Palov #1

Inspired by my recent travels, I have decided to add a new dish to my "To Learn" list: Palov (also known as Osh). Palov is a traditional Usbek dish, which is essentially a meat-rice-carrot stew. I was given basic instructions for how to make this dish while I was traveling, and tried it a couple times, and now thought I'd have a go of it myself.

For my first trial, I used the following ingredients:
Enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan ~1cm, maybe a little more
3/4 onion, cut into strips
1 pork chop, cut into small pieces
2 carrots, cut into match sticks
~1 c rice
~2 c water
Salt & Pepper

I heated the oil in the bottom of the pan, then added the onion. Once the onion started to turn translucent, I added the pork and a good shake of salt. Once the pork looked fairly cooked, I added the carrots, about 5 minutes later, I added the water, along with pepper and more salt. I cooked the mixture for 15 minutes (by the end it had come to a boil), then stirred the rice in and cooked for 20 minutes.

The result was pretty bad. There was way too much oil in this dish, to the point that it ran off the rice and pooled on my plate. Also, this is a dish traditionally made with beef or lamb (though I'm told one can use chicken). I thought that I could get away with pork (even if this is a dish from a traditional Muslim area), but it really didn't mesh well with the dish. Also, after watching several videos and looking up several recipes, I realized I made several other mistakes. I forgot to add in garlic and other spices. I did not cut the onions correctly (they should be cut into semi-circles). Also, apparently the rice is not to be mixed in, but rather just placed on top of everything else.

There is a lot of disagreement online about exact amounts of each ingredient, and about what to do. The video I found that looks the most legit is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_71Q1pOKMnM&feature=related. It makes me regret sleeping through Russian lessons (if that's what they're speaking). Still, it gives me hope for next time.