Pilaf with meat and fruit (Alma-ata plov)

So this week at the library I checked out a book called Multicultural cookbook of life cycle celebrations.  I didn't really notice the life cycle celebrations part at the library.  That made it  interesting.  I think I may try the one for students next.  Looking through the first part of the book I was afraid that I wasn't going to like it or find anything I would like to make because the first continent represented was Africa.
 Lots of bean dishes, not much use of spices - just didn't look like anything I wanted to make for my family, but I did end up finding some things to add to the menu this week.  This is actually the second meal we tried, the first may or may not get blogged.  It wasn't too impressive, and I'm behind.  This one was pretty good.  It was a pilaf from Kazakhstan.   I ended up adding a good deal more broth than it called for at the end, but it was a great blend of flavors.  I only changed things a tiny bit - like added 1 carrot, left out 1 onion, added extra meat, and extra broth (it needed it to not be crunchy.)  It turned out great.  I liked the combination of flavors - sweet from the fruits with a little spice from the onions and pepper.  Yum.  We also tried a new bread from Armenia with this meal.  It too was good and will be my next post.

Ingredients

• 6 Tablespoons vegetable oil (I think we only used about 3)
• 1 pound lean lamb of beef, cubed (we used about a pound and a half of sirloin steak)
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• 3 carrots, trimmed and julienned
• 10-12 dried apricots, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cooking apple cored and coarsely chopped
• 2 cups long-grain rice
• 4 cups chicken broth (we used 3 cups broth and the rest stock)
• salt and pepper to taste (I didn't add salt, figured I had plenty in the broth, but I did add 1/4 teaspoon or so of pepper - just sprinkled, I didn't measure)
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, blanched and roasted (I didn't take time to roast these - I was busy making flatbread.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.   Heat 2 Tablespoons oil in large skilled over medium high heat (we didn't measure, but I'm sure it was under 2 Tablespoons -more like 1-1.5.)  Add meat cubes and saute stirring constantly for 6-8 minutes until well browned.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer meat to a large ovenproof casserole (with a lid -I used an old crock pot container)
2. Head 2 Tablespoons oil in same large skillet (don't think we added any here because there was left over juice from the beef.  We just used that.)  Add onions and saute until soft, 3-5 minutes.  Add carrots, apricots, raisins, apple and rice.  Stir to coat rice with oil and cook for 2 minutes.  Add 1 Tablespoon oil if necessary (pretty sure we did add some oil here. DH was helping me though, so not sure.)  Pour rice mixture over meat in casserole.
3. Pour chicken broth into medium saucepan and bring to boil over high heat. (we actually used the same skillet.  If we were far enough ahead, we should have done this while the onions were sauteeing.) 
4. Bake in oven, covered for 40-50 minutes or until rice is tender.  (we started with 40 but it was still pretty soupy and crunchy at 40.  By 50 it wasn't soupy at all, but still a bit crunchy, so I added quite a bit more chicken stock.  I think a good 1 1/2 -2 cups, maybe even a bit more than 2 cups.  I just kept adding until it didn't look so dry because I knew the next directions were to heat it uncovered, and there was no way I could do that without it becoming too dry.  It kept soaking it in and not even looking the least bit soupy.  Since I didn't roast my almonds, I sprinkled them on at this point as well.)
5. Uncover and return to the oven for 10-15 minutes to brown top.  Sprinkle with roasted almonds.