Plov

Ingredients

Base (zirvak)

• 200 glamb tail fat (dumba), diced, or 200 ml cottonseed or sunflower oil
• 1 kglamb shoulder or leg on the bone, in 5 cm pieces
• 3large onions (500 g), sliced into half-moons
• 800 gyellow and orange carrots, cut into batons 5 mm thick and 6 cm long, never grated
• 1 tbspwhole cumin seed (zira), rubbed between the palms
• 1 tspground coriander
• 1 tbspsalt
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 2whole heads of garlic, papery skin brushed off, left whole
• 2dried hot chillies, whole and unbroken
• 150 gchickpeas, soaked overnight, optional
• 100 gbarberries or raisins, optional

Rice

• 1 kgdevzira or a short-to-medium grain rice, rinsed in 7 changes of water and soaked 1 hour in warm salted water
• About 1.2 litres boiling water

To serve

• Achichuk salad of thinly sliced tomato and onion with black pepper
• Green tea

Directions

1. Render the diced tail fat in a kazan or heavy cast-iron pot over high heat for 15 minutes until the pieces are golden crisp, then lift them out and reserve; you should have a pool of clear, very hot fat.
2. Sear the lamb pieces hard in that fat for 8–10 minutes until deeply browned on all sides, then lift them out.
3. Fry the onions in the same fat over high heat for 10 minutes until dark golden, not merely soft. This colour is what makes plov brown; no soy sauce or caramel belongs here.
4. Return the meat, add the carrots and let them lie undisturbed 5 minutes before stirring, then cook 10 minutes until they slump and glaze. Cutting carrots into batons rather than grating them is essential; grated carrot dissolves.
5. Add the cumin, coriander, salt, pepper and chickpeas, pour in boiling water to cover by 2 cm, bury the whole garlic heads and chillies, and simmer the zirvak uncovered 40 minutes. Taste it: it should be slightly over-salted, since the rice will absorb it.
6. Drain the soaked rice and spread it evenly over the zirvak with a skimmer without stirring. The two layers must never mix.
7. Pour boiling water carefully over the back of the skimmer until it stands 1.5–2 cm above the rice, and boil hard uncovered on high heat for 15–20 minutes until the surface water has gone and the rice is nearly done.
8. Gather the rice into a dome with the skimmer, poke 5 or 6 holes down to the base with a chopstick to let steam escape, cover with a deep bowl or a cloth-wrapped lid, and steam on the lowest heat 25 minutes.
9. Rest 10 minutes off the heat, then mix the whole pot together from the bottom up, mound it on a big platter (lagan) with the meat and garlic heads on top, scatter the reserved crisp fat, and serve with achichuk.

Technique

• Devzira rice, grown in the Ferghana valley, is pink-striped, absorbs enormous amounts of liquid and stays separate; a long-grain basmati will turn soft and is the wrong texture entirely.
• The zirvak is the whole dish. It must be finished, seasoned and tasted before a single grain of rice goes in, because nothing can be corrected afterwards.
• Whole cumin rubbed between the palms just before it goes in, and whole heads of garlic left intact, are the two aromatic signatures of Uzbek osh. Plov is registered by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage.

Substitutions

• No tail fat? Use 200 ml sunflower or cottonseed oil, though you lose the specific savoury weight; add a knob of butter at the steaming stage to compensate.
• Devzira is hard to find abroad. Arborio or a Spanish bomba rice behaves closest; rinse and soak as written and cut the boiling stage by 3–4 minutes.

Variations

• Ferghana plov, the classic given here, with rice and zirvak layered and mixed only at the end.
• Tashkent or Samarkand plov, served unmixed with the rice, carrots and meat in distinct layers on the platter.
• Bakhsh, the green plov of Bukharan Jews, cooked with coriander and dill in a cloth bag.
• Toy oshi, the wedding plov cooked in kazans for hundreds and always eaten in the morning.

History

Azerbaijani plov keeps the rice and its topping, called qara, separate, over a crust of dough or lavash known as gazmakh.

Frequently asked questions

What is Plov?

Plov is a main from Azerbaijan: saffron rice crowned with lamb, chestnuts and dried fruit; dozens of varieties. Azerbaijani plov keeps the rice and its topping, called qara, separate, over a crust of dough or lavash known as gazmakh.

How long does Plov take to make?

Plov takes 40 min of preparation and 1 hr 45 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Plov?

Yes, within limits. No tail fat? Use 200 ml sunflower or cottonseed oil, though you lose the specific savoury weight; add a knob of butter at the steaming stage to compensate. Devzira is hard to find abroad. Arborio or a Spanish bomba rice behaves closest; rinse and soak as written and cut the boiling stage by 3–4 minutes.

What is the most important thing to get right in Plov?

Return the meat, add the carrots and let them lie undisturbed 5 minutes before stirring, then cook 10 minutes until they slump and glaze. Cutting carrots into batons rather than grating them is essential; grated carrot dissolves.