Pilaf is a rice dish cooked in seasoned broth. Pilaf is a dish typically found in Balkans, Middle East, Asia, India, Caraibe, Afgan, Uzbek, Turkey, etc. This type of rice is cooked until the rice grains flower and turn to a mushy consistency, somehow like risotto, but different.
One of the oldest mentions of pilaf can be found in the histories of Alexander the Great when he mentioned the great hospitality of the people from Iran.
You can make pilaf with chicken, turkey, all sorts of veggies, or just plain with rice and chicken/beef broth.
Rice pilaf with chicken and mushrooms
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Did you know that rice is the most widely consumed staple food for a large part of the world. It is also the most cultivated cereal in the world, after corn. It is cultivated almost all over the world, the biggest producer being obviously Asia.
Let's see how you can make Pilaf:
Ingredients:
- chicken breast - 1 piece
- rice - 200 grams
- parsley - a few leaves, fresh
- mushrooms - 200 grams
- onion - 1 piece
- carrots - 1 piece
- red bell pepper - 1 piece
- olive oil - 2 tablespoons
- bay leaves - a few pieces
- salt - to taste
- pepper - to taste
Instructions:
- For pilaf first put to boil the whole chicken breast, in a pot filled with water along with bay leaves.
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- While the chicken boils finely chop the onion, red bell pepper, carrot and parsley.
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- After the chicken has boiled let it cool on a plate. Keep the soup in which the chicken has boiled to add it later in the pilaf.
- Heat olive oil in a pan and fry all the chopped veggies for 5-7 minutes.
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- While the veggies get cooking debone the chicken breast and chop it bite size. I chose not to use the chickens skin to my pilaf.
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- After the veggies have softened add the rice (washed and drained) and let it fry for a couple minutes. Then add a ladle of chicken broth (the one in which you boiled the chicken) at the time. Let the rice absorb the broth and then add some more until the rice is boiled and turned into pilaf. You can taste it to check if it's boiled.
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- In a pan, without adding any oil, roast a little the chicken, just for three minutes and then add it over the pilaf.
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- Add salt, pepper and mushrooms. By the way i used canned mushrooms. Mix very well and turn the stove off.
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- Put the pilaf in the oven, on low heat, for 10 minutes.
- Let it cool a bit and serve it with minced parsley on top.
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Enjoy your pilaf!
