On Thursdays, it is customary in many Kyrgyz families to prepare pilaf, boorsoks, and say prayers for the deceased.
The brand chef of the NAVAT chain, Anvar Babajanov, shares and demonstrates how to cook Khan pilaf at home.
There are many variations of this dish; our video recipe presents the simplest one.
For eight servings, the following ingredients are required:
beef fillet — 1 kg
long-grain rice — 1 kg
onion — 1 kg
red and yellow carrots — 500 g each
vegetable oil — 150 g
red hot pepper — 2 pods
garlic — 1 head
chickpeas (turkish peas) — half a glass
dough (like for meat pie)
salt and pepper — 10 g
ground cumin — to taste
Rinse the rice several times under running water and soak it in warm salted water for 15 minutes. Cut the onion into half rings, and the carrots into thin strips. Cut the beef fillet into small pieces. In a cauldron with hot oil, fry the onion until golden, then add the meat.
When the meat is covered with a brown crust, add the carrots, chickpeas, a liter of water or broth, and simmer for 40 minutes. After that, add the rice and pour in warm water to cover the contents of the cauldron. Add spices and mix. As soon as the rice absorbs the water, place the rinsed head of garlic and the pepper pods on top. Cover with a lid and leave on low heat for 20 minutes.
The dough needs to be rolled out to a diameter of 50 centimeters. Generously grease a baking dish with vegetable oil, line it with the rolled-out dough, and place the contents of the cauldron on it. Then cover the rice with the dough and grease it again with vegetable oil.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and bake the Khan pilaf for 20 minutes. When serving, place it on a dish and cut into eight pieces.
Total cooking time — two hours.
Kyrgyz Cuisine
