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Pilaf with chickpeas in a cauldron

Chickpea Pilaf in a Cauldron

Want to wow your guests? Serve them this delicious pilaf. It's a real winner — tasty, a little out of the ordinary, and dressier than the familiar version of this Eastern classic. In our family, pilaf is one of our all-time favorite main dishes, and this chickpea version won us over too. Give it a try! By the way, you can make this pilaf without meat, but that turns it into a completely different dish with a different flavor. You can also add a little dried barberry (about 5 g) — it lends the dish a pleasant tang!

mom of sweet tooth

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Lamb (trimmed of sinew, or beef or veal)

500

Rice (parboiled)

500

Carrots

500

Onion

500

Vegetable oil

175

Chickpeas

100

Garlic (3-4 heads)

Turmeric

0.5

Cumin

0.5

Ground red pepper

0.5

Salt (we used 1 heaping tbsp)

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 17 % 7 g

Fats 24 % 10 g

Carbohydrates 59 % 24 g

212 kcal

GI: 29 / 71 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

Get the ingredients ready for the chickpea pilaf. Soak the chickpeas in warm water for at least 6 hours ahead of time (overnight is fine), then drain. Rinse the rice in several changes of water and leave it to soak. Wash the meat well. Peel and wash the onions and carrots. Pull off just the top layer of papery skin from the garlic heads, leaving them whole, and rinse.
Step 2:

Cut the meat into large cubes. Cut the vegetables coarsely too: the onion into rings about ¼ inch (0.5–0.8 cm) thick, the carrots into batons about ¼ inch (0.5–0.8 cm) thick and 1½–2 inches (4–5 cm) long.
Step 3:

Pour the vegetable oil into a cauldron or wok, set it over high heat, add ½ tablespoon of salt, and drop in a small peeled onion. Stirring with a slotted spoon, fry the onion until golden — that's your sign the oil is hot enough. Fish the onion out; you won't need it again.
Step 4:

Add the meat and stir briskly for the first few seconds so it doesn't stick to the sides of the cauldron. Fry the meat over high heat for 10–15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the moisture evaporates and a golden crust forms. Without lowering the heat, add the onion. Stirring occasionally, fry it until soft, 5–10 minutes.
Step 5:

Still over high heat, add the carrots to the meat and onions and fry for about 10 minutes until soft (you should be able to cut a piece in two easily by pressing it with the edge of the slotted spoon).
Step 6:

Because chickpeas don't take to boiling water right at the start, pour in enough cold water to cover the meat-and-vegetable mixture, then immediately add the soaked chickpeas. Turn the heat very low — the slower the cauldron comes to a boil, the tastier the pilaf. Stir well and wait. Once it comes to a boil, add salt, let it simmer for 5 minutes, then taste — the salt should come through clearly.
Step 7:

Add half the cumin, the ground red pepper, and the turmeric to the cauldron and stir again. It should simmer steadily and gently. This takes 30–40 minutes; if the meat was tough, you can simmer it for up to an hour.
Step 8:

Stir the contents of the cauldron one last time, level the surface, and set the whole garlic heads on top.
Step 9:

Gently layer the rice on top. Smooth it into an even bed with the slotted spoon, then pour boiling water over the spoon so it covers the rice by about ½ inch (1–1.5 cm). Turn the heat up fairly high and wait for the rice to absorb the liquid. Whatever you do, don't stir the pilaf as it cooks!
Step 10:

At last the rice shows through and the liquid has evaporated or been absorbed. Turn the heat down as low as it goes. Mound the rice into a heap in the cauldron. With a knife, make 5–6 holes: one in the center down to the bottom, and the rest in a ring around it. Crumble the remaining cumin between your palms and sprinkle it into the holes. Let any remaining water steam off. Cover the cauldron tightly with the lid and let the pilaf rest for 15–20 minutes. Finally, stir everything together and serve. Enjoy!