#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. In two 120-liter cauldrons they got about 500 servings of real Uzbek pilaf, prepared according to all the rules.
Moscow chef and blogger Alisher Halilov spoke about the secrets and intricacies of preparing pilaf and shared his tricks.
“In Uzbekistan, pilaf is prepared both on weekdays and on holidays, and there is a recipe for each occasion”, says Alisher. “Dzhigit style pilaf is for a male company – fatty with hot spices. This dish is not suitable for women and children”.
The chef’s entire project Alisher Halilov’s Traveling Teahouse is dedicated to pilaf, which has been implemented for almost ten years. During this time, about three million servings were prepared. So he has no equal in preparing this dish. But Alisher calls his mother’s pilaf his favorite.
Products for Tashkent-style pilaf were brought from Uzbekistan: cottonseed oil, long-grain rice, fat tail, yellow carrots, seasonings and even 120-liter cauldrons.
“In short, the process of preparing pilaf is divided into three stages”, explains the chef. “At the first stage we fry the food, at the second – we stew it, and at the third – we steam it. How long to keep the cauldron closed with a lid, and how long without it, how much water to add to the cauldron to steam the rice – these and many other nuances of preparing Uzbek pilaf are determined by each cook himself. Often on a whim.
To prepare Uzbek pilaf for the Copper plant workers, 40 kilograms of rice and the same amount of carrots were used, but for a brighter taste it can be added in excess. From the total amount of products required for the dish according to the recipe, two cauldrons yielded about 500 servings of pilaf, 350 grams each”.
“In our company, we decided to buy cauldrons, and this acquisition prompted us to spend pilaf days”, says Andrey Lobzhanidze, chef of the Proservice Taimyr company. “Previously, this dish was served in the canteen of the Nadezhdinsky metallurgical plant and the Zapolyarny mine. In total, about one and a half thousand portions of pilaf were prepared in three days”.
The company plans to organize days of other popular foods. This year it is planned to treat employees of the Polar Branch enterprises to dishes of Belarusian, Thai, Chinese and Tatar cuisines.
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Text: Natalya Cherkashina, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko
