I love to learn about the story behind dishes and look for finding such dishes. The The Drape Pilaf is an amazing dish, a feast for the eye and the tummy. There is a story and plenty of symbolism behind it, it is like a work of literature.
Story behind the Drape Pilaf
Here is the story; this pilaf is prepared by the mother in law of the bride the day following the wedding ceremony.
- The rice symbolizes wealth and well being,
- the meat of the chicken symbolises the groom,
- the meat of the lamb symbolizes the bride (no lamb in this recipe)
- The currants and the almonds are the children and close relatives
- The crust is the shell and protectiveness of the family.
While cutting crust and and serving a slice of the pilaf the mother in law says “what happens in your new home should stay inside, if you reveal your secrets to everyone you will damage your family’s integrity” giving her first and probably not the last advise to the bride.
How to prepare the crust?
I used to hate recipes that say “enough flour to make the dough soft”, but I have learned and accepted that it cannot be different as the type of flour and how it is measured, aerated or not makes a huge difference, plus there is also the size of the egg. So just trust yourself and the recipe, add the flour gradually until it does not stick all over your fingers.
- In a large mixing bowl break and whisk an egg. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and mix. You can substitute olive oil with sunflower oil if necessary.
- Add the 200 grams plain yogurt and mix.
- Add the baking powder and the salt. Then slowly start adding the flour while kneading. Put about 250 grams of the flour first. Then gradually continue to add enough flour to obtain a non-sticky, soft dough.
- Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside for half an hour.
Assembling the drape pilav
- When the time is up make two balls one of ¾ of the dough and the other ¼.
- Using a rolling pin make the bigger one large enough to cover the bottom and the corners of a baking pan. If the dough is sticky to work with, sprinkle some flour to the work top, your hands and the rolling pin.
- Make the smaller dough wide enough to cover the top. Make sure the corners are not too thick.
- Grease the baking pan including the sides with butter and place the whole almonds in a decorative way in the very bottom. Then gently – trying not to change where the almonds are placed – lay the larger dough sheet.
- On top fill all the pilaf. Do not push or stuff too much as it will continue to cook in the oven.
- Then cover up the pilaf with the smaller dough sheet. Cut off the extra dough. You can bake the extra dough as a flat bread in the oven or in a skillet over the stove.
- Cook in a pre-heated oven at 200° Celsius (400° F) for about 15-20 minutes until the crust turns golden brown.
- Remove the baking pan from the oven and wait to slightly cool. Flip over to a serving plate. Cut like a cake and serve while still warm.
Preparing the Pilaf
You will first need to cook the rice for the Drape pilaf, but only half way, as the rice will be cooked again in the oven too. So make sure you put the correct amount of water and cook the rice only half way. You can actually use the same recipe adding 1/2 cup more water and serve it as a rice pilaf itself, without the crust
What to serve with Drape Pilaf
Although this dish looks challenging, it is worth to prepare and I am sure everything will turn out deliciously. Drape pilaf is a whole meal with the meat and the rice in it. Serving a nice juicy salad like the Pomegranate Salad or a Fruit Compote next to this rich pilaf will be a good idea.
I hope you’ve liked my recipe. If yes, you might want to check my other pilaf recipes:
Enjoy!
Drape Pilaf
Ingredients
Pilaf
- 1 cup rice
- 1¼ cup chicken stock and/or boiling water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ tea spoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon all spice
- 1 tablespoon currant
- 1 tablespoon pine nut
- 1 tablespoon fillet almonds
- 1 tablespoon almonds
Chicken
- 250 grams chicken thighs or breast
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 onion quartered
- 1-2 garlic cloves halved
- 2 bay leaves
- 5-6 pepper seeds
- boiling water
Crust
- 1 egg
- 200 grams plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 300-400 grams flour
- 5 grams baking powder
Instructions
Beginning
- You should first soak the rice, then boil the chicken and then prepare the dough for the crust. Then prepare the chicken, then cook the pilaf. Just before the pilaf is ready start working the dough which should have rested by then.
Chicken
- Add all the chicken ingredients in a normal pot or a pressure cooker. If normal pot cover with water, if pressure cooker pour only half as much water. Boil until chicken is well done.
- Set aside to cool.
- Take out the chicken and clean off any veins, bones, fat and/or skin. Then cut or separate to small pieces the chicken.
- Save the chicken stock to use later for the pilaf.
Pilaf
- Soak the rice in water for about half an hour to get rid of starch. If you do not have time for soaking, add ¼ cup more water than advised when cooking.
- Meanwhile also soak the currants in another small bowl, so they are cleaner and softer.
- If peeled almonds are not available, you need to peel them. Soak the almonds in another bowl with boiling water, after five minutes tyou will be able to peel them easier. Do so and set aside.
- In a skillet sauté the peeled almonds, fillet almonds and pine nuts until they somewhat change color. Make sure to control and mix all the time as they will easily get burnt if left unattended. Take out the whole almonds and set aside.
- When time is up wash the rice under flowing water, until there is no white starchy water coming through. Set aside to drain.
- In a non-sticky pot melt the butter and the olive oil over medium heat. Add the drained rice and sauté until the rice is translucent.
- Also add the currants, sautéed pine nuts and fillet almonds and mix.
- Also add salt, black pepper, cinnamon and all spice. Mix well.
- Drain the chicken stock and add. If the chicken stock is not enough add boiling water. Do take care about how much stock/water you are adding – add according to the ingredients. Mix one last time and do not mix again until the rice is ready. When the water comes to boil, reduce the heat to minimum. Cook until the water is almost all absorbed and the rice is half cooked.
- Add the chicken to the rice and mix gently. Taste and adjust spices if necessary, mix again.
- Without losing time pour all the pilaf into the crust and cover up with the smaller crust sheet as explained below.
Crust
- In a mixing bowl break and whisk the egg. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and mix.
- Add the yogurt and mix.
- Add the baking powder and the salt. Then slowly start adding the flour while kneading. Put about 250 grams of the flour first. Then gradually continue to add enough flour to obtain a non-sticky, soft dough.
- Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside for half an hour.
- When the time is up make two balls one of ¾ of the dough and the other ¼.
- Using a rolling pin make the bigger one large enough to cover the bottom and the corners of the baking pan. If the dough is too sticky for your hands, sprinkle some flour to the working place, your hands and the rolling pin.
- Make the smaller dough wide enough to cover the top. Make sure the corners are not too thick.
- Grease the baking pan including the sides with butter and place the whole almonds in a decorative way in the very bottom. Then gently – trying not to change where the almonds are placed – lay the larger dough sheet.
- On top fill all the pilaf. Do not push or stuff too much as it will continue to cook in the oven.
- Then cover up the pilaf with the smaller dough sheet. Cut off the extra dough. You can bake the extra dough as a flat bread in the oven or in a skillet over the stove.
- Cook in a pre-heated oven at 200° Celsius for about 15-20 minutes until the crust is brownish.
- Take out and wait shortly to cool. Turn upside down. Cut like a cake and serve warm.
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