Vegetable Pilaf with Carrots and Prunes

Without meat, the most delicious youʼve ever tried! If you are fasting or for some reason do not eat meat, lean pilaf will be a good alternative for you. You just need to replace the meat with prunes. Due to this, the cooking time will be greatly reduced, but the result will be a complete, satisfying dish.
cook time: 1h
Gavin Tanner
Vegetable Pilaf with Carrots and Prunes

Nutrition Facts (per serving)

119
Calories
1g
Fat
25g
Carbs
2g
Protein

Ingredients (6 portions)

Basic:

Garlic (1 head) 40 g
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
Ground coriander 0.5 tsp
Zira 0.5 tsp
Water (boiling water) 500 ml
Rice (for pilaf) 220 g
Carrot 1 pc
Vegetable oil 2 tsp
Paprika 0.5 tsp
Prunes (approximately 10 pieces) 80 g

Recipe instructions

Step 1

Step 1
How to make lean pilaf with vegetables and carrots? Prepare the necessary ingredients. You can use long-grain rice, but I recommend using special steamed rice for pilaf. It holds its shape well and does not boil over. Read more about the intricacies of choosing rice in a separate article, link at the end of the recipe. Instead of the spices indicated in the recipe, you can use others to taste or replace everything with a ready-made spice mix for pilaf.

Step 2

Step 2
Rinse the rice thoroughly until the water runs clear.

Step 3

Step 3
Wash the prunes and dry. It’s better to immediately take pitted prunes. If your dried fruits have seeds, remove them. Usually, if the prunes are too dry, it is recommended to pour boiling water over them and leave for 10 minutes. I had just such prunes, but I didn’t fill them with anything else, I just washed them well, first in cold and then in hot water. The time it takes to prepare and steep the pilaf is enough to steam it and soften it.

Step 4

Step 4
Wash and peel the carrots. You can cut the carrots into strips or grate them on a coarse grater, it doesn’t matter.

Step 5

Step 5
Peel the onion. Usually chopped onions are added to pilaf (step 7). To do this, you need to cut it into small cubes. However, I prefer to add a whole onion, which I remove from the finished dish.

Step 6

Step 6
Peel the top layers of the garlic head and rinse.

Step 7

Step 7
Heat vegetable oil in a deep frying pan or saucepan. Read about how to choose the perfect frying pan, as well as how to choose the right vegetable oil in separate articles, links at the end of the recipe. Add the carrots (and onions, if you want to add them chopped) and fry over medium heat until the carrots are soft (and the onions are translucent). You can also cook pilaf in a cauldron.

Step 8

Step 8
Add paprika, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper to the carrots. Mix everything quickly.

Step 9

Step 9
Add washed rice and prunes. Mix everything thoroughly with carrots.

Step 10

Step 10
Pour boiling water into the pan, add the whole onion if you haven’t added it before.

Step 11

Step 11
Simmer the rice and vegetables over low heat, covered, for about 30 minutes. In the finished pilaf, all excess moisture will boil away, the rice will swell, absorb some of the water, and the total volume of the dish will increase by 2-2.5 times.

Step 12

Step 12
5 minutes before readiness, stick a whole head of garlic into the almost finished pilaf. Then turn off the heat and let the pilaf brew for 10-15 minutes under the lid.

Step 13

Step 13
Now the pilaf can be divided into plates and served. Bon appetit!

Additional rubrics

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