İç Pilav (Ottoman Spiced Rice with Pine Nuts & Currants)
اچ پیلاو (چلغوزے اور کشمش والے عثمانی مصالحے دار چاول)
İç pilav means "inside pilaf", because it was first made to stuff roast lamb, chicken and turkey. It's a rich, fragrant rice cooked in butter with onion, toasted pine nuts, currants and a warm blend of allspice, cinnamon and black pepper, finished with plenty of fresh dill. Traditionally a little diced liver is added; many cooks today leave it out. It's the rice of Turkish weddings, holidays and New Year dinners, and it turns a simple roast into a feast.
- ⏱ Total: 55 min
- Prep: 25 min
- Cook: 30 min
- Medium
- Serves 6
Method
Tap a step when it is done.
Melt the butter with the oil in a heavy pot. Fry the pine nuts for 2 minutes until golden, then add the onions and cook for 8 minutes until soft.
If using liver, add it and fry for 3 minutes until it changes colour. Add the drained rice and stir for 3 minutes until the grains look translucent at the edges.
Add the currants, allspice, cinnamon, sugar, salt and hot stock. Bring to a boil, then cover and cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.
Turn off the heat, stir in the dill, cover the pot with a clean cloth under the lid and leave for 15 minutes before fluffing and serving.
Serve hot with roast chicken or lamb, or on its own with yogurt.
Kitchen notes
Toast the pine nuts gently; they burn quickly and turn bitter.
The liver is traditional but optional. Without it, the pilaf is suitable for anyone who doesn't eat offal.
To stuff a chicken, cook the pilaf until the rice is half done, then fill the bird loosely; it finishes in the oven.
A pilaf for celebrations
Everyday Turkish pilaf is simple: rice, butter, a little vermicelli. İç pilav is the festive version from the Ottoman kitchen, perfumed with spices and studded with pine nuts and currants. It’s made for weddings, Eid, guests and New Year roasts, and it’s the classic filling for roast chicken and whole lamb (kuzu tandır).
The Ottoman spice blend
The flavour comes from a combination found throughout Ottoman cooking: allspice, cinnamon and black pepper, with a pinch of sugar. Together with sweet currants and dill, it gives the rice a warm, gently sweet-savoury taste quite different from South Asian pulao. Allspice is sold everywhere in the West; elsewhere, a mix of black pepper and a little garam masala gets close.
Liver or not
Traditional iç pilav includes a little finely diced chicken or lamb liver, which adds richness. It’s a matter of taste; leave it out and the rice is just as festive.
Serving
Serve with roast chicken, tas kebabı or grilled lamb, with cacık and a green salad. The same filling, made with olive oil, goes into biber dolması and yaprak sarma.
Questions people ask
What can I use instead of pine nuts?
Slivered almonds or chopped pistachios. Pine nuts are expensive everywhere, so many Turkish cooks use less of them.
Is it the same as the filling for dolma?
Very close. The rice filling for olive-oil dolma uses the same spices but olive oil instead of butter, and no liver.
Which rice works best?
Turkish baldo or any medium-grain rice gives the classic soft texture. Basmati gives longer, more separate grains.
Nutrition (estimate, per serving)
- Calories
- 380
- Protein
- 9 g
- Fat
- 13 g
- Carbs
- 56 g
