Beef plov (Uzbek rice pilaf with carrots)
Tender beef, sweet carrots and cumin-scented rice cooked together in one pot with a whole head of garlic steaming in the middle.
- 130 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 6
- About $2.47 a serving
- 490 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1¼ lb stew beef, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 yellow onions, sliced
- 5 carrots, peeled, cut into matchsticks
- 2 cups long-grain white rice
- 1 head garlic
From your pantry
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2½ tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 4½ cups water, divided
Each serving has about 490 calories, 25 g protein, 62 g carbs and 16 g fat, and costs about $2.47 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No stew beef? Chuck roast works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Heat the oil in a or heavy pot over medium-high. the beef in two batches, 4 minutes each, until deep brown on a couple of sides.
Dutch oven. A Dutch oven is a heavy pot, usually enameled cast iron, with a tight-fitting lid. It holds heat evenly, so it’s great for soups, stews and anything that simmers a long time.
How you’ll know: Any large, heavy pot with a lid does the same job if you don’t have one.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 8 min
Return all the beef, add the onions, and cook 6 minutes, stirring, until .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 6 min
Add the carrots, cumin, 1 tsp of the salt and the pepper and cook 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until the carrots .
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Carrot matchsticks are traditional, but thin coins taste just the same.Pour in 2 cups of the water and bring to a boil.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low, and 60 minutes, until the beef is tender.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 60 min
Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
the rice until the water runs almost clear, then spread it in an even layer over the beef without stirring. Pour in the last 2½ cups of water and the rest of the salt.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Dolly’s tip: Don’t stir the rice into the meat. The layers are what keep it fluffy.Peel the loose papery skin off the garlic head and press it into the middle of the rice. Bring to a over high and cook uncovered 8 to 10 minutes, until the water sinks below the rice.
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
High heatTimer: 9 min
Poke 5 or 6 holes down through the rice with the handle of a spoon, cover tightly, and cook on low 20 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 20 min
Let it sit covered 10 minutes off the heat, then gently mix the rice, beef and carrots together and serve with the soft garlic cloves squeezed over.
Timer: 10 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Slow cooker Cuban black beans
500 min
Cabbage and ground beef skillet
35 min
Microwave arroz con pollo
15 min
Crockpot porcupine meatballs
385 min
One-pan dinners ›Cozy comfort food ›What to make with rice and carrots ›