Real Uzbek Plov

Keywords:	Rice ¦ One pot meal ¦ Traditional ¦ Lamb
Translations:	Español
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Plov [plohf] is a cult dish not only in its homeland Uzbekistan, but all over the former Soviet Republics and Russia. A hearty one-pot rice dish cooked in lamb fat with onions and carrots, it has many variations. Russian men often cook plov for parties with the same me-put-food-on-this-table showmanship displayed by American husbands around their grills.

Here is plov just as it is cooked in Uzbekistan.

Uzbek Plov
For 4 as a main course
2 cups long grain parboiled rice
5 large carrots
2 large onions
400 gr cubed leg of lamb
100 gr lamb fat
Vegetable or lamb broth
1 tsp peppercorns
2 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup barberries (see Persian Jeweled Rice)

Even if you loathe garlic I recommend you give it another chance for this dish. This garlic is oven-roasted during one hour and looses all pungency. The roasting transforms the cloves in a candy-liked sweet brownish paste - a treat. You won't have stomach aches and very little garlic breath, but the following night don't sleep near an open flame and evacuate any pets from your bedroom.

Decapitate one garlic head per guest, sprinkle a teaspoon olive oil on top and wrap in foil.

Roast in a medium-hot oven (180°C) for about an hour.

The garlic flesh should be soft and brownish when done.

Many cooks will use water or dehydrated broth or even stock cubes for a plov, but a homemade broth will greatly improve the taste. A vegetable broth, for instance, takes only about 7 more minutes work. Use your favorite recipe or chop a leek, an onion, a potato, a couple garlic cloves (picture of ingredients), cover with water and simmer for about 45 minutes. You can salt the broth, but remember not to salt your plov.

Peel and cut two large onions in half, then thinly slice crosswise. Peel and coarsely grate 6 large carrots.

Soak the barberries in a little water.

Clockwise from bottom right : 1 tbsp peppercorns, 2 tbsp cumin seeds and 2 tbsp coriander seeds.

Some cooks use coriander seeds and some don't, but all agree on cumin seeds. There are many types of cumin and I experimented with a number of different seeds from Uzbekistan. My conclusion is that you'd better use quality whole cumin seeds from any provenance rather than using more fancy but old cumin seeds.

Grind the spices in a mortar or lelectric spice grinder to a fine powder.

Prepare your workspace with the broth or hot water behind, a large Dutch oven in front and the ingredients on the side. Set two plates aside to reserve the meat and lamb fat.

Uzbek mamas and respectable cooks only make plov using lamb fat. Who can argue? Lamb fat is tasty and the calories would be lost otherwise. In Uzbekistan they use lamb tail fat, called kudryuka (picture) but I've never been able to find it even in Russia. Use the white patches found on leg of lambs or at the bottom of the rack of lamb - both converge to the tail. Russian cooks normally use enormous amounts of industrial vegetable fat - instead. I know in the West we try to get rid of as much fat as possible, but in this dish lamb fat is key to the proper taste.

Melt the fat in the Dutch oven over high temperature and use a potato purée tool (picture) to get as much liquid fat out as you can.

Remove the remaining patches of fat and discard.

Uzbek recipes always insist on using not just any lamb but Uzbek lamb. They probably have a point but where can you find it? Just use the best lamb you can. I use leg of lamb.

Heat the lamb fat in the Dutch oven until it smokes. That's right, light grey fumes like boiling water. Don't let it burn though.

Reserve the meat and cover so it won't get cold or infested with bacteria.

Heat the lamb fat remaining in the Dutch oven and pour in the sliced onions, turning frequently until soft and light brown, about 6-8 minutes. Add the ground spices and mix well for 1 more minute. Add the grated carrots and cook for 3 more minutes or until carrots are soft.

Add the reserved meat and any meat juices that escaped.

Mix well and reduce heat to medium hot.

Add 2 cups rice. Uzbek cooks insist on using rice from Uzbekistan. What does it taste like? Well, I've been able to buy a couple different types from an Uzbek grocer in Russia and was not impressed. The rice must be great when harvested in Uzbekistan, but mine actually contained live insects, so I decided to use quality local rice instead. My best results have always been with long grain parboiled rice, which cannot be overcooked. Sure, it is not the most sexy nor best tasting rice, but what's the point of doing everything by the book only to end up with overcooked rice porridge?

Serve piping hot with a garlic head for each guest.

You can also bury the roasted garlic inside the plov after you add the broth and bring the pot to the table. Some cooks add a large hot pepper to each plate. Once I tried to order plov as a side order for some roasted meat, only to have an offended cook come out the kitchen and explain passionately that eating meat with plov would destroy the delicate flavor balance. I think he was right - serious plov is like serious risotto - it is self-sufficient.

Above, a picture of a neighborhood market's butcher stall in Russia (I like my butcher better) and an Uzbek spice merchant selection of cumin seeds (zira) and rather vapid barberries.

I would be much interested in a reader could send me pictures of lamb tail fat or how plov is presented in Ubekistan.