You may think it is not a good idea to cook meat in Summer as it is not light like vegetables. But I can tell you that if you cook it in this way, it is not heavy either. We cooked it not only because we love meat but also because we had guests for dinner yesterday. And in our culture if you have guests, you can not just serve a vegetable dish. Even if you cook vegetable, it must be accompanied by meat. Serving meat is a way of showing importance to guests. The reason may go back to our history, to our ancestors. Meat was the main source of food for them. Livestock production was very popular and a great source of income for people. So it was easy to find meat then, it wasn’t an expensive food as it is now. Moreover, it is said that people were as strong as giants as a result of consuming high amount of meat. Although we aren’t that strong now, almost all people here are meat fans. You hardly see a Turkish person who doesn’t like meat. I sometimes wonder if love of meat among Turkish people is hereditary?
Rice is one of the most common side dishes that we serve with meat. And if there is no sauce on meat, if it’s plain, it is traditionally served on top of rice.
You can find the rice pilaf recipe here, just omit currants for this one.
Pilav Üstü Et
Meat Topping
Ingredients
- 500g beef, cut in cubes
- ½ cup hot water
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt
- Black pepper to taste
- ½ tsp thyme
Put beef cubes in a pot and cook it on medium heat until it releases its water and absorbs it back. Then add ½ cup hot water and cook on low heat until tender. Then add chopped onion, olive oil, salt, black pepper, thyme and stir. Saute it about 5 minutes stirring occasionally until onions are finely cooked.
To serve it in our traditional way, wet a small bowl. Fill it with rice pressing on the top, turn it upside down on a plate. Then put the well cooked beef cubes on it. A fresh shepherd’s salad goes perfect with this traditional dish.
17 Comments on "Meat On Rice"
Hello:
Just tweeted you and now read a bit of your blog. Excellent posts! Cannot wait to read more. Love the recipe for the meat topping. Hope to chat with you and exchange lots of recipes.
Cheers
SAUCY
Rice on meat. You can’t get more classically better than that. Maybe I’m Turkish!
This excellent. I’m with you when we have guests we have to prepare meat dishes, this is the same in our culture.
This dish is great, meats with steamed rice always a winner.
Thank you for sharing.
It was wonderful to read about some of the Turkish traditions and culture. I so enjoy reading your blog, and I was happy to find a new post up this evening!
Those meat looks good but I prefer to have little sauce to come with it.
MMMMMMMM,…a delightful main dish!!
The beef looks so tasty!
Wow this is like what I would love to have every day! I love meaty dish…meat and rice is always my first choice.
Thanks for the recipe,
Tes
Simple looks lovely
Zerrincim, pilav tane tane, et yumuşacık olmuş… fotoğraftan bile belli. Şu anda eşim ve çocuklarımın yemeğe gelmesini bekliyorum… Aç karnına:)) bu pilava nasıl baktığımı anlamışsındır.
Sevgiler.
love the recipe. simple, and it looks delicious!!
merhaba zerrin
I like your recipe, it’s so simple
thanks a lot for sharing
This looks delicious.
It was so interesting to read about the significance of meat when guests are over for dinner! My hubby enjoys meat of all kinds and this is definitely a meal he would love!
Looks very delicious. We love rice too. Thanks for sharing!
A very familiar dish in my house and I love it often, impossible to beat beef with rice on cold days
Cheers,
Gera
I can’t imagine a proper meal without meat! And it doesn’t take a lot – just enough to get a nice texture and flavor to the rest of the food. I love how straightforward this recipe is, allowing the flavor of the beef to come through. Rice is a perfect accompaniment, of course!
Simple, classic and best. Sounds delicious and very satisfying for these sumer months. Perfect in fact.