Azerbaijani pilaf shah in lavash

Step-by-step cooking

1. Step 1:

   

   I took low-fat meat because there is enough oil in the pilaf. Raisins are needed without seeds. The original recipe uses dried cherry plum, which gives sourness, I took dried cranberries and barberry instead.

2. Step 2:

   

   Rinse the rice thoroughly in water until it becomes completely transparent. Pour a large amount of salted water, add a few saffron stamens and 1/3 spices for pilaf, cook until half-cooked (5-8 minutes, depending on the variety). Then drain the water, rinse the rice quickly under running water, let it drain well.

3. Step 3:

   

   Pour boiling water over the raisins, cranberries and dried apricots for 1-2 minutes, then drain the water, dry the dried fruits.

4. Step 4:

   

   Chop the onion: if small – half rings of medium thickness, if large – quarter rings.

5. Step 5:

   

   Clean the meat from films and cartilage, if any. Cut into cubes with a side of about 2-3 cm .

6. Step 6:

   

   Cut dried apricots into thick strips.

7. Step 7:

   

   Chop garlic with a knife.

8. Step 8:

   

   Melt 100 g of butter in a cauldron or saucepan / frying pan with a thick bottom. Fry the onion until translucent. You can bring it to a golden color, but do not fry it too much.

9. Step 9:

   

   Remove the onion from the pan, put the meat in the remaining oil there and fry over high heat until golden brown.

10. Step 10:

    

    Return the fried onion to the meat, add dried fruits, chopped garlic, 2/3 spices, salt, pour in the broth and add another 50 g of melted butter. Bring the contents of the pan to a boil and simmer under the lid for 10 minutes.

12. Step 11:

    

    Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan over low heat.

13. Step 12:

    

    Cut the lavash into long strips 5 cm thick. For these purposes, it is better to choose a thin pita bread in the form of rectangular sheets, rather than round, because the longer the strips turn out, the better.

14. Step 13:

    

    Generously lubricate the cauldron or pan with melted butter: the bottom and walls almost to the top.

15. Step 14:

    

    Lay out several overlapping strips so that they cover the bottom and hang from the walls of the pan. Lubricate them with oil.

16. Step 15:

    

    In the same way, continue to spread the strips of pita bread, periodically smearing them with oil until all the bottom and walls of the pan are closed.

17. Step 16:

    

    Put a third of rice into the resulting "nest" and pour melted butter over it. Do not spare the oil so that the rice does not turn out to be dry.

18. Step 17:

    

    Put half of the meat with dried fruits, pouring it with meat juice from a frying pan.

19. Step 18:

    

    Continue to lay out layers: another layer of rice, pour oil, then meat, rice with butter. Cover the contents of the pan with the remaining ends of the pita bread, generously lubricate its surface with oil. Close the dishes with a lid and send them to a preheated 200 degree oven for 1 hour.

20. Step 19:

    

    The finished shah pilaf should be laid out on the board so that the excess oil, if there is any, is removed. To do this, cover the pan with a large board and carefully turn it over: pilaf in lavash will easily slip out of the dishes.