When switching to a vegetarian type of diet, there is often a fear that we will have to give up our usual taste sensations. Therefore, I offer you a recipe for vegetarian pilaf, as much as possible corresponding to the taste to which we are accustomed.
Experienced vegetarians may pelt me with tomatoes, but my audience today is those who are taking their first steps in giving up meat. So how do we make vegetarian pilaf?
So, here’s what we’ll need in making a vegetarian pilaf :
Soy goulash – 100 gr.
Rice – 400 gr.
Carrots – 300 gr.
Chinese cabbage sprouts – 100 gr.
Vegetable oil – 100 gr.
Spices: barberry, zira (cumin), salt, turmeric, paprika, cilantro or other herbs of your choice and asafetida as a substitute for the taste of garlic.
Pour boiling water over the soy meat, rinse the rice and set it all aside. We slice the carrots into long, thin julienne strips. You may be wondering why we need the core from the Chinese cabbage. The answer is that if we cut it into small cubes, it will replace an onion that is visually and structurally usual in a usual pilaf. While we cut vegetables, we have soaked soy meat; squeeze it from excess moisture (then we use this water for further cooking), cut it in julienne (if large pieces, as I have).
We put a cauldron or a sauté pot on the gas – the usual way to make pilaf. Pour 100g of vegetable oil – in my case, it was refined corn oil, but you can also use melted oil. When the oil is hot, I send it soy chopped meat, it quickly fries in five to seven minutes until golden over high heat, then add our “onion”, another five minutes, carrots, another five minutes, and poured all the spices. Here you choose what spices you like, and the amount you like.
Heated with spices for another two minutes, poured washed rice, gently flatten it. After that, I turn down the heat and pour so much water that it covered the rice for two fingers – about three centimeters. I pour water very carefully through a skimmer, and also use the liquid left over from the soy meat. I leave under a lid until all the liquid is absorbed – about 20-25 minutes on low heat, without stirring.
When the time comes out, we leave the pilaf to infuse for another fifteen minutes, after that we can proceed to the meal, serving the pilaf on a plate in a small pile, decorated with greenery.
And we feel the pure aroma of spices, sweetness of carrots and silkiness of rice!
There you have it, a delicious vegetarian pilaf.
