Plov Uzbek national meal cooking tutorial.

  Lot's of different types of food you may know in the worldwide restaurant history. But there is one and only amazing traditional meal in Uzbekistan, that can't be compared with taste of any other meal in the world.When you try it, then you will know what I am trying to say.

  My name is Tim. Originally I am from Uzbekistan and Plov is my favorite meal. People who visited the Uzbekistan may know that there are many types of Plov in a different parts of the country. For example in Tashkent city Plov is different than in Samarkand city and looks like in Picture 1:

Picture 1.

As you can see in the picture in Tashkent they serve Plov in a deep formed dishes and all the ingredients are mixed- Carrot, rice, meat, onions, garlic and spices.

  Depending on your taste some other ingredients can be added. Some people add peas, raisins, spicy chilly and even fruits. If you think of something to add  on just go for it and try the taste. Plov will never give you bad expression of taste, it is amazing meal.

  

Picture 2.

  Here is the Samarkand Plov on Picture 2. Allmost the same ingredients, but completely different look.  The dish here is flat and ingredients are not mixed, first they take the rice and the rest goes on top of the rice.

  Samarkand Plov is the best Plov in the world for me. Soon I will get to the point where you will be able to cook this amazing meal by yourself, I will give you step by step tutorials of how to cook this (maybe you can say difficult meal to cook) but very simple meal to cook.


 Ok. Lets fire up :). We will need below:

1. RICE - In Uzbekistan we have our own Rice, but for you guys, if you are not in Uzbekistan, I will advice to buy an original Long Grain Basmati Rice which would be maid in India or Pakistan or even Egyptian Basmati Rice is not bad too. 
2. CARROT - Some like orange Carrots and some Yellow, doesn't really matter, any kind of good quality carrots will be fine.
3. MEAT - I would prefer lamb, but again, doesn't matter at all! The result will not be disappointing with Beef or Chicken though.
4. ONIONS - Any type of onions, as you wish.
5. GARLIC - If you don't like Garlic, don't add it, as you wish.
6. OIL - Canola Oil will be fine, or any other oil. In Uzbekistan we use Cotton oil, but I don't find it anywhere in other countries.
7. CUMIN - Important! Don't buy just any cumin in supermarket, you really should taste or at least smell it before you buy it. Some types of Cumin can just destroy the meal, but without it Plov is not Plov :)
8. BLACK PAPPER - You can use grain Black Papper or whole Black Papper but the best is the Whole Black Papper being grained by yourself right on the cauldron.

  Remember, all these products should be fine chosen with the best quality. If you are cooking for a long enough time you will know for sure which products are good. Lets cut it short and start cooking!


INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5-2 pounds of fresh meat (any)
• 2 medium onions
• 5 medium size carrots
• 3.5 cups of rice
• 2 tsp of cumin
• 1 tsp of freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tsp of salt (taste it frequently)
• 6.5 cups of water (previously boiled and it should be 1.5 cm above rice level)
• chickpeas and garlic bulb (optional)
• 200 ml of canola oil (or any oil, your choice) 

METHOD:

1. Heat the oil as normal.
2. Start frying meat around 5-6 minutes.
3. Add thin sliced onions and fry till it gets soft and golden-brown (deep fried).
4. Here you can start adding spices (cumin, ground black pepper, salt) as you wish, you can do it later, but I always add spices in the beginning, coz it gives more taste from start.
5. After deep frying add long sliced carrots on a very low fire, and don't mix anymore, keep it for 3-4 minutes.
6. Now you can add some water (previously boiled, keep in mind) around 2 inches above carrots level.
7. Taste the water, you should now know if you want to add some salt or black pepper.
8. This is the perfect time to putt in a whole garlic head, if you like the garlic, it gives some interesting taste to our plov.
9. Keep fire low as it is for a 10 minutes and remember, no mixing since step 5.
10. Now, when it's all boiling, time to add some rice :). Ok, add your washed in a warm water rice, check the water level-1.5 cm above rice level (I always check it with my finger nail :) )
11. After 2 minutes of boiling, flatten the top pf the level, make some halls to the bottom of the cauldron, so you can see the water level. Give a little more fire and close a cauldron. Never forget about salt level.
12. Every 2 minutes open it and mix the rice above only, don't touch anything under the rice, take some flat cooking tool, dig in to the rice and just flip it on it's same place, don't mix it like a blender :), just flip. Flatten and make some halls to see water level.
13. Taste the rice, see if it is got soften a little, if not see the water level, add some more water if necessary to get a soft rice, mix by flipping, flatten and halls again.
14. Now, I hope, we got to the level, when our rice finally got soften. Now we must make a rice look like dome, push only rice more to the center of the cauldron, so it will look like dome, like a ball in the cauldron, make some halls again, putt the fire on lowest possible level and keep it around 5 minutes, then check the rice if it got soft enough to eat with pleasure.
15. If yes, then wolaaaaaaaaaaa, plov is ready to serve. This was a last step of our tutorial, now Enjoy your meal, hope you like it much :) 

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