make the dish bright and unforgettable.
Basic principles for preparing pilaf with dried fruits
Imagine an evening dress without accessories and decorations. Boring and ordinary! There is not enough light touch to emphasize the solemnity of the event. So it is in pilaf: bright "beads" of berries are an equal detail, along with rice, if we are talking about sweet types of this dish. A sweet pilaf without fruits, dried fruits or nuts is just rice porridge. Where, in addition to rice, meat, fish or vegetables are present in the pilaf, dried fruits also do not go unnoticed: they are that very small detail that gives completeness to the evening outfit.
It is also very pleasing that dried fruits do not require any complicated preliminary processing for preparing pilaf with their use. They are simply washed, large fruits are cut. It is enough to simply wash the raisins and not steam them with boiling water, because it will be steamed and get the desired consistency with rice, in a saucepan. If, according to the recipe, prunes, figs or dried apricots should be chopped, then they must first be held in hot water just enough to make it easy to chop.
All dried fruits, without exception, are suitable for rice. For sweet pilaf with dried fruits, you can generally use all dried fruits in a single composition. In other recipes, you need to think about the principle of compatibility of products. For example, dried plum can be added to a vegetable pilaf: its sour taste and a light smell of smoked meat will add a piquant aroma to the dish as a whole. Sweet raisins emphasize the taste of meat, especially in combination with spicy, salty and sour ingredients. The same role in pilaf is played by dates and dried apricots. Sun-dried figs, in view of its grainy texture, require a thoughtful approach to cooking pilaf. In a word, dried fruits in pilaf are a matter of individual and creative taste.
Of course, to everything written, it should be added that there is the main rule of pilaf - the friable texture of the rice itself or any cereal part of which it consists. Without observing this basic requirement, no dried fruit will save the dish.
Perhaps the most difficult thing in cooking pilaf is the long search for a new interesting recipe, especially if you want to cook pilaf with a “twist”, in the literal and figurative sense. Understanding this, we offer interesting, already found and tested options.
Recipe 1. Pilaf with dried fruits and lamb
Ingredients:
Basmanti 300 g
Onion 350 g
Almonds 50 g
Maroon raisins 100 g
Turmeric 10 g
Butter 50 g
Salt
Lamb tenderloin 500 g
Meat broth 250 ml
Olive oil 30 g
Cooking:
Rinse the rice with water and let it drain. In a pot of salted water, boil the rice for about 8-10 minutes. Soak raisins in a bowl of hot water.
Finely chop the onion, fry it over low heat until caramelized, so that it becomes golden brown, remove from heat and divide into two.
Dry the steamed raisins and fry them in olive oil with almonds to soak the raisins in its aroma. Set aside.
Drain the boiled rice, rinse it and transfer to a stewpan. Add to it butter, raisins, turmeric and one part caramelized onions. Stir and warm, covered with a lid.
Discard portioned mutton, rub with pepper, but do not salt. Fry the meat in a deep frying pan, with the addition of oil, pour a cup of broth and simmer until soft. Add the spices at the end of the mutton.
Put the finished rice in the center of the dish, around - pieces of lamb.
Recipe 2. Pilaf with dried fruits, pistachios and pine nuts, unsweetened
Ingredients Composition:
Rice 200 g
Water 400 L
Saffron 1 g
Salt
Butter, peanut (or ghee) 160 g
Cardamom 2 g
Cinnamon (stick) 1 pc.
Cumin 3 g
Black pepper 2 g (ground)
Light raisins 70 g
Bay leaf 1 g
Dried apricots 120 g
Dark, large raisins 80 g
Pine nuts 100 g
Pistachios 150 g
Onion, chopped 200 g
Cooking:
Wash and soak the rice. It is preferable to use a thin, long-grain variety of white rice: Jasmine or Basmanti.
Boil water and throw saffron and salt into it, set aside temporarily to the side, covering with a lid so that the saffron is brewed.
Heat oil in a deep cast iron bowl and fry pine nuts. Immediately transfer them to the prepared dishes, and in the pan, add the spices to the nut flavor: cardamom, bay leaf, pepper and caraway seeds. It is advisable to slightly mash the spices beforehand so that their smell is also transmitted to the oil. Remove seeds after 30-40 seconds. Now well fry the chopped onion (you can use leek) and also transfer to a separate plate. Now put rice in the fragrant oil, mix so that it is completely saturated with oil, add dried fruits to the rice. Boil the water with saffron again and fill it with rice. Boil the rice on low heat until the water evaporates. Add onions and nuts at the end of the stew, mix, if necessary, adjust the taste with spices, cover the dishes for five minutes and turn off the stove.
Recipe 3. Turkish cuisine: pilaf with dried fruits, green peas and chicken
Ingredients:
Basmanti Rice 600 g
Coarsely chopped onion 280 g
Green peas, frozen 150 g
Raisins 100 g
Turmeric 15 g
Cloves, ground 5 g
Ground cumin 15 g
Black pepper 10 g (ground)
Cardamom 10 g
Cinnamon (whole sticks) 2 pcs.
Olive oil 150 ml
Almonds toasted 100 g
Chicken 2.2 kg
Citrus juice 250 ml (oranges or tangerines)
Dates (pitted) 200 g
Cooking process:
Rinse and soak the rice. Divide the processed chicken carcass into portions. Rub the meat with ground spices, put in a bowl and pour in citrus juice for forty to fifty minutes.
Heat the oil in a roasting pan, lightly fry the onions and lay chicken meat on it. Fry until golden brown, put sliced dates, raisins and rice on meat. Gently mix the ingredients and pour the water, previously brought to a boil, to cover the rice with 2-3 cm water. Reduce the heat to a minimum and simmer under the lid until the rice is ready. Put the peas and almonds on top, then close the pan and let stand before serving for 15 minutes.
Recipe 4. Indian cuisine: pilaf with dried fruits, cashews, almonds and sesame seeds
This recipe is perfect for fans of vegetarian cuisine, as a finished dish. But at the same time, it can be supplemented with any meat or fish, using a separate technology for preparing the components of pilaf, known in the East since ancient times.
Ingredients:
Wild rice 200 g
Onion 100 g
Raisins (dark and light) 120 g
Almonds, raw 60 g
Cashew 100 g
Sesame 40 g
Turmeric 15 g
Olive oil 100 ml
Cilantro, fresh 40 g
Ground pepper (red and black) 10 g
Sesame oil 50 ml
Broth (chicken or vegetable) 0.5 L
Greens, fresh 50 g
Sumakh (or dried barberry) 70 g
Salt
Cooking process:
Put the finely chopped onions in the warmed olive oil and pass until transparent, add salt and chopped cilantro and raw almonds, after 5 minutes - rice, turmeric, cashews, raisins, sumy (or barberry), pepper. Stir, fry for several minutes and pour in the broth. Bringing rice to a half-preparedness - salt. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and sesame seeds fried in oil before serving.
Recipe 5. Pilaf with dried fruits: chicken breast with almonds, dried cherries, pineapple rings and vegetables
Grocery list:
Long grain rice 350 g
Chicken breast 1.2 kg
Shallots 200 g
Garlic 30 g
Pepper (yellow, green and red), salad 250 g
Cherry, dried (seedless) 150 g
Raw almonds 70-80 g
Vegetable and ghee (50/50) 120 g
450 ml broth
Sliced parsley 50 g
Dried pineapple rings 200 g
Orange zest (fresh) 40 g
Mediterranean spices
Salt
Cooking process:
Rice is washed and soaked in water. Vegetables are prepared and cut: pepper and onion are cut into large cubes, chopped garlic and herbs. Dried fruits are also washed, but they do not need to be steamed with boiling water. Chicken breast, washed, cut into portions.
In a deep heat-resistant dish, heat oil and fry the breast with spices, add onions, almonds, zest of oranges and garlic, then washed rice and pour the contents with broth. Bringing the rice to half cooked, add pepper and dried fruit. Salt and after five minutes of stewing over minimal heat, throw chopped greens. Lay the pilaf on the dish in layers. Transfer vegetables and dried fruits temporarily to a separate plate. Put rice on the dish, then dried fruit, put pepper and meat around the dish.
Pilaf with dried fruits - useful tips and tricks
In the process of cooking or stewing rice, it is necessary to take into account its variety: the amount of added liquid depends on this to obtain the desired consistency of the dish. The temperature and duration of rice processing also depends on its variety.
Add dried fruits no earlier than 10 minutes before the end of cooking pilaf, so that they maintain a moderately dense consistency, and are not too boiled.
