Oversalted pilaf: how to fix and remove excess salt?

The situation is not critical if the dish, which came to the Russian cuisine from the Middle East, after cooking turned out to be inedible. To reduce the saltiness of pilaf, show imagination, find a non-standard way out of the situation or apply in practice the advice of professional chefs.

Why is the Pilaw too salty: Causes

Factors that encourage pickling:

1. Type of salt. White spice differs in the origin, the method of extraction, cooked - even the degree of purification (the higher, the brighter the taste). Closer to natural salt is sea salt, which contains in addition to sodium chloride other minerals. This spice has less saltiness and is added to the dish in larger quantities than common or rock spices. Provoke oversalted refined crystals of fine grinding, if used in the same amount as the usual coarse or medium salt.
2. The sample was not removed. The saltiness of pilaf changes as it cooks. It is advisable to taste the dish several times, so as not to miss the moment when it is easier to correct a mistake. Tasting the food during cooking after cooling, otherwise it will not be possible to objectively assess the taste.
3. Spices. Pilaf spice kits already contain white crystals. If you do not adjust the amount of salt downward, the dish will be spoiled.
4. Distractions. A friend called, an important news story on TV, a knock on the door, or a child calling - all these factors can lead to over-salting.
5. Accident, absent-mindedness. If the lid of the salt shaker was accidentally opened, someone accidentally pushed under the elbow, or without tasting, you salted the dish a second time absent-mindedly, over-salted can not be avoided. Chefs recommend seasoning food with dry fingers or a spoon.

Important! It is difficult to determine the concentration of salt in the pilaf if you take a sample immediately after eating sour, spicy food. It is let down by the dulled sensitivity of the taste buds.

How to correct over-salted pilaf at the cooking stage

It is easy to spoil a multi-component dish with unnecessary seasonings, if you add them "by eye", relying on your culinary skills. Before proceeding to fix the mishap, you should make sure that the contents of the cauldron are really over-salted. To do this, they suggest that someone else take a sample.

In case of confirmation of a mistake, and if the water is too salty, the pilaf is replaced with new water. They continue to stew meat and vegetables in it, then add grits and water.

Raw peeled potatoes cut in two or four parts make the dish less salty. Take into account that the tubers absorb not only salt, but also liquid. Using this option involves the addition of water.

General recommendations

There are 3 ways to fix salty pilaf at the cooking stage:

1. Rinse the grits.
2. Replace the salty water with fresh water.
3. Add more rice, other foods, spices, spicy herbs, which draw the salt on itself or mask the salt with a sour, spicy, sweet taste.

Actions of the hostess depend not only on the stage of cooking, but also on the method of cooking.

In a skillet.

The saltiness of the dish will decrease if:

1. In another frying pan, fry tomatoes, sweet red peppers without salt, add to the pilaf.
2. Add mushrooms to the recipe.
3. Improve the taste with barberry berries.
4. Pour a glass of tomato juice or add tomato and water (100 ml), stew for 10 minutes.

Reanimates salted pilaf rinsing rice in a colander, further stewing the groats for 15-20 minutes.

In multicooker.

Over-salted pilaf in the multicooker saves the addition of spices, herbs, grains of sour pomegranate or sweet raisins, which mask the over-salt.

Another suitable option is an extra batch of cooked grits. Part of the over-salted rice is removed from the container, replaced with unleavened rice. Add tomato paste raw or fried with sugar, cook for at least 15 minutes.

In a cauldron

It is not difficult to cope with oversalted pilaf in a cauldron at the initial stage of cooking. Drain salty water, pour boiling water, salt is not added.

If you tasted the dish at the intermediate stage and found over-salted, it is necessary to boil more rice. Cereals are added to the cauldron to the pilaf if there is space. If the container is filled to the top, part of the spoiled rice is removed before adding a separately cooked portion.

If over-salted meat and vegetables are detected before pouring the groats, a bag of raw rice or coarsely cut potatoes is placed in the container. Absorbent products remove after 10-15 minutes, pilaf continues to cook further. Removed rice, potatoes are suitable for use in food.

Fix the taste of the dish pomegranate juicecitric acid or apple cider vinegar. Sour beverages and foods are used in a limited way, adding a little bit at a time so as not to spoil your creation completely.

How to remove excess salt in the finished pilaf

Variants of salvation of over-salted ready dish:

1. Boil an extra batch of rice, mix it with the over-salted pilaf.
2. A faster way of salvation is to serve unleavened salad of cucumbers, tomatoes and greens, dressed with vegetable oil. Balancing the taste of the foods are beans with green salad leaves, apples, and pomegranates. The weight of the last ingredient in the recipe is twice the weight of the rest, taken in equal proportions.
3. Another portion of vegetables is introduced. You will need two grated carrots and two chopped tomatoes with previously removed skin. The products are put in a frying pan with heated oil, add water, stew until tender and mix with salted pilaf so as to achieve a homogeneous consistency.
4. Add steamed raisins, apricots, which mask the salt and spice the dish.
5. Cook sour cream sauce without spices with a neutral taste. A glass of low-fat sour cream is combined with finely chopped greens (dill, coriander, parsley) and added to the ready dish and mixed. You won't be able to preserve the traditional taste, but you will be able to reduce the saltiness.
6. Mild over-salt is neutralized in the plate with butter, juice of lemon, pomegranate, cranberries and other sour berries.
7. Eliminate the problem by using unsalted tomato sauce of their own making.

If you could not save the pilaf, prepare lazy cabbage rolls, mixing the salty mass with unleavened stewed cabbage.

Raw rice in gauze sachet saves the cooked pilaf. The gauze is placed in the center, add water, stew on the minimum heat of the burner for 15-20 minutes, remove. Cereal draws on itself the extra salt.

When to salt pilaf

The process of cooking pilaf begins with frying meat in heated oil, to which after 5 minutes add half rings of onion and carrots, chopped julienne. When the vegetables become soft, the pilaf is poured with hot water. It is at this point the dish is seasoned with salt and spices.

The cooking time depends on the type of meat and the addition of salt. Pork and chicken are salted once before stewing. Beef and lamb are seasoned twice. The first time after coating with water, the second time before the end of cooking if the taste is not bright enough.

At the last stage of cooking the pilaf is added salt, but not salted, as the sodium chloride crystals do not have time to spread evenly and open the taste of the ingredients.

Asian cooks think that you can do without salt if you flavor the pilaf with turmeric, zira и barberry.

How much salt to use

The accepted ratio of meat, rice and carrots in the pilaf is 1:1:1. To prepare 8 servings you will need 1 kg of these products plus 200 g of onions, spices and 2 tablespoons of salt.

The amount of salt depending on the type of meat, the volume of ingredients:

1. If the pilaf is prepared from 0.5 kg of grits and 0.6 kg of chicken fillets, salt is added 2 tsp.
2. One and a half tablespoons of seasoning is used when laying 0.7 kg each of rice, lamb.
3. A dish of pork and rice, taken in equal proportions (0.5 kg each), is seasoned with sodium chloride in the amount of 1 tbsp.

Beef requires more salt than other meat products. Pilaf of 1 kg of meat and 0.5 kg of rice grits will be moderately salty if you add 1 tbsp of sodium chloride when cooking.

How to avoid mistakes

To avoid over-salting, professionals advise:

1. Use a seasoning of the same kind, grind.
2. Consider the presence of salt in the store bags with a mixture of spices.
3. Taste when food is cold, not hot.
4. Do not pour salt from a salt shaker or other container into the container.
5. Add all seasonings and spices after measuring the recipe amount, mixed in a separate bowl.
6. Leave the pilaf on the stove off for 20 minutes, if the dish is additionally salted at the end of cooking.

The main rule - it is better to under-salt than over-salt. If the taste of pilaf is not bright enough, add seasoning from the salt shaker directly into the plate.