Pilaf can be prepared in completely different ways, and a huge number of recipes have been invented for this. There are pilafs with mushrooms, vegetables, seafood, fruits, various vegetarian, sweet or some other original dishes. But still, one of the most popular is the classic recipe, where the two main ingredients are lamb and rice. We will tell you how to cook lamb pilaf in a slow cooker in this article.

It's no secret that spices play an important role in pilaf. By changing one or another seasoning in a recipe, you can get completely different tastes. In our opinion, the combination of rice and lamb meat with delicate saffron, sour barberry and hot pepper is very successful, which we will try to prove to you with this recipe. Here's what we need:

lamb pulp – 0.5 kg;
long grain rice – 0.5 kg;
garlic – 1 small head;
saffron – a small pinch;
dried barberry – 1 tbsp;
zira – 1/3 tsp;
onion – 2 heads;
sunflower oil – 50 ml;
hot red pepper - a pinch;
carrot – 1 pc.;
salt.

We will describe below how we prepare lamb pilaf in a slow cooker:

Vegetables in pilaf must be cut by hand, that is, we do not need to grate the carrots, but chop them into thin strips. Onions can be cut into cubes or quartered rings. We will chop the lamb into small pieces, and leave the garlic as is, just remove the top dirty husk from the head.
Before preparing pilaf, rice is washed thoroughly and many times until clear water is obtained. Then you can soak it for 30-40 minutes so that it cooks faster in the dish.
When we cut the meat and vegetables, heat up the vegetable oil in the slow cooker and throw the lamb into it. Frying it in the “Frying” program will take about 20 minutes, all this time the pieces must be mixed with a spatula.
After 20 minutes, add carrots and onions to the lamb. They will immediately release the juice, so the device can be switched to the “Stew” program and cook the ingredients for another 15 minutes.
Boil the kettle and pour hot water over the ingredients in the bowl. It is necessary that the boiling water covers the meat by 2 cm. At this stage, the dish can be salted and hot pepper added.
Place the cleanly washed head of garlic in the bowl and add all the other seasonings, including barberry. Close the boiling container and simmer the meat for 40 minutes.
Drain the water from the rice and place the cereal in a bowl. Pour more water so that it covers the rice by 2 cm. Leave the “Stew” program or turn on the “Pilaf” or “Rice” option. Cook lamb pilaf in a slow cooker for another 40-45 minutes. The process can be considered complete when the liquid disappears from the cereal.

Lamb pilaf with herbs and almonds in a slow cooker

In this slow cooker lamb pilaf recipe, we use a completely different set of spices: cloves, curry and bay leaf. Almonds and fresh parsley and dill will also add their aromatic note. Here is the list of products we need:

lamb – 0.5 kg;
onions – 2 pcs.;
rice – 400 g;
bay leaf – 1 pc.;
cloves - 3 buds;
hot pepper – 1 pod;
almonds – 80 g;
curry - a pinch;
black pepper - a pinch;
sunflower oil – 4 tbsp;
fresh parsley and dill - 1 bunch;
salt - to taste.

Now let's prepare lamb pilaf in a slow cooker:

We clean and chop the onions into half rings, cut the meat into pieces, and wash the rice.
We heat up the vegetable oil, and to do this we activate the “Frying” program. Fry the lamb in oil for 20 minutes, then add the onion and simmer it with the meat for another 15 minutes.
For now, you can dry the almonds in a dry frying pan, and also chop a bunch of greens.
Lamb takes a long time to stew, so first we will cook it without rice. Pour boiling water over the meat and set the “Stew” mode. Add salt and all seasonings except hot pepper. Cook the lamb for 30 minutes.
After half an hour, add the cereal to the meat, add the peppercorns and pour boiling water into the dish again. When preparing pilaf, make sure that the water covers the rice by 2 cm. Pour the required amount of boiling water and simmer the lamb pilaf in a slow cooker until the rice is ready.
Then add almonds and herbs, mix and let it cook for another 10 minutes.

Pilaf with lamb, pepper and oregano in a slow cooker

This delicious lamb pilaf, stewed in a slow cooker, also has a few twists of its own. Here we will put ingredients such as sweet peppers, almonds and fresh oregano leaves. Here is a detailed list of products used:

long grain rice – 1.5 cups;
lamb – 0.5 kg;
onions – 2 pcs.;
sweet pepper – 1 pod;
hot pepper - a pinch;
garlic – 3 cloves;
almonds – ¼ cup;
fresh oregano leaves – 1 tbsp;
chopped parsley - 2 tbsp;
vegetable oil – 3 tbsp;
salt.

We stew pilaf using the following technology:

Let's cook the lamb first, since it takes much more time to cook it than it will take to cook rice. We will cut the meat into pieces and place it in the bowl of the device, pouring it with vegetable oil. Add salt, set the “Frying” program and cook the lamb for about 20 minutes.
Then add chopped onion to it and close the lid. First, simmer the meat with the juice released from the onion, then add 2 glasses of water and continue simmering for another 30 minutes, selecting the “Stew” program for this.
In our free time, we can wash the rice and soak it in cool water. At the same time, chop the pepper and chop all the greens, and chop the almonds and dry them in a frying pan.
Add sweet peppers and garlic cloves to the stewed lamb, add almonds and hot peppers, cover it all with a layer of rice, add salt and fill with water. The water should rise 2 cm above the cereal.
In the “Pilaf” or “Stew” mode, cook pilaf with lamb in a multicooker for about 40-50 minutes. The final step is toss in the chopped herbs, after which you can turn off the multicooker.

Pilaf with lamb and celery in a slow cooker

This pilaf can be called minimalistic; there are almost no vegetables in it - they were replaced by greens. Dried herbs are added here along with fresh green onions and celery; the base is long rice, which can be replaced with steamed rice if necessary. For this pilaf with lamb in a slow cooker you need:

lamb – 0.5 kg;
long or steamed rice – 250 g;
chopped celery stalk - 0.5 cups;
chopped green onions – 0.5 cups;
seasoning “Provencal herbs” - 1 tsp;
salt, black pepper - to taste;
hot ground pepper - to taste;
vegetable oil – 2 tbsp.

Now let’s prepare pilaf with lamb and celery in a slow cooker:

Fry the lamb tenderloin, cut into small pieces, in vegetable oil. For cooking, select the “Frying” program, stir the meat cubes during cooking. Hot pepper, salt and black pepper can be added immediately.
Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the lamb and simmer for another 40 minutes in the “Stew” mode.
We prepare the rice as it is done for pilaf, that is, wash it until the water becomes clear and soak for half an hour.
Add the cereal to the stewed lamb, add celery and green onions, add salt, and add dried herbs. In the same mode, simmer pilaf with lamb in a slow cooker until cooked.

Pilaf with lamb and cherry plum in a slow cooker

Sour fruits and berries are often used in pilaf. It is the slight sourness that wonderfully emphasizes the taste of the meat and adds some freshness to it. Our recipe for pilaf with lamb in a slow cooker uses pomegranate and cherry plum seeds, but here is the entire list of necessary products:

Let us describe step by step how to make pilaf with lamb and cherry plum in a slow cooker:

At the very beginning, we need to stew the lamb meat, because it is quite tough and will not have time to cook along with the rice. First of all, we will cut it and fry it in melted butter, immediately salting it and sprinkling it with black pepper.
Then add chopped onions and simmer the lamb in the onion juice. When it boils, add about 300 ml of water and continue to simmer for another half hour.
Add washed raisins and seedless cherry plums and cover with a layer of rice. Add more water and add salt if necessary. You can pour hot water right away so that the multicooker does not heat it up for a long time.
Simmer pilaf with lamb in a slow cooker until the rice is ready. When the cereal has absorbed boiling water, you can turn off the multicooker. At the end you need to add pomegranate seeds and mix them with rice and meat.

Lamb pilaf in a slow cooker. Video

Prepare the products: fat tail fat, if you decide to use it, cut into small cubes, meat into cubes, onion into rings or half rings, carrots into cubes or large strips along the root vegetable (straw length 3-5 cm).

Set the multicooker to “Frying” mode (or similar), heat vegetable oil in a bowl and add pieces of tail fat. Fry them until light brown and remove with a slotted spoon. Place the onion in the bowl, fry until golden brown, then add the meat, stir and cook until the pieces turn white. Pour all the spices into the bowl, stir and fry everything for 10-15 minutes. Add carrots and peeled tomato, cut into pieces, simmer for another 5-7 minutes until the oil is transparent. Add raisins to the meat and vegetables, stir, add well-washed rice, insert a head of garlic into the center and carefully pour in boiling water so that it covers the food in the bowl to a height of 1 cm. Close the lid, set the “Pilaf”, “Buckwheat” mode. “Grains”, “Porridge on water”, etc.

After the signal about the end of the mode, do not open the lid, let it stand in the heating mode for 20-30 minutes. Before serving, remove the garlic, peel the cloves, tip the pilaf onto a wide dish and serve immediately.

Lamb fat hardens quickly, so wash down your lamb pilaf with hot unsweetened green tea or black tea with lemon (also without sugar, of course).

Bon appetit and new culinary discoveries!!

p.s. Pilaf in a slow cooker is cooked according to the same rules as in a cauldron. Key points that should never be ignored.

You can use any rice for pilaf, as long as it is not brittle. Pay attention to the grains of rice in the bag when purchasing: there should not be a lot of dust and fragments of grains in the bag;
Each variety of rice adds its own taste and aroma to pilaf. For example, “Health” rice gives a distinct nutty flavor, and steamed polished “Basmati”, which almost doubles in size when cooked, is almost neutral. Turkmens and Uzbeks generally do not accept long-grain varieties, being content with the most ordinary Krasnodar round rice, saying that only with it the pilaf turns out to be as similar as possible to the real thing;
Some cooks are strongly against steamed rice, while others, on the contrary, strongly recommend it, since it does not stick together when cooked, and the pilaf turns out crumbly. You decide;
About cutting vegetables. Onions can be cut as you please, but carrots should be cut strictly into cubes or strips and preferably lengthwise and not across (I know gourmets who generally throw away the core of carrots, and you know, there’s something in that! The taste of the dish changes quite noticeably) . Under no circumstances grate carrots, even the largest ones - when cooked, they very quickly release their juice, become limp and turn the pilaf into that same porridge with meat;
You can use almost any spices for pilaf, but there is a minimum that simply must be present in any pilaf. This is cumin (cumin seeds, it is advisable to take black cumin), dried barberry, saffron or its cheaper analogue turmeric (be careful with these spices, it’s easy to overdo it), a mixture of peppers (black, white, pink, green, allspice), garlic (whole heads or cloves, do not peel). In addition to these spices, you can add ground paprika, sun-dried or dried tomatoes, a whole pod of hot pepper to the pilaf (the pepper must be intact, otherwise you will get a fire-breathing dish!), ground coriander seeds, and ground nutmeg. Greens are not put into pilaf; they are served separately;
Zirvak is cooked in boiling oil. Each cook has his own order of adding products, but one thing is unchanged: each product should be added to the bowl only after the oil has boiled and clarified. That is, if you first put the onion in the bowl, wait until the oil boils, put the onion in and simmer it until the oil is transparent and boils, then lay out the carrots, simmer again until the oil is transparent and boils, then carefully, along the side, lay out the meat so as not to sharply reduce the boiling point of the oil. The meat is considered ready when it has acquired a grayish color and the oil has lightened and become transparent again. The reverse order of adding food follows the same principle: meat, wait for the oil to lighten and boil, onions, carrots. The main thing is not to throw everything in at once, it won’t be pilaf;
When the meat and vegetables are ready, add spices, except garlic and capsicum, heat them so that they reveal their aroma and taste more fully, and add rice;
Rice should be spread over the meat in an even layer, never mixing with zirvak. Pour boiling water over the rice, spoonful at a time, so that the water does not mix the food. And only after all the manipulations, stick a whole head of garlic, peeled from the top scales, and a pepper pod (if you like spicier dishes) into the center. All! Close the lid and press the treasured “Pilaf” button.

· Chickpeas - 1 cup

· Carrots - 1-2 pcs.

· Onion - 2 pcs.

· Vegetable oil - 100 ml

· Zira - 1 tsp.

· Barberry - 1 tsp.

· Garlic - 1 head

· Turmeric - 1/2 tsp.

Granulated sugar - a pinch

· Salt - to taste

How to cook:

Prepare your food in advance. Cover the chickpeas with water and leave for several hours. Before cooking lamb pilaf in a slow cooker, rinse the rice well and place in a sieve to remove all excess liquid.

Pour vegetable oil into the bowl of a kitchen appliance and heat it up a little. Wash the lamb, dry it with a paper towel and cut into not very small pieces, you can take meat ribs.

Peel the onion, chop into rings and place in hot oil. Fry, stirring constantly, until transparent.

Add meat and fry until golden brown. Add cumin seeds and a pinch of sugar and mix well with the lamb and onions.

Add the carrots, chopped into thin strips, stir and fry for a few more minutes until they become soft.

Pour in hot water, add prepared peas (chickpeas), salt and add seasonings. If desired, you can use ready-made mixtures for lamb or pilaf dishes. Cook the zirvak under a closed lid for 30 minutes.

Peel the top of the garlic head without removing the skin from the cloves, rinse and let it dry. Place the prepared rice in an even layer, carefully without pressing it onto other foods, and the garlic. Switch the multicooker to the pilaf or cereal program and cook for another 25 minutes.

Uzbek pilaf with lamb and peas in a slow cooker is ready. Serve it with any vegetable salad and fresh herbs.

Lamb pilaf with garlic and barberry in a slow cooker

Despite the simplicity of the recipe, the pilaf turns out very tasty, satisfying and incredibly appetizing. Thanks to the addition of barberry and a few cloves of garlic, the treat is very aromatic. Using this recipe, you can cook pilaf not only with lamb, but also with other types of meat: pork or duck.

Products:

· Lamb (ribs) - 500 g

Long grain rice - 3 cups

· Onions, garlic and carrots - 1 pc.

· Vegetable oil or fat tail fat - 100 ml

· Barberry - 1 tsp.

· Zira - 1 tsp.

· Kukruma - 1 tsp.

· Bay leaf - 1 pc.

· Allspice peas - 5-7 pcs.

· Salt - to taste

Cooking method step by step:

Pilaf with lamb in a slow cooker is best prepared from ribs or shoulder blades, but you can also take a piece of pulp. If the meat is very fatty, the fat must be calcined separately to remove the specific smell.

Wash the lamb ribs, dry them and cut them into portions.

Rinse the rice grains and soak if necessary. There is no need to rinse steamed rice.

Turn on the multicooker on the “fry” mode and pour in a little oil. Place cumin seeds (jeera) and ribs in it. Fry the pieces of meat until golden brown.

While the meat is cooking, the onions and carrots need to be peeled and chopped into thin pieces. Traditionally, onions are cut into rings and carrots are cut into strips, but this is not necessary, and vegetables can be cut as desired.

Add onion to meat and stir. Continue frying until the onion rings become translucent.

Add carrots, add salt and spices and fry the meat mixture for another 3-5 minutes. It is better to add the whole head of garlic, but if you wish, you can divide it into cloves without removing the skin.

Pour hot water over the food, close the multicooker and switch it to the “stew” or “cook” mode. The zirvak is cooked for about 10-15 minutes, until the vegetables and meat become soft, but not overcooked.

It's time to add rice. Place the cereal in an even layer so that it is completely immersed in the aromatic filling.

There should be enough liquid so that it is about 1 centimeter above the rice layer. Close the lid of the device, set the pilaf program and cook until the beep sounds.

Delicious lamb pilaf in a slow cooker will be ready in 30-40 minutes. Serve it with vegetables and plenty of fresh herbs.

Time: 70 min.

Servings: 6-8

Difficulty: 4 out of 5

Recipe for delicious and aromatic Uzbek lamb pilaf in a slow cooker

At first glance, it seems that lamb pilaf in a slow cooker is a rather banal dish, and its recipe is very simple. Nothing special seems to be required, frying meat is not difficult, and do the same with vegetables.

Cooking rice is generally a piece of cake. All that remains is to mix everything. But this is a mistaken opinion; in order to prepare real pilaf, you will have to try very hard, and you need to find a suitable recipe.

This dish has three main components - rice, lamb and zirvak. Everything else is up to your taste. There are lovers of fatty pilaf, while others have their own preferences regarding spices. To begin with, I will describe the basics of preparing a delicious dish, and then I will give a good and detailed recipe.

To prepare delicious pilaf, you need to go through three stages.

First you will need to heat the vegetable oil well.
Next, prepare zirvak, that is, fry meat with vegetables.
Lastly, add rice and liquid. Well, bring the dish to readiness.

Do not rush to cover the rice with a lid immediately after boiling, let it “boil” a little. If you cook food on the stove, then first the fire should be high, then medium, and only after that turn it very low and close the lid so that the rice evaporates.

It is important to make zirvak correctly, it plays a key role in cooking and the entire recipe depends on it, and cooking begins with it. In the classic version, you need to fry the meat, onions and carrots.

Please note that if you have a good, high-quality recipe, then you will cut the carrots into small strips and not grate them.

When choosing rice, choose the long-grain variety.

You should not take Indian or Thai cereals. And there’s no need to take steamed rice. It, of course, will not boil over, but it no longer contains any useful substances or elements. It is rather a completely useless product. But your recipe will only benefit from Tajik and Uzbek varieties of rice; Italian grains will also work.

Now let's talk about meat. Since our recipe includes lamb, we will buy it. The most suitable parts of the carcass for our dish are the breast, shoulder or back. Remember that you can only take fresh meat; it has a rich red color.

Before you start cooking, you must remove all fascia and tendons, wash the meat thoroughly and cut it into small slices.

But I advise you to choose spices based on your preferences. You can even use a ready-made mixture that is intended for pilaf.

Ingredients:

Cooking technology

If all the ingredients are at hand, the vegetables and meat are washed, the rice is thoroughly washed, then you can start cooking.

As I said, the process consists of three stages.

Roasting

Step 1

Not every multicooker has a “Pilaf” mode, so first we switch our unit to the “Frying” mode and set the timer for twenty-five minutes.

Step 2

The onion is cut into thin rings or half rings.

Place it in the “miracle oven” and fry for five minutes. Fry the meat into medium-sized cubes until they turn white.

Seasonings

Step 3

All our spices need to be thoroughly ground, this can be done with a mortar and we put them in a slow cooker. You can, of course, use ready-made mixtures, but I prefer to do everything myself.

Step 4

We wait about fifteen minutes and add chopped carrots to the meat.

We wait another seven minutes. Now it's the turn of raisins and butter. In total, frying lasts a little less than half an hour.

Add rice

Step 5

The cereal, which we have previously washed well, is poured into the multicooker bowl on top of the zirvak. After this, very carefully pour hot water in a circular motion. Make sure that the rice is submerged one centimeter in the liquid.

Step 6

The head of garlic only needs to be washed, it is not peeled. Just put it in the center. All that remains is to switch the multicooker to the “Pilaf” or “Porridge” mode and wait about forty minutes.

Once the dish is ready, do not open the lid and let it sit for a few more minutes.

Watch another version of this dish in the video below:

If the rice is not steamed, but long-grain or medium-grain, then fill it with warm water and set aside. Turn on the multicooker, set the “Frying” mode, pour in the oil. By the way, the oil must be refined, since pilaf is cooked at high temperatures and unrefined oil will simply burn and smoke. Cut the lamb into medium pieces.

As soon as the fat is as hot as possible, add the meat. If there are bones, then we also put them in the bowl. We won’t eat bones, but zirvak on bones will be richer and tastier.

Fry the lamb until beautifully golden brown. Don’t be afraid - the meat will not dry out, since when placed in hot fat, a crust immediately forms on it, the “sealing” process occurs.

We clean the onions, cut them into half rings, add them to the meat and fry for another 4-5 minutes - the onions should also become golden.

At this time, let's take care of the carrots. We clean and chop into cubes, as in the photo. Under no circumstances should we grate it! This is a very important point for pilaf - grated carrots will turn into “porridge,” but chopped carrots will retain their shape. We send the carrots to the onions and lamb, fry until all the components turn brownish and the liquid has completely evaporated.

Now add rice. If it is steamed, then just add it, and if not, then wash it well until the water is clear, let the liquid drain and send it to the meat with vegetables. Fry, stirring occasionally. 2-3 minutes is enough - the rice will change its color and become slightly transparent.

Pour in water so that it covers the rice by 1-1.5 cm. The water should just boil! Do not pour cold water under any circumstances - this is not good for the pilaf, and also for the multicooker bowl.

Salt, add spices. Mix thoroughly - we won't do this again!

Wash the head of garlic, remove the roots, the top layer of husk and insert it, unpeeled, into the center of the bowl. Add broken bay leaf if desired. Close the multicooker lid and turn on the “pilaf” mode.

We prepare until the end of the program. After the sound signal, do not open the lid for another 5-10 minutes. We put our fragrant crumbly real Uzbek pilaf on a dish, throwing away the unnecessary bones, and invite everyone to the table!