The most popular Uzbek dish is plov or osh. This is also the dish Americans trying to cook Uzbek food usually screw up. That is because it has a certain technique to it that must be practiced and mastered. Most Americans also do not have the fortune of having a native Uzbek or other Central Asian to show them the technique. Once mastered, plov is a very delicious and satisfying dish that the entire family, including those meat and potatoes only relatives, can enjoy.
INGREDIENTS: The ingredients which must be in osh or plov are oil, onion, carrot, and rice.
Meat is usually in osh but you can substitute kasi (horse sausage), golubtsi (stuffed grape leaves), or even eggs for the meat which is usually meat or mutton. Chicken plov is also very delicious.
There are other variations of plov which use peas, whole garlic, quince or tart apple, raisins, turnip, dried apricot, and potato.
Plov used to be cooked with fat usually from the sheep tail. Nowadays people use sesame oil, cotton oil, or good ol’ vegetable oil. Olive oil has too strong of a flavor and is not recommended.
You can also use either regular carrots or yellow carrots especially in Samarqand and Khorazm plov.
TECHNIQUE: There are two steps in making plov. The first is called zirvak. In this step you brown the onion, carrot, and meat in lots of oil in a heavy pot like a kazan. After browning then you add water and spices. Only use half of the salt. Commonly used spices include caraway seeds, cumin, pepper, and red pepper pods. You can also use anise and barberries. For American kitchens, salt and pepper will work just fine. You cook the zirvak until the vegetables are cooked well.
The second step is the tricky step. This is this rice step. First you must soak the rice in salted water for 30 minutes. This is very important. After the zirvak is done, place the rice in a flat layer, and pour over hot water. Add salt and bring to boil. Keep the heat on high until all of the water evaporates. Then gather the rice (DO NOT MIX THE RICE WITH THE ZIRVAK!!) to the middle of the pot. (use a kazan or heavy pot if you have one.) Pierce holes in the rice all the way to the bottom with a spoon and lower the heat. Cover rice with a plate and then put the pot cover on. SIMMER. You should hear a “goop goop” sound as the moisture is mixed into the rice. Keep a close eye on it or it will burn. The goal is to get ALL of the fluid whether in water of zirvak evaporated and cooked into the rice. NUMBER ONE RULE– Do not mix the rice and the zirvak.
When serving, carefully put the rice on the bottom of the plate. Then top with the zirvak.
VARIATIONS: There are different variations of plov depending on where you are in Uzbekistan. The most common plov is Fergana Plov. There is also Samarqand plov used with yellow carrots so that the rice is still white. In the Burkhorocha method, the rice, meat and vegetables are cooked separately. If you screw up the rice, mix it ith the zirvak and then you make a different dish called Shavla or Shoola. After cooking the Shavla by mixing the rice and the meat and vegetable mixture, fry some onion and top the shavla with them along with fresh cilantro and parsley.
SIDE DISHES: Fresh greens like parsley, coriander (cilantro), and scallions are great to serve with plov. For an easy salad, chop up some onion and tomato. Chopped up tomato tastes great with plov. The best of all is to serve bread. Uzbek bread called non is the best. If you can’t get non pita or any other flat bread goes fine. My husband sometimes pours V8 juice on his plov. For dessert eat some grapes or raisins (kishmish) and drink tea or milk.
Please share your favorite plov recipe.
