Quite often, ingredients like raisins, dried apricots, dates, prunes and other dried or dried fruits are found in pilaf recipes.
These and other sweet ingredients contribute not only to the variety of dishes with the name “pilaf”.
Often, dried fruits, despite their insignificant presence in the pilaf, play the role of the “first violin”, create a unique taste, make the dish bright and unforgettable.
Basic principles of cooking pilaf with dried fruits
Imagine an evening dress without accessories and jewelry. Boring and ordinary! Not enough light touch to emphasize the solemnity of the event. The same is in the pilaf: bright “beads” of berries are an equal detail, along with rice, if we are talking about sweet types of this dish. Sweet pilaf without fruit, dried fruit 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 the smallest detail that gives completeness to the evening party.
Very pleased with the fact that dried fruits do not require any complex pre-treatment for the preparation of pilau with their use. They are simply washed, large fruits are cut. Raisins simply wash and do not zaparivat boiling water, because it will evaporate and acquire the desired consistency with rice, in a saucepan. If you need to chop prunes, figs or dried apricots according to the recipe, then you need to pre-hold them in hot water just enough to make it easy to chop.
All dried fruits are suitable for rice. For a sweet pilaf with dried fruits, in general, all the dried fruits in a single composition can be used. In other recipes you need to think about the principle of compatibility of products. For example, you can add dried prunes to vegetable pilaf: its sour taste and light smoked smell will add a spicy flavor to the dish as a whole. Sweet raisins emphasize the taste of meat, especially when combined with spicy, salty and sour ingredients. Dates and dried apricots play the same role in the pilaf. Dried figs, due to its granular texture, requires a thoughtful approach to the preparation of pilau. In a word, dried fruit in the pilaf is a matter of individual and creative taste. Of course, it should be added to everything written that there is a main rule of pilaf - the crumbly texture of the rice itself or of any cereal part of which it consists. Without compliance with this basic requirement, the dish will not save any dried fruit.
Perhaps the most difficult thing in preparing pilaf is a 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 fruit and lamb
Ingredients:
“Basmanti” 300 g
Onion 350g
Almond 50g
Dark burgundy raisins 100 g
Turmeric 10 g
Butter 50 g
Salt
Lamb tenderloin 500 g
Meat broth 250 ml
Olive oil 30 g
Cooking:
Wash the rice with water and leave it to drain. In a saucepan with salted water, boil the rice for about 8-10 minutes. In a bowl of hot water, soak the raisins.
Finely chop the onion, fry it over low heat until caramelization, so that it becomes golden brown, remove from heat and divide into two parts.
Dry the steamed raisins and fry them in olive oil with almonds, so that the raisins become soaked with its aroma. Put aside.
Drain the water from boiled rice, rinse it and put it in a saucepan. Add butter, raisins, turmeric and one part of caramelized onion to it. Stir and heat, covered with a lid.
Beat portions of lamb, rub with pepper, but do not salt. Fry the meat in a deep frying pan, add butter, pour in a cup of broth and simmer until soft. At the end of cooking mutton add spices.
Put the prepared rice in the center of the dish, around the pieces of lamb.
Recipe 2. Pilaf with dried fruits, pistachios and pine nuts, savory
Ingredients:
200 g rice
Water 400 l
Saffron 1 g
Salt
Peanut butter (or melted) 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
Nuts, pine 100 g
Pistachios 150 g
Onion, sliced 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 the water and throw saffron and salt into it, temporarily set aside, cover with lid to make the saffron stew.
Heat the oil in deep cast iron and fry the pine nuts. Immediately put them in the prepared dishes, and in the pan, add the spices to the nut flavor: cardamom, bay leaf, pepper and cumin. It is desirable to slightly knead the spices beforehand, so that their smell is also transmitted to the oil. Remove seeds after 30-40 seconds. Now fry the chopped onion well (you can use leek) and also shift it to a separate plate. Now put rice in fragrant oil, mix it so that it is soaked with oil, add dried fruits to rice. Once again, boil the water with saffron and fill it with rice. Cook the rice on minimal heat until the water evaporates. Add the onions and nuts at the end of the quenching, mix, adjust the taste with spices if necessary, cover the dishes with a lid for five minutes and turn off the stove.
Recipe 3. Turkish cuisine: pilaf with dried fruits, green peas and chicken
Ingredients:
Rice “basmanti” 600 g
Onions, coarsely chopped 280 g
Green peas, frozen 150 g
Raisin 100 g
Turmeric 15 g
Clove, ground 5 g
Ground cumin 15 g
Black pepper 10 g (ground)
Cardamom 10 g
Cinnamon (whole sticks) 2 pcs.
Olive oil 150 ml
Almond Roasted 100 g
2.2 kg chicken
Citrus juice 250 ml (oranges or tangerines)
Dates (seedless) 200 g
Cooking process:
Wash and soak the rice. Divide the processed chicken into portion portions. Grate the meat with ground spices, put in a container and pour citrus juice for forty-fifty minutes.
Heat the butter in a roasting pan, lightly fry the onion and place the chicken meat on it. Fry to a ruddy color, lay on the meat chopped dates, raisins and rice. Stir the ingredients gently and pour in the water, previously boiled to boil, to cover the rice with water by 2-3 cm. Reduce the heat to low and simmer under the lid until the rice is cooked. Put the peas and almonds on top, close the pan of dreams and let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
Recipe 4. Indian cuisine: pilaf with dried fruits, cashews, almonds and sesame
This recipe is quite suitable for fans of vegetarian cuisine, as a complete dish. But at the same time it can be supplemented with any meat or fish, using separate technology of preparation of the components of the pilaf, known in the East since ancient times.
Ingredients:
Wild rice 200 g
Onions 100g
Raisins (dark and light) 120 g
Almond, raw 60 g
Cashew 100 g
Sesame 40 g
Turmeric 15 g
Olive oil 100 ml
Cilantro, fresh 40 g
Pepper, ground (red and black) 10 g
Sesame oil 50 ml
Broth (chicken or vegetable) 0.5 l
Fresh green 50 g
Sumy (or dried barberry) 70 g
Salt
Cooking process:
In the heated olive oil, add finely chopped onion and pass to a transparent state, salt and add chopped cilantro and raw almonds, after 5 minutes - rice, turmeric, cashews, raisins, sumac (or barberry), pepper. Stir, fry for a few minutes and pour in the broth. Bringing rice to half-ready - salt. Before serving, sprinkle with fresh herbs and sesame roasted in their own oil.
Recipe 5. Pilaf with dried fruits: chicken breast with almonds, dried cherries, pineapple rings and vegetables
Product List:
350g long grain rice
Chicken Breast 1.2 kg
Shallot 200 g
Garlic 30g
Pepper (yellow, green and red), salad 250 g
Cherry, dried (without stones) 150 g
Raw almonds 70-80 g
Vegetable and melted butter (50/50) 120 g
Broth 450 ml
Sliced parsley 50 g
Dried pineapple rings 200 g
Orange zest (fresh) 40 g
Mediterranean spices
Salt
Cooking process:
Rice washed and soaked in water. Prepare and cut vegetables: pepper and onions cut into large, diced, chopped garlic and greens. Dried fruits are also washed, but they do not need to steam with boiling water. Chicken breast, after washing, cut into portions.
Heat oil in deep heat-resistant dishes and fry the breast with spices, add onions, almonds, orange peel and garlic, then washed rice and pour the contents with broth. Bringing rice to half cooked, add pepper and dried fruits. Salt and after five minutes of quenching on minimal heat, throw the cut greens. Put pilaf on a dish in layers. Transfer vegetables and dried fruits temporarily to a separate plate. Put the rice on the dish, then the dried fruits, put the pepper and meat around the dish.
Dried fruit pilaf - tips and tricks
- When 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 grade.
- Add dried fruits no earlier than 10 minutes before the end of the preparation of pilau, so that they retain a moderately dense texture, and are not too boiled over.
