What is plov? Uzbekistan's national rice dish is far tastier than it has any right to be

PLATE UP

When your country is known as one of the most important points on the Silk Road, and when a city of yours is a natural halfway mark between China and the Mediterranean, you tend to gain a lot of knowledge to build on. Hence, Uzbekistan can boast all sorts of achievements, from ancient astronomy to mathematics to empire-building to the perfection of plov. Plov is Uzbekistan's national dish and daily ritual, a hefty rice pilaf cooked with meat, onions, carrots, garlic, dried fruit, and a fair glug of oil. This family dish is typically cooked in a "kazan", or large, cauldron-like pot. It can be garnished with dried berries, crisp onions and even quail eggs, and it is, frankly, far tastier than it has any right to be.

FIRST SERVE

Plov was invented by the great Uzbek conqueror, Amir Timur, in the 14th century AD. Wait, that doesn't sound right. Plov was invented by Alexander the Great, who cooked it for his army in Uzbekistan in the 4th century AD. Hmm, that also seems unlikely. What's far closer to the truth than these popular, apocryphal tales is that the Persian rice dish, pilaf, made its way along the Silk Road and was adopted and adapted by local Uzbeks around the 11th or 12th century.

ORDER THERE

That halfway point on the Silk Road is Samarkand, once the seat of Amir Timur, so where better to try authentic plov? Sample a hearty portion at Osh Markazi (Ibn Sino Street, Samarkand).

ORDER HERE

Though Uzbek restaurants are rare in Australia, Sydneysiders can sample Afghan-style plov at Khaybar Restaurant in Auburn (khaybarrestaurant.com.au), and Melburnians can try it at Pamir Restaurant in Dandenong (www.pamirrestaurant.com.au).

ONE MORE THING

The influence of Persian pilaf goes far and wide, to many of the world's great rice dishes – including Spanish paella, Indian biryani, and Levantine maqlubeh.