Sweet Armenian Pilaf with Dried Fruits

Fragrant, beautiful, appetizing. Just a fairy tale! Sweet Armenian pilaf with raisins and dried fruits is one of the pearls of Caucasian cuisine! On the brightest holiday — Easter, this dish, along with poached fish, is a symbolic decoration of the table.
cook time: 1h 30 min
Owen Truitt
Sweet Armenian Pilaf with Dried Fruits

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

157
Calories
6g
Fat
23g
Carbs
3g
Protein

Ingredients (8 portions)

Basic:

Salt 1 tsp
Butter (preferably ghee) 100 g
Water 1.5 l
Rice (long grain) 500 g
Walnuts 25 g
Raisin 100 g
Carnation 3 pc
Prunes 100 g
Almond 50 g
Dried apricots 100 g
Lavash thin 1 g
Star anise 3 pc
Hazelnut 25 g
Cashew 25 g
cinnamon stick 1 pc

Recipe instructions

Step 1

Step 1
How to make sweet Armenian pilaf with raisins and dried fruits? Prepare all the necessary ingredients. Required Ingredients

Step 2

Step 2
Prepare raisins — an essential component of our pilaf. You can choose dark or light raisins, at your discretion. Wash and dry the raisins.

Step 3

Step 3
You can take different dried fruits, it all depends on your desire. Dates, dried figs, dried cranberries, cherries, etc. are suitable for pilaf. Wash and dry all dried fruits.

Step 4

Step 4
The presence of almonds in pilaf is very desirable; take the remaining nuts, again, as desired. They are mostly used for decoration, so you can do without them altogether, it will still be very tasty.

Step 5

Step 5
I added the spices myself; they were not used in the original recipe. But it seems to me that cinnamon, cloves and star anise reveal the aroma of dried fruits even more. Again, choose spices based on your taste.

Step 6

Step 6
Pour water into a saucepan and put it on fire. Add salt. Take 3 times more water than rice. It took me 2 mugs of 250 ml of rice, so I took 6 of these mugs of water. You will learn all the subtleties of choosing rice by reading the article at the end of this recipe. Rinse the rice in several waters until the water becomes clear.

Step 7

Step 7
When the water boils, add the washed rice. Cook for 10 minutes until half cooked.

Step 8

Step 8
Place raisins, dried fruits, almonds, a piece of butter in a saucepan, add half a mug of water and simmer on low heat for 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally and, if necessary, add a little more water so that the dried fruits do not burn.

Step 9

Step 9
After 10 minutes, the rice is cooked, as the Italians would say, until al dente. Drain it in a colander and rinse with cold water — this is done so that the rice remains crumbly.

Step 10

Step 10
Grease the bottom of the cauldron with butter and place pita bread on the bottom so that the rice does not burn later.

Step 11

Step 11
Melt the remaining butter in the microwave or in a water bath. The original recipe uses ghee.

Step 12

Step 12
Skim off the resulting white foam, as when preparing real ghee.

Step 13

Step 13
Pour melted butter over rice.

Step 14

Step 14
Smooth the surface of the rice.

Step 15

Step 15
Cover the cauldron with a lid and wrap it in a clean towel. This is done so that the resulting condensation does not spoil the rice.

Step 16

Step 16
Place the cauldron on the flame spreader over the lowest heat. Soak the pilaf for 1 hour. During this time, the rice will warm up and become ready.

Step 17

Step 17
When the dried fruits are ready, turn off the heat and wait for the rice to be ready.

Step 18

Step 18
After an hour, place the rice in a heap on a dish. The photo shows how crumbly it turned out — grain after grain.

Step 19

Step 19
Place steamed dried fruits with raisins and almonds on top. Garnish with remaining nuts. Our Easter Armenian pilaf with dried fruits in a cauldron is ready! Bon appetit!