Saturday, October 16, 2010

Qazi palov (Pilaf with horse meat sausages)


This variety of pilaf in ancient times was famous among cattle breeders as a great source of energy and nutrition. Usually it is cooked in Tashkent and mostly in winter time. This very high calorie dish is not recommended for the people who suffer from high blood pressure and stomach ulcers.
Tastes amazing! The flavor of horse meat sausages - "Qazi" goes so good with carrot and rice! Before cooking "Qazi palov" you should cook "Qazi" as in my recent post about "How to cook "qazi"" and set the sausage aside.
Ingredients:
100 gr of oil
3 big onions, peeled and sliced (about 250 gr)
4-5 carrots, peeled and cut in thin long strips or flaked (about 300 gr)I used unusually red carrots as I couldn't find regular orange ones:)
300 gr of rice, I as always used basmati
1 "qazi"
Broth of boiled "qazi"
200 gr of chickpeas soaked for at least 8 hours (optional, you can do it without)
1 tbsp of gorund coriander
1tsp of cumin
Salt to taste
Heat the oil well. Put in onions and fry until nice golden color.

Add in carrots and fry until half done. Pour in enough broth to cover the carrots for about half inch and immediately put in chickpeas. Broth must be completely cooled, if you are using chickpeas, if you are cooking it without, than you can pour hot broth.

Now bring to boil and then, lower the heat, half cover the lid and cook it for about 40 min or until chickpeas are soft and almost all broth is evaporated. Don't forget about spices:)
After, put in whole of "qazi" on top of the carrots (in my case it was half of "qazi" as the rest was gone:))

and layer washed rice all over "qazi". Layer the rice evenly.
Pour enough broth to cover the rice for about 1.5-2 cm and bring to boil. If you are out of broth, then you can use water for that purpose. Boil it over high heat until all water is evaporated, don't forget to put in salt. After all water has evaporated, mix only the top of the rice and lower the heat. Cover the lid and cook for 15- 20 min, then open up the lid, again mix only the top of the rice and cover the lid. Cook for another 10 min. Take from heat and mix all of the pilaf. Take "qazi" out and slice.
Serve on a big plate and enjoy with your dearest ones!
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

How to cook "Qazi" (horse meat sausages)


"Qazi" is sausage made of from horse meat with unique taste. It is considered as "strong" or "hot", nutritious meal and usually is eaten in winter times. It is not recommended for people with high blood pressure, scleroses, and people who suffer from stomach problems like gastritis and gastric ulcer. Qazi is hard to find in many places, as horse meat is usually consumed mostly by Central Asian countries.
In Uzbek cuisine there are several dishes made of "qazi" and the most famous among them are "Qazi palov" and "Norin". Lately I will post the recipes of these dishes. For starters, I would like to explain how to cook horse meat sausages.
Ingredients:
1 stick of "qazi"
3.5 liters of water for boiling
Put "Qazi" in cold water. Bring water to boil, but just before the boiling point, punch "qazi" all over with a thick needle (punching with needle will prevent "qazi" from cracking and tearing) below shown the stage when you have to pinch your "qazi":

When you done with pinching, scoop out all the foam, lower the heat and half cover the lid. Let it simmer for 3-4 hours depending on a size of your sausage, if it is small, then it will be ready in 3 hours, if it's big, it will take around 4-5 hours to cook. Usually 3 hour is enough. Time by time turn "qazi" on other side, to make sure it is cooked evenly.
When "qazi" is properly cooked, take out from pot and let it cool down. Make sure that it is chilled before slicing or it will crumble. The broth can be used for cooking "Qazi palov" or for cooking soup out of this broth.
When "qazi" is completely chilled, slice thinly, serve with vegetables or with meal.
Yoqimli ishtaha!!!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

How to cut same squares from rolled dough for "Manti"


First of all roll out your dough into thin, big circle. It doesn't have to be a perfect circle, don't worry.
After you reached needed thickness, sprinkle some flour on top and roll it around the long stick.

At the end, move the stick forward like this, leaving some space:

Then again leave some space and move the stick back:

You will continue to fold the dough forward and backward with the help of the stick until all dough is folded up. Then put the stick aside and cut up equal 4 inch strips.

Then starting from the piece in th middle, unfold the pieces one by one putting them on top of each other. Sprinkle some flour on top of each strip/

Now cut up again 4 inch squares.

You will have some left over pieces of half quares or triangles, don't use them for "manti", just knead them all together and leave for another use.
Now you can place the squares on your work place and put 1 tbsp of filling and some cubes of lamb's tail fat to each piece of square and pinch "Manti"s!