Plov
The national dish: rice slow-cooked with lamb, carrots and cumin.
If you try one dish in Uzbekistan, make it plov (osh). Rice, chunks of lamb, and shredded yellow and orange carrots are simmered together in a wide cast-iron kazan until every grain glistens with the rendered fat and spices. It is the centrepiece of weddings, holidays, and Thursday gatherings, and a point of fierce regional pride, with Fergana, Samarkand, and Tashkent each cooking it their own way.
What's in it
- Long-grain rice cooked in stock until fluffy, never sticky
- Lamb (sometimes beef), yellow and red carrots, and onion
- Cumin, whole garlic bulbs, and dried barberries or raisins
- Often crowned with chickpeas, quail eggs, or horse-meat sausage (kazy)
Good to know
Where to try
A "Osh Markazi" (plov centre) serves it fresh from giant kazans, usually only until early afternoon, so go for lunch, not dinner.
Best time
Plov is a midday meal. Many centres sell out by 2pm, so arrive hungry and early.
How it’s served
On a shared platter (lyagan), eaten with a spoon, with green tea and a side of achichuk tomato-and-onion salad to cut the richness.
A Dish Worth Arguing Over
Ask two Uzbeks for the "right" way to make plov and you’ll get three answers. Fergana plov keeps the rice and meat separate and golden; Samarkand plov layers it and serves it unmixed; Bukhara adds raisins. UNESCO even added Uzbek plov to its list of intangible cultural heritage. It is a ritual as much as a recipe, traditionally cooked by men, in vast quantities, for anyone who shows up.
Craving Plov?
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