Wedding Pilaf / Rice

Turkish food is regarded as one of the world's greatest cuisines. Palace kitchens had many cooks preparing delicious daily meals for the palace staff. The Sultan and the imperial family took pleasure in delicious food and had their own private kitchen where superior quality and refined dishes were prepared.

As in all societies, there was a considerable difference between the food culture of the Ottoman palace and that of the ordinary people, and there were also differences between the cuisine of Istanbul and the cuisines of other regions.

In the Ottoman culinary culture pilaf, with its many different varieties, had a ceremonial quality. It was one of the most prominent meals of the palace. Today, there are various types of pilavs, including those with saffron, mulberry, pomegranate, wormwood, ambergris, meatballs, pistachios, crushed almonds, noodle pilaf, green pilaf (colored with spinach and chard juice), red pilaf (with grape molasses), şehriye pilaf, fresh tomato pilaf, pilaf with flour, seafood pilaf, pilaf with raisins, peas, artichokes, eggplants, broad beans, cabbage with olive oil, carrots, chestnuts, chick peas, lentils, perdeli (baked in yufka), with meat-chicken broth, meat, with ribs, tas kebab, wedding pilaf, Acem, Uzbek, meatball, Alipaşa, duvaklı, stuffing pilaf with liver, chicken, gendime, mussels, eggs?and many more.

The measure of a good pilaf in Turkish cuisine is that the individual grains be distinct and not stick together. Today Pilaf, or pilav in Turkish cuisine has also an important place in ceremonial meals like Bayrams, Weddings and New Year as well as everyday cooking. It always has a special status and
the Pilaf recipe I am going to share with you today was probably prepared only for the Sultan, his family, and special guests because of the variety of its ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 tbsp pine nuts+ 1 tbsp oil 
• 1 bunch of spring onions, finely chopped
• 2-3 tbsp black currants
• 1/2 lamb/chicken liver, diced
• blackpepper to taste
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 bunch of fresh dill, chopped
• 4 tbs butter
• 2 cups long grain rice
• 3,5 cups hot lamb or chicken stock

How To:

Soak the rice in salted hot water. Wash and drain the currants. Brown pine nuts in a pan with a little oil. In a large pan saute the finely chopped spring onions and sugar with one tbs of the butter. Stir in the diced lamb or chicken liver and when lightly browned add the browned pine nuts and currants. Stir and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the rice, stir well until the rice grains are evenly coated. Add the spices, hot stock, rest of the butter, chopped dill and bring to a boil. Continue cooking until all the water is absorbed and steam holes appear on the surface of the rice.

Turn down the heat to the lowest possible and continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving to achieve its best consistency..

Bon Apetit!

 

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