Plov (Uzbek Rice Pilaf)

Method

1. 1

   Brown the lamb hard in hot oil; add onions and fry golden.

2. 2

   Add carrots and cumin; fry 10 minutes until the carrots slump — this base is the zirvak.

   💡 Matchstick carrots are doctrine. Grated carrots dissolve and plov becomes porridge.

3. 3

   Cover with water, bury the whole garlic heads, and simmer 30 minutes.

4. 4

   Rain the rice evenly on top — DO NOT STIR from this point — and add water to cover by a finger.

   💡 Plov cooks in strata. Stirring is how plov becomes something else with the same ingredients.

5. 5

   Cook until the water is gone, then mound the rice, cover tight, and steam on lowest heat 20 minutes.

6. 6

   Serve inverted on a platter, garlic heads crowning the top.