Harem Rice

The very first type of Pilav that comes to mind is the one made of rice. This pilav (pilaf) is one of the daily basics of a Turkish kitchen as well as one of the ?must-have?s of every celebratory dinner, be it a holiday, a wedding or a birthday feast. A very important part of the Ottoman culinary culture as well, pilav was the last meal, the end point of a feast, served after soup, meat, vegetable dishes, dolmas, fruit and dessert.

In the 17^th century, Evliya Çelebi (a famous Turkish explorer) mentions many different kinds of rice cooked with saffron, pomegranate, meat, pistachio, almonds even grapes in his famous chronicle ?Seyahatname?. Today sea food and vegetables are also ingredients to many different rice dishes.
The recipe today is from the Ottoman Palace culinary culture, a favourite of many Sultans and their harem. It is even said that a gold coin would be hidden in the rice and whoever takes it in his spoon would win the gold coin..

Ingredients:

• 1 neck of lamb
• 500 gr premium quality rice
• 100 gr butter
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 300 gr boiled and shelled chickpeas
• 100 gr sun-dried raisins
• 2 onions
• 1/2 teaspoon of saffron
• 3 glasses of beef stock
• 1 lump of sugar
• black pepper
• salt
• whole black peppercorns
• rind of one orange
• 1/2 bunch of dill
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of allspice (pimento)

How to:

Peel the onions. Chop one into small cubes, halve the other. Rinse the neck of lamb. In a pressure cooker, cook the meat with the onion halves, salt and black peppercorns. Set the juice aside. Take out the meat and separate from the bone. Pick well. Put the sun-dried raisins in hot water. Boil the chickpeas until well cooked and shell. Leave the rice in hot water, just high enough to cover it.

In a rice pan, sautee the cubed onion, until shiny and transparent, with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 100gr butter. Remove from the heat. Add the meat, chickpeas, raisins and orange rind, stir. Put the saffron into the stock and add to the mixture in the pan. Check the saltiness at this point and add some if necessary. Finally, add the cinnamon, allspice, chopped dill, sugar and blackpepper. Turn the stove back on.

When the stock is bubbly, rinse the rice and add to the pan. Cook until small holes appear on top of the pilav. These are called ?eyes? in Turkish. At this point, turn down the heat and cook for 5 more minutes. Set aside to rest. Serve in a not too deep oval dish, with extra chopped dill on top.

Bon Appetite!

 

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