Pilaf with chicken in a cauldron

Well-cooked pilaf with chicken in a cauldron is a dish that really deserves a stormy and prolonged applause. The requirements for it are quite serious: the rice should be crumbly, the meat part should be soft and juicy, there should be not a lot of fat, but also not a little. A cast-iron cauldron helps to carry out them, which perfectly keeps a constant temperature inside, contributing to the ideal, uniform cooking of all ingredients. Traditionally, pilaf is cooked with lamb, and the invention of the chicken version, oddly enough, is attributed to the French.

Ingredients

• 1 whole An-Noor chicken
• 1 kg of rice
• 1 kg of carrots
• 2 onions
• 2 quince
• 2 heads of garlic
• Half a glass of raisins
• 300-400 ml of vegetable oil
• Hot pepper pod
• Spices: cumin, coriander seeds, paprika, barberry, black peppercorns, turmeric
• Coarse salt

Directions

1. Prepare the chicken for pilaf. To do this, the carcass should be cut into 9-10 pieces. Cut off the legs with the thighs. Divide them into the thigh and leg along the joint. Separate the wings and neck. Cut the carcass into pieces of meat and bones.
2. Pilaf with chicken in a cauldron, cut carrots
3. Peel carrots for pilaf in a cauldron, cut into plates half a centimeter thick. Cut the plates into strips.
4. Pilaf with chicken in a cauldron, chop the onion
5. Cut the peeled pilaf onions into halves and chop into half rings.
6. Pilaf with chicken in a cauldron, cut the quince into 4 parts
7. Cut the pilaf quince into four slices and remove the core.
8. Peel the garlic for pilaf with chicken from the top layer of the husk and trim the rhizome. The head must remain intact.
9. Pilaf with chicken in a cauldron, fry onions
10. Heat an empty cauldron over the fire. Pour in oil. Heat it up until a haze appears. Send the onion into the cauldron and fry it, stirring occasionally, until the onion turns a yellow-brown color.
11. Add pieces of chicken to the onion, and fry again, stirring until the chicken is browned. Add a teaspoon of salt during the roasting process. Put carrots on top of the meat and onions. Let the carrots sweat dry for three minutes. Pour a liter of drinking water into the cauldron. Add half of the prepared spices, except for the turmeric. Salt. There was already one teaspoon of salt, add four more. What is now being cooked in a cauldron is the basis of pilaf, which is called "zirvak". Once the water has boiled under the carrots, reduce the heat so that a slight boil occurs. Cook for 20 minutes.
12. Rinse the rice for pilaf. Transfer it to a large cup. Pour cold water into it repeatedly, stir the rice in the water by hand and drain. Repeat the procedure until the water is clear. Cover the rice with water and set aside the cup.
13. Pilaf with chicken in a cauldron, add garlic and pepper
14. Return to the cauldron. Spread apart the layer of carrots in the zirvak and immerse the heads of garlic and a pod of pepper in it. Add the remaining spices other than the turmeric. Add washed raisins. And again simmer the zirvak for half an hour on low heat.
15. Add turmeric after half an hour. Place the quince slices, cut side down, on the zirvak. Drain the water from the rice and place on the zirvak. Flatten the rice. Increase heat to maximum. Pour hot boiled water into the cauldron so that it barely covers the top layer of rice.
16. Zirvak will boil over high heat and water will evaporate as it passes through the rice. As soon as the water boils away so that it is at the level of the zirvak, close the pilaf. To check the water level, move the rice layer away from the wall. Gather a layer of rice with a hemisphere. Sprinkle the rice with mashed cumin. Close the cauldron with a tight lid. Reduce the heat under the cauldron to the very, very minimum. In this mode, keep pilaf for 30 minutes.
17. Open the pilaf. Move the rice layer and start stirring the pilaf from the bottom up. Along the way, remove pieces of meat, pepper, quince and heads of garlic into a prepared plate. Peel the garlic. While stirring the rice, shake it on the trap to add crunchiness. On a large platter, place the rice in a heap. Spread the quince in a circle. Place the meat on top, in between - peeled cloves of garlic. Pilaf with chicken is ready!