Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 2 ½ cups basmati rice (Use devzira rice if you can find it)
2 whole heads garlic
⅓ cup vegetable oil
2 pounds boneless lamb leg or shoulder, cut into 2-inch cubes (substitute chuck roast or boneless short ribs)
8 to 10 carrots, peeled
2 onions, sliced ¼-inch thick
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons cumin seeds, toasted and freshly ground
4 ½ teaspoons coriander seeds, toasted and freshly ground
3 bay leaves
Pinch saffron, about 20 threads
½ cup barberries, currents, or golden raisins
Salt
Pepper
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Directions: |
Directions:Rinse rice in a fine mesh strainer until water runs clear. Transfer rice to bowl and cover with water while prepping other ingredients.
Wash the whole garlic heads and peel the papery outer layer but do not expose the cloves completely. Cut the top of the heads (¼-inch). Set aside.
Grate 2 largest carrots. Cut remaining carrots into 2 by ½-inch pieces.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven over high heat until very hot. Season lamb with salt and pepper. Add lamb pieces in batches turning occasionally until the lamb is evenly browned. Add more oil, if need between batches. Remove and set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil on high in the pot until almost smoking. Add onions and 1 teaspoon salt, stir to coat with oil, and fry until browned. Stir in grated carrots. Fry, stirring frequently, until oil is orange colored, and carrots are deeply caramelized on the edges. Add spices, 1 teaspoon pepper, and minced garlic, stirring to combine until fragrant. Add lamb back to pot. Stir in the barberries or currents.
Add enough boiling water to barely cover the meat, place garlic heads on top, cover the pot and turn heat down to a simmer and cook for 30 to 45 minutes until the lamb is tender.
Uncover the pot, take out the garlic heads and set aside. Mix and flatten the meat and vegetables into the bottom of the pot. Place the rice gently on top of the meat mixture, spreading in flat even layer. DO NOT MIX the rice with the meat mixture.
Pour boiling water slowly over the wooden spoon, letting it fall gently into the pot so as not to disturb the rice layer on top. The water should cover the rice by ½-inch. Season with 1 teaspoon salt.
Reduce the heat to low, continue to gently move around rice layer till all the water evaporates, about 5 to 10 minutes. DO NOT MIX.
When all the water evaporates, without disturbing or mixing the rice, use the handle of a wooden spoon to make holes in the rice in 4 to 5 spots and push the garlic bulbs down through the rice exposing half of it only. Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let the Plov sit and steam for another 10 to 15 minutes. Uncover, pull out garlic bulbs. Remove bay leaves. Stir rice and meat together very gently; serve with the garlic heads. Dinners can mix a soften garlic clove into their plov for more garlic flavor. |
This recipe for Uzbek Plov (Lamb-Carrot Pilaf) is from