This is a special pilaf in Osh city of Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia). And this is not my own recipe, a very kind blog friend of mine, Jyldyz Chynybekova sent it to me. In fact, she is so kind that she sent a file of Kyrgyzstan recipes with pictures. I’m always very curious about different Asian dishes, so I’m very pleased to publish her recipes here. And this is just one of those exotic dishes. The rest will come later.
Ingredients
• 1 kg (2.3 lbs) red rice (or any if you can’t find it)
• 1 kg (2.3 lbs) meat – lamb, beef or chicken
• 1 ½ kg (3 1/3 lbs, 5 large carrots) carrots – yellow is the best
• 3 pieces, average sized onion – any type
• 1 cup vegetable oil – sunflower (you can use lamb fat also)
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• About 3 L (3 quarts) water or lamb broth
• 2-3 whole head of garlic
Saute chopped onions in oil until it gets red, then the meat (chopped into many medium pieces) is added. Meat is fried until a tender reddish crust appears.
Add the carrots (shredded) and fry it for about 10 minutes. Pour water and stew it for 20 minutes. Add rice, put heat on high. Bring to a boil and tuck a bunch of unpeeled garlic cloves down into the rice. I use a whole head. Reduce heat a little to prevent burning, add cumin seeds, stir and watch it until the water has evaporated.
Push the rice towards the center. Then poke holes in several places with the handle of a wooden spoon. Cover and simmer until meat, garlic and carrots are tender for 25 minutes and all the water has evaporated. Do not allow the plov to burn.
Serve rice on a plate and put the meat, garlic on top. Pop the garlic out of its skin to enjoy it. Salads with fresh or pickled vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers are good additions for enjoying plov.
10 Comments on "Ash Plov"
Ah, this dish is from my childhood. My mom used to make plov pretty much exactly this way. One of my favorites.
that garlic looks awesome! I might try this with lamb- iy looks so simple and delicious.
Hi Zerrin, Thanks for the friend request! we almost have the same name dont we?!! LOL…I looked at your mosaic cake recipe post..wld like to ask you what is cacao? is it cocoa as in chocolate or is it something else entirely? The cake looks so good and I wld like to make it but im not sure i hv cacao here.
Natasha – How nice to remember our childhood with a dish, isn’t it?
Lauren – I love simple but delicious dishes like this. I’ll try it, too.
zurin – Our names are really so similar. Thank you for stopping by. Cacao and cocoa are the same. You can try it by using cocoa. And I’ll be so happy to hear the results here.
Zerrin, this looks so delicious. We call rice pilaff either ash or plog. I have an Uzbeki friend, she once made Samarkand plov forus and it was exactly like this one. So delicious!
This recipe looks to be a keeper, one of those delicious meals that will warm you from the inside. Thanks for sharing!
Feride – I wish I knew more about Central Asian cuisines. I mean I could cook them well. I learn a lot from your website for this.
OysterCulture – I completely agree and I’ll try it soon.
All that garlic must make this fantastic! I really like red rice too.
Looks yum Zerrin. Have been experimenting alot lately. I found two spices that work well with rice – cinnamon and cloves. They would probably work well with this the above dish. Discovered the combination when I tried this recipe:
http://earthvegan.blogspot.com/2009/04/carrot-rice-and-creamy-potato-curry.html
Actually, I hate the taste of cooked carrot – unless heavily disguised. But it looked so pretty I thought I would brave it – you can’t taste the carrot, especially with the potato curry on top – My 13 year old son even liked it. I would highly recommend.
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