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Uzbek Rice with Beef and Carrots (Plov)
Plov, a hearty pilaf-like mélange of rice, onion, carrots, meat, spices and sometimes other ingredients such as lentils or chickpeas, is widely regarded as the national dish of Uzbekistan. It can be a humble, everyday offering or an elaborate celebratory one, but plov is always intended to be a shared dish. Our streamlined recipe uses boneless beef short ribs, which are rich in meaty flavor because they’re not shy of fat, and a whole head of garlic, as is traditional. Golden raisins stud the rice, bringing bursts of sweetness that balance the richness of the beef. The spicing in our plov is minimal, but the finished dish is still abundantly flavorful and deeply aromatic. Fresh parsley, though not traditional, adds fresh, grassy notes and bright color.
8
Servings
Tip
Don’t bypass the steps of soaking, then rinsing the rice. These steps ensure that the grains cook up light and separate. Soak the rice before you head to the stove; when it’s time to drain the rice and add it to the pot, the grains will be adequately hydrated.
2 hours
35 minutes active
Ingredients
-
2
cups basmati rice
-
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Directions
-
01In a large bowl, combine the rice and 1 tablespoon salt. Add water to cover by 1 inch, then stir and set aside.
Pardon the interruption
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March 31, 2024
Thanks for central Asian cuisine!
Though decades under Soviet blandness dumbed down much regional cooking, am glad to see the cuisines rediscovered. Plov is a staple throughout central Asia and this is a good version. Am happy for beef, not lamb. I discovered I am allergic to lamb fat, my only allergy! And apparently not that uncommon. I also had problems with sticky rice. But it tasted delicious!
I made this recipe as written and it was really tasty! Super good. The best part for me was the raisins paired with plenty of salt - the sweet and salty is great. I do agree with the mushy rice comment from 2/3/22 - with this method, the rice does come out quite sticky. If the rice is meant to be not too mushy where the grains don't stick together, it did not work out like that for me with this method. That being said, it was still completely edible and delicious - just not a lot of texture. I definitely didn't have an issue with the onions like the previous comment though - by the time my dish was done, the onions had cooked down/melded/blended really nicely. Just a lovely flavor there.
I will definitely make again - what I usually do with Milk Street Recipes I like is make it a few more times and start using my own tweaks and techniques - usually to add more veggies and dial in the stuff that didn't go quite right like the rice :)
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I made this a few nights back. I am not sure about the size of onions used but its too many onions. I did not add as much coriander. The rice came together (sticking together which it should not). I could not find the beef short ribs, so I ended up making it with lamb. I grew up in Baku, Azerbaijan and this type of dish (plov) is made with lamb there so I thought it may work. It was good but I will definitely make a few tweaks to the recipe: less onions and cooking rice differently. The rice should be cooked to barely done then steam/cooked on a very low heat. Here is a blogger who explains how to properly cook the rice for this type of dish: https://azcookbook.com/2008/03/13/layered-rice-pilaff-with-dried-fruit-chestnuts.