Azu with pickles - cooking features, recipes and reviews

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Azu in Tatar style with pickles is one of the most popular recipes of oriental cuisine among the inhabitants of the post-Soviet space. A dish with Tatar roots has a long history and hundreds of variations. Nevertheless, its basis is unchanged - pieces of meat are fried in a hot pan, after which they are stewed with vegetables.

Azu means food in the original language.

The history of the dish has centuries-old roots. The authors of the first Azu were nomadic tribes who roasted horse meat in a large cauldron and added various vegetables to it.

Features of cooking

Today, azu with pickles is less and less often prepared from horse meat due to its difficult availability. More popular variations are lamb, veal, pork and even rabbit.

What is the difference between azu and stew - stewed potatoes with meat and vegetables? Spicy spicy taste, which is given by pickled cucumbers. By the way, potatoes in a dish may be completely absent, which cannot be said about s altycucumbers - this ingredient is required.

It's still not worth giving up potatoes, it increases the satiety of the dish and makes it complete.

To prepare azu with pickles and potatoes, you will need a large frying pan, a cauldron and a saucepan.

Spicy, spicy and moderately fatty dish will be appreciated by real men.

Lamb Azu

Lamb food has a special flavor. The meat is tender, moderately fatty (not as lean as beef or young veal).

To make the dish really tasty, it is worth preparing it from young fresh pulp. It is better to buy it from trusted sellers who systematically subject their products to sanitary checks.

Required ingredients for the dish

To prepare basics for a company of 6-8 people you will need:

1. Lamb meat - 600 grams.
2. Potato - 700 grams.
3. S alted cucumbers - 3 pieces.
4. Tomatoes - 3 pieces.
5. Onion - 2 pieces.
6. Garlic - 3 cloves.
7. Bouillon (chicken, beef) - 1.5 cups.
8. Vegetable oil - 150 ml.
9. Butter – 100 grams.
10. Red hot pepper - 1 piece.
11. S alt, pepper - to taste.
12. Bay leaf - 2 pieces.

Meat preparation

Wash fresh meat, drain, dry with a paper towel. This is necessary so that, upon contact with hot oil, a lot of hot spots do not form in the pan.splashes that leave unpleasant burns on the skin and stains on clothes.

If you plan to use frozen meat for azu with pickles, it must be properly defrosted. The rise in temperature should be gradual. The frozen piece should be placed in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours, then put on the table and thawed completely at room temperature.

Please note, "emergency" defrosting in hot water or a microwave oven breaks the fiber structure. When cooked, the meat becomes "rubber" and tasteless.

Lamb should be cut across the grain into long sticks, 3-4 cm long and 1 cm thick.

Vegetable pretreatment

Traditionally, an oriental touch of azu with pickles is given by a large amount of onions. Two medium sized heads to be peeled and cut into half rings.

It is better to choose ripe and red tomatoes, so they will give the dish a rich taste and appetizing color. In the winter-spring period, when there are no ground tomatoes on the markets, tomato paste can be used as an alternative. One tablespoon is enough.

If you still manage to find tomatoes, you need to remove the skin from them. To do this, a cruciform incision is made at the base of the fruit with a knife, and the berry is doused with boiling water. After that, the fruit is washed under cold water. The temperature contrast makes it easy to separate the thin skin from the fleshy center. Cut the last one into small cubes.

Peel potatoesfrom the peel. Cut into sticks. Pour cold water over so that it does not turn black during cooking meat. Chop the pickles into cubes with a knife.

Cooking process

To make the azu of pickles have a unique taste, the meat should be fried in a cast-iron thick-walled frying pan. Here we pour 100 grams of sunflower oil, which we heat over high heat.

Spread the meat, stir quickly until a thin crust forms - it "seals" the juice inside.

Fry lamb for 10-15 minutes. Put only pieces on a plate, the oil should remain in the pan to the maximum. It will fry onions. When a characteristic golden color appears, add meat and prepared tomatoes to the onion. Stir, fry for 5 minutes.

Add broth. The liquid should completely cover the meat with onions.

Wait for a boil, reduce the fire to a minimum, cover with a lid. Simmer until the main ingredient - meat is ready. In the case of lamb, it will take 30-45 minutes.

Heat sunflower oil in a separate frying pan - 50 grams. Lay out potatoes and add butter. Fry the tubers until half cooked, stirring occasionally with a silicone spatula so that they retain their shape and do not turn into a puree. Send potatoes to all products and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Final stage

It's time to s alt the azu with pickles. Then add garlic, passed through a press, red hot pepper and oriental spices. Add cucumbers. Simmer the dish for 30 minutes. Checkthe amount of liquid, if it has evaporated, can be added (now only water). Taste, add more if not enough s alt.

When there is almost no liquid left in the pan, add bay leaf and black peppercorns. Turn off the gas, do not open the lid. Let the dish stand for 10 minutes.

This recipe is very popular. Housewives speak of it as an excellent solution for everyday and festive tables. About high satiety, piquant taste and special demand among the representatives of the strong half of humanity.

Azu with pickles in a slow cooker

We suggest trying another recipe where veal or beef is used instead of lamb. And the heavy cast-iron cauldron will be replaced by a multifunctional kitchen novelty - a slow cooker.

It will take 1.5 hours to prepare a dish with oriental roots. Low calorie content - only 102 kcal per 100 grams - allows people who control their weight to enjoy it.

Required Ingredients

Based on 6 adult servings, the recipe for beef azu with pickles will require:

1. Beef (veal) - 700 grams.
2. Onion - 2 pieces.
3. S alted cucumber - 2 pieces.
4. Tomato paste - 3 tablespoons.
5. Garlic - 2 cloves.
6. Purified water - 0.5 liters.
7. Vegetable oil - 80 grams.
8. S alt, pepper - to taste.
9. Fresh greens.

Cooking tips

Rinse the meat thoroughly, cut into small pieces. Start the slow cooker, activate the "Frying" program, heat the vegetable oil well, fry the meat until golden brown on all sides, stir with a wooden or silicone spatula.

Peel the onion and cut into thin half rings. Add to meat, fry without closing the lid for 5 minutes.

Spicy taste of azu with beef and pickles gives tomato paste. It should be diluted in 50 milliliters of hot water. Put the thick mixture into a slow cooker, mix.

S alt and pepper. Pour in water to lightly cover the meat. Please note that the liquid must be hot, otherwise it may damage the coating of the bowl from the temperature contrast.

Cut pickles into small cubes or grate on a coarse grater. Send to the meat.

On the board, set the "Extinguishing" mode, set the timer for 1 hour. Close lid.

After the specified time, evaluate the readiness of the meat. If the beef is too harsh, stew the azu with pickles in a slow cooker for another half an hour.

5-10 minutes before cooking, add chopped garlic. Can be finely chopped with a knife, can be passed through a press.

Sprinkle the finished dish with plenty of fresh herbs. In priority - parsley, cilantro, basil.

Potato lovers can complement the dish with chopped tubers. Then you do not have to separately prepare a side dish. The root crop should be cut into strips, fried until half cooked separately in a pan and added to the bowl.

If at handonly a slow cooker, you can fry potatoes before cooking meat. Transfer the hot tuber to a clean plate and cover with a lid so as not to weather. Wipe the bowl of the appliance with a paper towel and start frying the meat.

Azu from beef is described by amateur cooks as a delicious solution for those who do not eat pork. In addition, the use of a slow cooker will greatly facilitate the cooking process, almost without changing the taste of the original recipe. A nutritious dish with a moderate calorie content, it is advisable to serve for lunch or dinner.