Wednesday 14 May 2008

Plov

Plov is very common in Ukraine, and I believe it is too in Russia. It has a history as early as in the period of Alexander The Great (Greek) or even much more earlier. And believe it or not, it even has a proper Chinese name --- 抓饭!

In Simferopol, in current time, we can get plov at about UAH 9 (with meat)in the Central Rinak. It is an oily rice which is cooked with seasoned meat, carrot, spices and even raisins. In the Rinak, it is usually served with vinegered onion rings, bread and pickled chili, and sometimes with a pickled vegetable salad.

Ingredients:
2 cups of rice
2 large carrots (cut into strips)
2 large headed unpeeled garlic
300g meat of your choice
200g raisins
salt
plov spices (cumin, salt, pepper, paprika, and Barbaris)

Methods:
1. Braise the meat with the garlics (make sure the meat is cooked till soft and tender).
2. Preheat wok with oil.
3. Add in the carrot.
4. Add the plov spices.
5. Add then the raisin and later on the uncooked rice.
6. When the rice is almost dry, pour in the stock from 1. , except the meat. But include the garlics.
7. Add salt and simmer with low heat till the water is all absorbed and rice is cooked.
8. The meat is sliced and put at the bottom of a round bowl.
9. Add the plov in the round bowl and turn it upside down on a plate.

The plov spices is easily available in the market, packed. Just tell the seller, and they will prepare the spices for you. For the meat, I prefer using pork. Haven't tried lamb though. The Rinak normally have beef or chicken anyway. Well, hope you all will enjoy this recipe.

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