Lenten pilaf with vegetables and carrots

Step-by-step preparation

Cooking time: 1 hr

1. STEP 1

   

   How to make lean pilaf with vegetables and carrots? Prepare the necessary ingredients. You can use long-grain rice, but I recommend using special steamed rice for pilaf. It holds its shape well and does not boil over. Read more about the intricacies of choosing rice in a separate article, the link is at the end of the recipe. Instead of the spices indicated in the recipe, you can use others to taste or replace everything with a ready-made spice mixture for pilaf.

2. STEP 2

   

   Rinse the rice thoroughly until the water runs clear.

3. STEP 3

   

   Wash the prunes and dry. It’s better to immediately take pitted prunes. If your dried fruits have seeds, remove them. Usually, if the prunes are too dry, it is recommended to pour boiling water over them and leave for 10 minutes. I had just such prunes, but I didn’t fill them with anything else, I just washed them well, first in cold and then in hot water. The time it takes to prepare and steep the pilaf is enough to steam it and soften it.

4. STEP 4

   

   Wash and peel the carrots. You can cut the carrots into strips or grate them on a coarse grater, it doesn’t matter.

5. STEP 5

   

   Peel the onion. Usually chopped onions are added to pilaf (step 7). To do this, you need to cut it into small cubes. However, I prefer to add a whole onion, which I remove from the finished dish.

6. STEP 6

   

   Peel the top layers of the garlic head and rinse.

7. STEP 7

   

   Heat vegetable oil in a deep frying pan or saucepan. Read about how to choose the ideal frying pan, as well as how to choose the right vegetable oil in separate articles, links at the end of the recipe. Add the carrots (and onions, if you want to add them chopped) and fry over medium heat until the carrots are soft (and the onions are transparent). You can also cook pilaf in a cauldron.

8. STEP 8

   

   Add paprika, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper to the carrots. Mix everything quickly.

9. STEP 9

   

   Add washed rice and prunes. Mix everything thoroughly with carrots.

10. STEP 10

    

    Pour boiling water into the pan, add the whole onion if you haven’t added it before.

11. STEP 11

    

    Simmer the rice and vegetables over low heat, covered, for about 30 minutes. In the finished pilaf, all excess moisture will boil away, the rice will swell, absorb some of the water, and the total volume of the dish will increase by 2-2.5 times.

12. STEP 12

    

    5 minutes before readiness, stick a whole head of garlic into the almost finished pilaf. Then turn off the heat and let the pilaf brew for 10-15 minutes under the lid.

13. STEP 13

    

    Now the pilaf can be divided into plates and served. Bon appetit!

Comments on the recipe

sveta

27.10.2023

5

Tasty dish. Personally, I don’t even need meat. I will offer another option for vegetable pilaf.

Natalia M

27.10.2023

4.8

During Lent, I’m mastering all the new recipes for lean pilaf with carrots for my husband) I’ve heard about adding prunes for a long time, but I’ve only tried using it with baked beef. I agree with Maria, cooking lean pilaf greatly speeds up the process itself, because you don’t have to wait for the meat to cook. The vegetables with spices were quickly fried and immediately added prunes and washed rice. I cut the onion into cubes, we love it, it adds juiciness to the rice. I added the garlic right away so that the rice would be more saturated with the aroma) The pilaf was cooked for about half an hour, then I let it brew. It turned out to be an excellent second course, juicy, the rice was fluffy. The combination of prunes and garlic greatly enriched this pilaf. Honestly, I ate all the prunes myself, well, they turned out very tasty) But for some reason the children didn’t take into account that it was “dad’s” pilaf and without a twinge of conscience they ate it, even despite the lack of meat)) It’s good that I managed to save at least one portion for my husband . Therefore, based on our family experiment, I advise you not to pass by this recipe, I recommend everyone to try it!

Marina Konfetka

27.10.2023

4.5

What a wonderful recipe for lean pilaf with vegetables and carrots, I’ll definitely have to try it, but in a slow cooker.