Читать книгу The Soviet Diet Cookbook: exploring life, culture and history – one recipe at a time - Anna Kharzeeva - Страница 10

Trying to make plov is like trying to copy Van Gogh – you know you’ll never get there and feel cheeky to be even trying, but the temptation is strong.

Plov is an Uzbek dish that traveled all around the Soviet Union and became popular everywhere. The difference between the plov in Uzbekistan and almost anywhere else is stark, though. In Uzbekistan, the locals treat food with all the seriousness and almost religious admiration it deserves.

There are rules to follow, and, if need be, sacrifices to be made. I once cooked plov and samsa (a type of filled pastry) with an Uzbek friend: we made our own phyllo dough, which needed a room with warm temperatures and no breezes.

When after four hours I begged my friend to open the window, for a second she stared me down as if I were a non-believer. I got the same look when I wondered if a slightly different type of rice to the one she used would work for plov. I learned to obey the rules and not ask questions, out of respect for the Uzbek food cult.

In the rest of the Soviet Union however, plov was treated like any other dish – if necessary, substitutions were made. And sometimes they were made even if they were not necessary. As a result, cafeterias served what my grandmother described as “rice porridge with fried meat, onions and carrots.”

The one place that served real plov was the Uzbekistan Restaurant – one of the oldest restaurants in Moscow. My grandmother says she and my grandfather used to go there a lot, as they did to many other Moscow eateries: “Restaurants were not that much more expensive than cafeterias, especially for lunch, so we used to go out all the time. After trying all the restaurants we decided Uzbekistan was the best. We couldn’t get enough of the Uzbek food.”

This was a rare occasion when I was envious of something in the Soviet era.

I felt jealous again when, some 50 years later, my husband taught the restaurant’s manager English and got free meals as well as being paid for the lessons. Although the Uzbekistan Restaurant still exists, its prices have very much adjusted to the capitalistic way of things. What was once everyone’s favorite is now a place only the better-off part of the population can enjoy. Vladimir Putin, Jack Nicholson and Mike Tyson all have dined there.

As for making plov at home, I thought what my grandmother made was real plov, until I made it myself and a friend told me it was “very nice….risotto.” She was right. The most important parts of plov are the spices and the meat, mostly lamb. There were no spices in the Soviet Union except for dill and parsley, and lamb, although available at markets, was too pricey. So plov was made with chicken instead of lamb and dill and parsley instead of cumin.

This time, when I made my “plov” from the Book (also with chicken, as decent lamb is still hard to come by), it turned out as nice risotto again, but I knew what I was up against. The Book’s recipe is similar to the one my grandmother uses, and it’s most certainly not plov. Real plov requires a special tall, thick pot called a kazan and a lot of dedication. You can check out my friend Nargiz Mukhitdinova’s recipe for real plov below.

Recipe:

400g lamb; 2—3 cups rice;

200g-300g carrots;

150g-200g onion;

200g fat or butter.

Cut the onion and carrots into thin strips. Cut the lamb into small cubes and fry in a large skillet or pot (preferably cast-iron) in fat. When it is cooked, add the onion, then the carrots and fry together with the meat. Then add to this mixture 4 cups water and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil.

Rinse the rice three or four times, then add to the pot with the meat and smooth over the top.

Close the lid tightly and cook for 25—30 minutes on very low heat.

Serve the plov in a dish with sides, with the lamb cubes on top. Sprinkle with sliced raw onions.

Nargiz’s Recipe:

Makes 8

500 grams long grain steamed rice(Mistral’ Yantar’)

500—600 grams carrot

500 grams beef or lamb filet

3 medium-sized onions

3 bulbs garlic

100 grams chickpeas

Handful of raisins

1 Tbsp cumin

100—125 mL oil

Salt to taste

A day before cooking the plov, cook the chickpeas, or buy pre-cooked canned chickpeas and rinse them.

Put the raisins into some warm water in a separate bowl when you start cooking.

1.Pour oil into the pan and heat it until it is very hot.

2.Cut up the meat into either small pieces or into 3—4 big ones. Put the meat into the pan and fry until it has a red crust; don’t stir it much.

3.Add onions, cut into rings or half rings. Fry until the onion gets red.

4.Add carrots, cut into strips. Don’t reduce the heat, fry until the carrots get softer.

5.Add cold water and put in chickpeas and whole garlic bulbs. Leave it for 30min without stirring; reduce the heat when the water boils.

6.Add salt, cumin, raisins and rice in one layer. There should be an inch of water on top of the rice, if there is not enough, add more water.

7. Make sure the rice cooks equally. Rotate the pot if you’re cooking on an electric stove. Move rice around with a big spoon, but don’t touch the meat and vegetables on the bottom.

8. Serve on a big plate with garlic and meat on top, add some spring onions.