Plov (Azerbaijani pilaf)

The hallmark of Azerbaijani plov is that the rice is steamed separately and never stirred. A gazmag crust of dough, lavash or egg lines the bottom of the pot, the rice cooks in steam, and saffron water and butter are poured over it. The gara — meat, chicken, fish, chestnuts, apricots, raisins or sour plums — is fried separately and served beside the rice.

More than forty kinds are known: dill plov, fisinjan plov, herb plov, sour-and-meat plov and more. The grandest is shah plov, in which rice and gara are wrapped in lavash, baked in the pot and cut open at the table like a crown.

Plov is the main dish of weddings, holidays and memorial gatherings. Every part of the Turkic world has its own: Uzbek palov, Turkmen, Kazakh and Kyrgyz plov, and Turkish pilav.