Lamb Pilaf - A whole head of garlic?

Bubo · 25 Jan 2015 at 09:51

I made a pilaf last night using this recipe.

http://www.grouprecipes.com/34920/uzbek-lamb-plov-pilaf.html

Pretty much all pilaf recipes I looked at invlove inserting a whole head of garlic, with just the bottom chopepd off, in the the top layer of rice as it is cooking and leaving it for the last 15 or so minutes.

Apart from the obvious flavour going into the dish by leaving it there, what are you supposed to do with the garlic afterwards? I am assuming you DON'T mash it all up and put the whole thing into the dish as that would be a lot of garlic. Some recipes suggest mashing it and using it in a dressing or other side dish. Since I wasn't bothered about this, I just fished the thing out and chucked it away, but this seems to be quite a waste.

Next time, could I just put a couple of cloves in and mix it all together and get the same flavour overall?

FrenchTart · 25 Jan 2015 at 12:42

That does sound a bit excessive. I guess the idea is to get a lot of garlic aroma in the dish at the end. As you say, you could probably do something similar by simply crushing a single clove and adding it at the end (probably you should remove the garlic after as the taste of raw minced garlic might be a bit overpowering).

Deus Ex · 25 Jan 2015 at 15:06

Mate its good for you and tastes the business. As long as your not going on a date and don't mind upsetting your work mates the next day.

Bubo · 25 Jan 2015 at 15:24

Yes I think I will be doing that next time and saving the unused garlic. Can't see the difference as with a whole head with the bottom cut off, you are just presenting a relatively small exposed surface area of cut cloves to the mix. One or two, crushed as you say, would give the same effect I would have thought. It was very good though, and very simple to make. Freezes good too apparently.

FrenchTart · 25 Jan 2015 at 15:30

The recipe looks pretty nice, yeah. May have to get round to trying it

Bubo · 25 Jan 2015 at 15:35

The only thing I was slightly unsure about was the amount of ground cumin and coriander. Says 3 TABLESPOONS full. Most, if not all, other pilaf recipies talk in the order of teaspoon fulls. Anyway, made it as written and it was perfectly edible. Will be trying one of the other variants next with a different meat.

FrenchTart · 25 Jan 2015 at 15:41

Yeah..that is quite a lot :eek:

Did you use tablespoons of seeds and then grind or just pre-ground stuff? Or even grind seeds and then measure?

Bubo · 25 Jan 2015 at 16:14

Pre ground. Probably is meant to be ground from seeds thinking about it, since those are the only too which have the word "ground" in the recipe, but then being complete novice I just went to the shops and looked for glass pots with "ground cumin/coriander" on them

I'm still here so haven't OD'ed.

panthro · 25 Jan 2015 at 19:26

I used to eat this stuff every week when I lived in Kazakhstan. It was the one dish I never got bored of. Might have to have a go at that recipe.

I'd take the cloves, scoop out the garlic and keep it for cooking with.

shroomz · 25 Jan 2015 at 19:36

Bubo said:
I made a pilaf last night using this recipe.

http://www.grouprecipes.com/34920/uzbek-lamb-plov-pilaf.html

Pretty much all pilaf recipes I looked at invlove inserting a whole head of garlic, with just the bottom chopepd off, in the the top layer of rice as it is cooking and leaving it for the last 15 or so minutes.

Apart from the obvious flavour going into the dish by leaving it there, what are you supposed to do with the garlic afterwards? I am assuming you DON'T mash it all up and put the whole thing into the dish as that would be a lot of garlic. Some recipes suggest mashing it and using it in a dressing or other side dish. Since I wasn't bothered about this, I just fished the thing out and chucked it away, but this seems to be quite a waste.

Next time, could I just put a couple of cloves in and mix it all together and get the same flavour overall?

Eat it, you won't get (much) garlic breath but beware the next day, your farts will be lethal. Totally worth it though, the flavour is totally different and delicious.

Plov, Pilaf, Palov, all names for similar things with very different recipes depending on the region that particular author is from so don't be put off that ingredients vary so wildly, it's just a different variation.

Jolteh · 26 Jan 2015 at 00:55

Love a good pilaf.

Pressure cooker really comes into it's own if you want a weeknight homemade beef/lamb pilaf. Meltingly tender meat chunks on a bed of fragrant rice in about half an hour.

I make it about once a week!