Shah pilaf is the pride of the national Azerbaijani cuisine, and it is not just rice and meat, but a real culinary masterpiece that has absorbed all the charm of oriental cuisine. Exquisite and delicious crowned pilaf is treated to the most honored and dear guests - it is wrapped in pita bread and served at the table like a huge hearty pie. In combination with spices, such a dish, in a crispy golden crown of lavash - can become a real decoration of the festive table. After all, it looks quite original and unexpected.

The dish got its name - royal pilaf, for the similarity of its shape with the crown of the supreme ruler. The main attribute of shah-pilaf is “gazmah” – an appetizing crispy lavash crust in which pilaf is cooked. For the filling according to the classic recipe, Basmati rice is used with the addition of tender beef meat, dried apricots, Azerbaijani chestnuts and spices.

1. Step-by-step recipe Shah pilaf with lamb and dried fruits

Ingredients:

• Rice - 600 gr.
• Meat (lamb, veal) - 600 gr.
• Onions - 2-3 pcs.
• Butter (melted) - 150 gr.
• White raisins - 100 gr.
• Dried apricots - 100 gr.
• Barberry - 50 gr.
• Dogwood - 100 gr.
• Garlic - 3-4 cloves.
• Lavash thin - 3 pcs.
• Turmeric
• Pepper

Cooking:

Rinse rice, soak for several hours.
Then boil until half cooked, adding turmeric to the water for color.

Soak dried apricots and raisins in boiling water for a few minutes, rinse.

Chop the onion, fry in butter until translucent.

Cut the meat.
Remove the onion from the pan, fry the meat in the remaining oil.

Cut dried apricots into strips, garlic finely.

Return the onion to the meat and add raisins, dried apricots, barberries, dogwood and garlic there.
Salt, pepper, turmeric and any spices - to your liking.
Stir and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Cut out two circles according to the size of the heat-resistant dishes in which the pilaf will be cooked.

Lubricate the sides well with oil, cover the bottom with pita bread.

Lavash cut into long strips, 5-6 cm wide.

Overlap the sides of the dish with strips of pita bread.

And so around the perimeter. Brush with melted butter.

Lay out 1/3 of the rice.

The second layer is half the meat.

Brush the top with oil, close the lid and place in the oven.
At t 200s - 1 hour.

In one hour...

Shah pilaf cover with a flat plate and turn over.

Cut with a sharp knife.

Putting it on a plate is quite difficult, everything crumbles
But so fragrant, tasty and unusual.

2. Shah pilaf with chicken

Ingredients

Salt 1 tsp Spices 3 tsp Garlic 4 cloves Raisins 70 grams Dried apricots 100 grams Butter 70 grams Onion 2 piece(s) Lavash 2 piece(s) Rice 400 grams Chicken 600 grams

Cooking

Put the rice in a saucepan. Sprinkle each centimeter layer of cereal with salt, spices, put small pieces of butter on it. Pour rice with water in proportions of 1:2. Don't stir! Cook until done.
Finely chop the meat, fry until golden brown. Chop the onion, put it to the meat, fry everything together for 7 minutes. Chop dried apricots, mix with raisins, steam in boiling water.

Put dried fruits to the meat, fry for 2 minutes. Add salt and spices. Chop the garlic, put it in a pan, immediately remove it from the heat. Cut the pita bread into strips 5 cm thick. Lay them in a round shape, brush with melted butter.
Lay the meat and rice on the pita bread in layers. Cover it all with pita bread. Bake for about 40 minutes. Before serving, it is better to put the dish on a board and cut it like a cake.

3. Recipe for Shah pilaf with beef and hunting sausages

Beef-based pilaf is more satisfying and rich, and smoked sausages give the pilaf a breathtaking smoky smell.

Ingredients

• 700 g of beef;
• 0.5 kg of rice;
• 300g hunting sausages
• 4 pita bread;
• 350 g butter;
• 1.5 bulbs;
• 300 ml of broth;
• 4 cloves of garlic;
• 150 g of raisins and dried apricots;
• 100 g dried cranberries;
• 1 pinch of saffron;
• salt and spices for pilaf to taste.

Cooking

Boil rice with saffron and spices until half cooked, rinse.
Fry the chopped onion with 100 g of oil. Take it out and fry the meat in the same oil.
Return the onion to the skillet. Put there steamed and chopped dried fruits. Add garlic, spices, salt, broth, 50 g of oil. Extinguishes 10 min. under the lid. Cut pita bread into strips 5 cm thick. Lay them in a form, brush with melted butter. Spread layers of rice, chopped sausages and meat on pita bread. Drizzle rice with oil. Close it all with pita bread.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour. It is best to serve this dish with a salad of fresh vegetables and herbs.

All pilaf fans should definitely try this variation. It is especially good to serve such a dish on the festive table, because it looks really interesting.

4. Shah-pilaf in the dough

Ingredients

• lamb or beef, or pork - 600-700 gr,
• rice - basmati - 1 glass,
• butter - 100g, Onion - 1 pc.,
• carrot-1pc,
• 1/2 bell pepper,
• apricots, raisins, cherry plums (barberry), I replaced chestnuts with Brazil nuts - 6 pieces,
• turmeric, salt, spices for pilaf

dough- 50/50, on sour cream and kefir 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup kefir, added salt, flour 2 cups and drank.

Cooking:

Apricots and raisins, preferably pitted, cherry plum or barberry add a well-defined sourness.

Rinse the rice, and put it on the boil until half-ready, before finishing, add a little turmeric to the rice, you don’t need much to your liking, otherwise the rice will be bitter and the color will be ultra yellow, bright. Throw on a sieve and let the water drain. Transfer to a separate bowl and add 50g butter.

We cut the meat into ordinary medium-sized pieces as you cut into pilaf. We cook meat as for ordinary pilaf. In a heated frying pan or cauldron, melt fat tail fat, or heat butter.

In heated oil or fat, put the meat, fry until golden brown, salt, pepper, remove from heat. Add spices.

In a separate pan, fry onions, carrots, bell peppers. Fry and remove from heat.

Pour apricots and raisins with boiling water for 5-10 minutes, depending on the degree of drying, drain the water.
We collect our Shakh-pilaf.

Grease the cauldron generously with oil. We line the cauldron with rolled out dough. Pour the bottom with a few tablespoons of melted butter.

Lay out some of the rice. Raisin dried apricots, cherry plum. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with spices (neatly with spices, a little bit!).
We spread the meat on the rice. Again, a third of the rice on the meat, pour oil, a little spice, and put raisins and apricots on top.

Spread the remaining rice on top, pour over with oil, add a little spice.
We close the dough, pour over with oil. Knead the dough like dumplings,
We close the cauldron with a lid and put in the oven, preheated to 180 degrees, for 1-1.5 hours.
Holding the pilaf with a spatula, drain the oil over the edge of the cauldron (it will not be enough, but it will be), then turn the cauldron onto a dish.

Cut into petals with a sharp knife. Do not think that this will not be a casserole, this is a real crumbly pilaf, it just wakes up on a dish!

It is difficult to imagine at least one Azerbaijani holiday without fragrant, crumbly and fatty pilaf. It is an integral part of the national cuisine and is considered its pinnacle. You can find a great variety of recipes, and not only in Azerbaijan, but in general in the East. Dishes will differ both in taste and in the method of preparation, the ingredients used. One of the most famous variations is a magnificent check - We will reveal the recipe and the secrets of its preparation in our article, but first a few words about the history of this amazing dish.

From the history of the dish

Eastern pilaf is so ancient that historians cannot reliably establish its origin. It is assumed that the basic principles of its preparation originated in the Middle East and India in the 2nd-3rd centuries BC. This time, in principle, coincides with the beginning of rice cultivation in the region. In China, the plant began to grow much earlier, but the technology of how pilaf is prepared (including shah) does not fit into Japanese or Chinese cuisine. Probably, the historical roots of the dish go back to the gastronomy of India. There are similar ways of cooking rice in the country, but they are vegetarian. The meat component of pilaf appeared, most likely, in ancient Persia. In favor of Indian origin is also the tradition of tinting rice in an appetizing yellow color with turmeric and saffron strands.

The main components of pilaf

Thousands of recipes for preparing delicious and fragrant pilaf are known. However, not all of them meet the basic requirement. The dish should consist of two parts: zirvak and cereals. Shakh-pilaf in Azerbaijani (the recipe with the photo is presented below) meets these conditions. Zirvak means a meat or fish component (including ready-made minced meat in the form of meatballs), game, vegetables, dried fruits, spices. In Azerbaijan it is called "gara". The cereal part does not always consist only of rice, sometimes chickpeas, corn, mung beans, wheat, jugaru, or even a mixture of these components are used. In the set of ingredients there is a great variability. The main secret of this oriental pilaf lies in the cooking process. There are two options - Central Asian and Iranian, the latter, in particular, adopted in Turkey and Azerbaijan.

According to one version, pilaf shah is named so because of the way it is served. The finished dish resembles the crown of a medieval eastern ruler. According to another version, pilaf prepared in this way has such a good taste that it is worthy of the shah's table and the most solemn ceremonies. On ordinary days, it is prepared by women, but during preparations for the holidays, men and even specially invited masters take over. We offer a recipe for a traditional Azerbaijani dish from a famous chef. Everyone can cook it, you just need to be patient and put a particle of your soul into the process.

Shah - pilaf in Azerbaijani: ingredients

Of course, the most delicious pilaf is obtained from products that are produced in its homeland. The market is perhaps the most suitable place to buy them. The products there are mostly homemade, fresh and very tasty. The main component of pilaf is rice. A long-grain variety, such as basmati, is best suited. The second important ingredient is meat. It can be lamb, beef or chicken. The choice depends on your personal preference. Don't forget the butter too. It will take quite a lot. In Azerbaijan, buffalo butter is often used, which has a characteristic, absolutely white color.

In order to cook shah - pilaf in Azerbaijani style (photo according to the text), you will need another extremely original ingredient - an iron horseshoe. For what? Read on - and learn one ancient secret.

So the required ingredients are:

• basmati rice - 500 g;
• butter - 500 g;
• meat - 500 g;
• spicy onion - 300 g;
• walnuts - 500 g;
• pomegranate juice - 1 glass (can be squeezed from ripe fresh fruit);
• cherry plum puree - 1 tbsp;
• pita bread - 5 pcs.;
• saffron to taste

Stage number 1. rice cooking

First, before you start cooking the grits, soak a few strands of saffron in a cup of boiling water and let it brew for at least one hour.

Washing rice before boiling it is a process that has become almost an axiom for us. In this case, in order to cook pilaf shah, this is not necessary. Bring enough water to a boil in a large saucepan - 2-3 liters, add salt and add dry rice. Boil the cereal until half cooked, in time it will take about 5-10 minutes. Remember that you are only lightly steaming it, not cooking it. Then drain the rice in a colander.

Stage number 2. Meat preparation

Meat (chicken, beef, lamb) must first be boiled to make it soft. This should be done within 2-2.5 hours. Quite a long process, so it's better to do it in advance.

Scroll the spicy onion through a meat grinder and squeeze dry from the juice. In a heated frying pan with the addition of a small amount of butter, fry it over low heat.

Step #3. What is a horseshoe for?

This is another secret of how to cook shah pilaf in the best traditions of the East. The use of metal objects (in this case, horseshoes, which is very symbolic) in cooking was practiced by the ancestors of modern Eastern peoples for a very long time. This served as a kind of natural source of free and accessible iron for the body. Now the horseshoe is used more for entourage.

Combine pomegranate juice with sour cherry plum paste and mix thoroughly until smooth. Heat the horseshoe strongly to red color on fire. Then, using tongs, lower it into pomegranate juice. Ideally, the procedure should be repeated three times.

Stage number 4. meat cooking

In a pan, combine the onion, boiled meat cut into large pieces, crushed walnuts, pomegranate juice. Mix all the ingredients, and put the same horseshoe in the middle. Simmer the meat on low heat for 10-15 minutes. It should become dark, almost black.

Stage number 5. rice baking

In order to cook pilaf shah, it is best to take a small rounded pita bread, which is sold in a package of several pieces. In this case, you will need 5-6 pieces. Dip pita bread in pre-melted butter and carefully lay it in a cauldron with an overlap, gradually closing the bottom and walls of the dish, as shown in the photo above. Then spread the cooked rice in layers, pouring it with saffron infusion and oil. Close the top with the edges of the pita bread. It is preferable to use a conical cauldron, then the finished dish will even more resemble the shah's crown. Send the rice laid in this way to the oven or oven for 35-40 minutes at 200 degrees.

Stage number 6. How to serve the dish

With the photo we presented in the article) has another feature. In Azerbaijan, meat and cereal components are not mixed at the cooking stage. This is done only during the meal. The finished pilaf is taken out of the oven, transferred to a large serving dish and the toasted crust is carefully cut. Fragrant, juicy and soft meat is laid out around the “crown”. The dish looks very impressive and luxurious. Let's say the option with portioned serving, as, for example, in the photo below. For beauty, dried fruits are used when serving.

Pilaf shah: a recipe in a slow cooker

Shah pilaf is a dish that differs not only in its special ingredient composition, but also in the way it is prepared. Is it possible to do this without a special cast-iron cauldron? A rhetorical question. Pilaf and a cast-iron cauldron are a duet, without which it is impossible to get a traditional and truly delicious dish.

However, now almost every housewife has a slow cooker. A miracle technique that hides a huge functionality. The principle of its operation is in many ways reminiscent of a familiar oven, since the heating of the bowl occurs evenly from all sides. In the event that there is a great desire to cook shah-pilaf, but there is no cauldron, a slow cooker will come in handy. How to do this - we will tell below. The recipe is slightly different from the above in terms of ingredients, but no less interesting.

Ingredients for pilaf with dried fruits

As mentioned above, the composition of the ingredients can vary significantly depending on the recipe. The traditional version was presented above, including a minimum set of products, spices and spices.

In one of the regions of Azerbaijan, shah-pilaf (photo above) is prepared contrary to the principle of separating cereal and meat components. Here it is customary to lay out the ingredients in a cauldron alternating them, so in the process of baking they are saturated with the smell and taste of each other.

Now we suggest you try pilaf with dried fruits. Prunes, dried apricots, raisins - all this is very popular not only in Azerbaijan, but also in the East as a whole. Dried fruits retain their aroma and taste, moreover, it becomes even richer. In traditional cuisine, such a dish is called turshi-kaurma-pilaf. Chestnuts in this case are an optional component and may be absent. So, in order to cook traditional Azerbaijani (5 servings), you will need:

• basmati rice - 500 g;
• fatty lamb - 500 g;
• butter - 500 g;
• onions - 300 g;
• cherry plum paste - 3 tablespoons;
• chestnuts - 200 g;
• dried apricots - 150 g;
• raisins - 300 g;
• pita bread - 8-10 pieces;
• pepper, saffron, salt - to taste.

Step #1

Boil rice in salted water until half cooked for 5-10 minutes. Then fold the cereal into a colander and let the excess moisture drain. Cut the meat into large pieces and boil until soft. The broth can later be used to make soup.

Prepare the onion in the same way as indicated in the previous recipe. Namely, clean and scroll through a meat grinder. Then squeeze the juice and fry in a pan with a little butter over low heat.

Cut the boiled meat into portions. Add it, dried fruits, cherry plum paste and chestnuts to the onion. Bring the mixture to the desired harmonious taste with salt and pepper, heat for 10-15 minutes on very low heat, stirring occasionally, not allowing to burn.

Step #2

Melt butter. Dip sheets of thin pita bread into it one by one. Then lay them overlapping in the multicooker bowl, closing the walls and bottom. Put about 1/3 of the boiled rice on the bottom, sprinkle with pre-prepared saffron water, put ½ of the meat mixture. Next, cover it all with another piece of rice. Top with a little saffron water and butter. Lay out the rest of the meat and cover with the third part of the rice. From above, cover the pilaf with pita bread, thereby creating something like a basket.

Turn the multicooker on the "Baking" mode and cook for 50 minutes. During this time, the rice will finally steam out, but remain crumbly. Finally, place a small piece of butter on top of the pilaf, close the lid and let it “rest”.

Pilaf shah, the recipe of which is presented, is served whole on a wide flat dish so that each guest can put as much as they need. In Azerbaijan, the dish is put on the table not very hot, but only warm (so that the butter does not freeze). It is traditionally eaten with hands, without mixing rice and meat on a plate.

Lavash for pilaf

For pilaf shah, as you already understood, pita bread is required. Of course, you can buy it at any grocery store. However, if you set out to cook a delicious dish with your own hands from start to finish, then you may need Thin unleavened dough cakes that are not as difficult to prepare as it might seem at first glance. They are traditionally cooked in an oven, but in modern conditions, a non-stick pan or even a regular cast iron pan will do just fine.

In order to prepare pita bread, you will need approximately 700 g of flour, 300 g of water and salt to taste. Knead a stiff dough from the indicated ingredients, divide it into parts and roll out a very thin (no more than 2 mm thick) cake from each part. Fry it in a dry hot frying pan without adding butter.

Rinse rice and pour water overnight, rinse in the morning, boil for 3 minutes, put on a sieve. Can be boiled in a slow cooker in the "Cereals" mode.

Dried fruits - raisins, prunes, dates, dried apricots, dried berries washed, large cut into small pieces. Put in a bowl, mix and pour boiling water.

Cut the lamb flesh (I have chicken fillet) into small pieces.

Fry the prepared meat in vegetable oil, pour more than usual so that the finished pilaf is not dry. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly. When the pieces of meat are lightly fried, add the chopped onion and fry for a couple of minutes. Cut the carrots into cubes, onions into half rings and add to the pan, fry everything together for another 2 minutes. Add your favorite spices to your liking.

Pour dried fruits, salt, cook, stirring for a couple more minutes.

Mix the rice with the contents of the pan. We taste, add salt, pepper and other spices, if necessary. Remove the pan from the heat and add the finely chopped garlic.

Dense thin pita bread (4-5 sheets) cut along the longest side into strips of about 5 cm wide. The length of the strips should be enough to cover the pilaf from above. Brush each strip with softened butter.

We pour out the pilaf, compact it a little and cover it on top with strips of pita bread. Additionally, you can "strengthen" the bottom and sides with pieces of pita bread.

Lubricate the top sheets of pita bread with the remaining butter. Turn on the "Baking" mode, cook pilaf for 1 hour. After the pilaf is cooked, let it stand in the bowl for 5 minutes so that the pita bread dries up and turn it over onto a wide dish. Make sure that the pita crust is well dried and reddened, otherwise the pilaf on the dish will not hold its shape.

It just so happens that a lot of new readers come to each of my posts. And, as a rule, these people are new to cooking.
And I know what they will say about this pilaf in advance: "Since there is no meat and carrots here, then this is not pilaf, but porridge!"
I don’t even take offense at them, so what if people still don’t know something interesting that can brighten their lives and diversify the table?

I just have to tell everything from the beginning every time! For example, to talk about the fact that more than half of the world's pilafs are cooked separately, that is, rice is cooked separately, and everything else is cooked separately. And it all starts every time with the fact that they boil water three to four times more in volume than the volume of rice.
Everything is exactly the same as when boiling pasta: for example, five liters of boiling water and five tablespoons of salt are taken per kilogram of dry rice. Only rice must be soaked before boiling in warm, up to 60C, salty water - did you know about this?
And now, the rice is cooked to the desired degree of readiness. It's very easy because it's very hard to go wrong with this method!

When the rice is ready, the water is poured into a large colander or sieve and all the water is allowed to drain. Next, this rice is transferred to a cauldron and the second stage of pilaf preparation begins - steaming rice. Most often, at this stage, the bottom of the cauldron is laid out with thinly rolled dough. The fact is that when the dough is fried it is very tasty, and when the rice burns, the smell from it spreads throughout the cauldron.

Everyone loves the crust of dough that forms at the bottom of the cauldron. Usually she is not even enough, the children argue because of her! And this love led to the invention of a new pilaf, which is called "Khan-pilaf". Its essence is that rice is, as it were, wrapped in a thin dough and baked in this form.
Usually, the meaning of steaming is that some of the water from the rice evaporates and is absorbed by a napkin under the lid. Here, the dough itself absorbs excess moisture and, in addition, adorns the rice itself with its smell.

So that the dough does not dry out and does not burn, but is deliciously fried, it is smeared with melted butter.

The mold itself is also lubricated with ghee.
You can take any shape, even from thin metal. But in this case, you must very carefully choose the temperature of the oven, where the pilaf is cooked in the second stage. For example, at a temperature of 130C, the dough will definitely not burn, but the pilaf will warm up and the dough will brown only after 4 hours at least.

Another thing is the ceramic form! The properties of ceramics are such that it conducts heat very slowly and, accordingly, transfers it very slowly to products that come into contact with it. The rate at which heat passes through ceramics is as close as possible to the thermal conductivity of the products themselves. That is why food cooked in ceramic dishes is so delicious!

Rice is shaken and placed in a mold. It is necessary that the rice does not lie in a compacted form, but freely - so that the steam can circulate among the rice grains.

If there is saffron, then it would be good to grind it in a mortar with salt or sugar and pour boiling water over it to infuse it.

Saffron infusion should be poured over rice now, and not later, as is done in traditional folding pilafs.

And ghee should be put in rice now, not later. Although later it would be more correct - when the rice dries out, free pores remain in it, into which the oil is absorbed very easily. But I have an idea for this!

Everything, the pilaf is closed, but you can not really care about tightness.

Do you understand, yes, that in fact this form was made for another, for baking bread? I showed how this form works the other day. And here I use it "upside down", but only at the first stage. After about 40 minutes at a temperature of 160C, the bottom of the kazmakh (dough around rice) has already browned. Then I turned this form over, the dough and rice sank to the bottom and in 20 minutes the other part of the dough, already warmed up, browned.

Do you understand what was happening with the oil at that time? At first, the oil melted and sank down, sliding over the rice, which was not yet quite ready for the perception of oil.
And then, when I turned the pilaf over, the oil flowed over the rice again. But this time, the rice was already dry and willingly absorbed the oil.

As a result, all the oil ended up inside the rice. After all, what is pilaf? Pilaf is rice cooked in two or more stages and soaked in oil. If the oil is flavored with other products, then the taste and aroma of these products goes into rice. In this case, the butter has acquired the taste of fried dough, and this taste is pleasant to many representatives of that part of the world where bread is the head of everything.

The result is pilaf, in which there is enough kazmakh for everyone and where rice itself acquires a unique taste and aroma.
Dozens of varieties of seasonings and sauces can be prepared for this pilaf - you want meat, you want chicken, you want dried fruits and nuts. Everything is limited only by your imagination!
And once again for those who have pilaf, this is the only forever frozen dish with a fixed composition of meat, carrots and rice. The world is much bigger, and plov is much more beautiful than you think! Come with me, I'll show you something you didn't know yet!

Shah Ash - Royal Pilaf! (Khan plov). Photorecipe.
(Azerbaijani cuisine)

It's just insanely delicious pilaf - fragrant and tender,
crumbly rice soaked in oil, soft meat,
and fruits give a kind of sweet and sour accent.

Ingredients:
lamb or beef - 800 gr
rice - 800 gr.
Lavash thin - 3-4 packs of 70 gr.
butter - 600 gr.
onion - 1 pc.
apricot - 200 gr.
raisins - 150 gr.
chestnuts 150 gr. (I don't have chestnuts)
dried cherry plum - 150 gr. (I have no cherry plum)
turmeric, salt, spices for pilaf

Cooking:
First of all, I want to say that everything should be the best.
Ideal: Indonesian Basmati-type rice, apricots and raisins
shade dried and preferably pitted
(I found dried plums for sale, generally lovely!), Cherry plums can be
add, or you can not (cherry plum gives a well-detectable sourness
like babrberry, it's not for everybody. and here, in the Urals,
it is not on sale at all), also for cooking
a thick-walled brazier is required - ideally a round cast-iron cauldron,
but any thick cast aluminum brazier will do.
I have a 6-liter vertical (for city stoves, like a pan)
cast aluminium.

So, first of all, we wash the rice (I washed it for a couple of minutes
on a sieve) and soak in slightly warm salt n water
for at least 30 minutes.

Then drain the water, add a teaspoon of turmeric
and a tablespoon of vegetable oil.

Pour fresh cold water, bring to a boil
and boil the rice until half cooked (See on the package
your rice. If it says cook for 20 minutes, then cook for 10 minutes).
Throw the rice in a sieve to drain excess water.

While the rice is cooking, cut the meat into small pieces.
(for example, cubes),

Then melt 50 grams of butter in a frying pan,

Fry the meat until golden brown, add chopped
onion cubes and fry for another 5-7 minutes, salt, pepper, and remove from heat.

Set aside 70 grams (less than half a pack) of oil
to lubricate the cauldron, melt the rest of the butter
(Ideally, we drown in a water bath. I'm lazy, I just melted it on fire).

Pour apricots and raisins with boiling water for 5-10 minutes, depending
from the degree of drying, drain the water.

Now we collect our Shakh-pilaf.
Grease the cauldron generously with oil.

We line the cauldron with strips of pita bread so that at the bottom
they overlapped, and the edges hung down.
Pour the bottom with a few tablespoons of melted butter.

We spread the third part of the rice. pouring oil,
Sprinkle with spices (with spices carefully, a little bit!).

Put the meat on the rice.

For meat again, a third of rice, pour oil,
a bit of spices, and put raisins and apricots on top.

Put the rest of the rice on top, drizzle with oil,
a bunch of spices.

We close the rice with the hanging ends of the strips of pita bread,
drizzle with remaining oil.

We close the cauldron with a lid and put it in the oven,
preheated to 180 degrees, for 1-1.5 hours.
Readiness is determined by a beautiful golden crust.
I didn’t look at the oven for an hour, then I looked -
it seemed that the crust was not ruddy enough -
left it in the oven for another 15 minutes.
When ready, take the cauldron out of the oven,
remove the cover - this is what it looked like for me:

Holding the pilaf with a spatula, drain the cauldron over the edge
oil (it will not be enough, but it will be), then
turn the cauldron onto a dish.
Cut into petals with a sharp knife. Do not wait,
that it will be a casserole, this is a real crumbly pilaf,
He so and is sprinkled on the dish!