Plov

Plov is a traditional meal from nearby Uzbekistan. It is now made all over the former Soviet Union. We know it as Pilau, Pilaf or Pilav. We ate Plov a number of times whilst we were in Kyrgyzstan and this is a photo of the first time we experienced it with our friends. Although I am vegetarian, the Kyrgyz people don't 'get' vegetarian and so I often found myself eating meat. This was one of those occasions.

It's pictured here along with lepeshka, the bread in the background and a commonly eaten salad of tomatoes and onions and a big pile of black grapes picked fresh from their vine at the side of the house.

I decided that I'd like to learn how to make it the Kyrgyz way. I asked a friend to teach me how. She told me that her mother made 'the best Plov in Kyrgyzstan'! So I asked her mother to teach me. She agreed. But on the night of the Plov lesson her mum couldn't come because of illness in the family.

and so.......

 her mum sent her friend whom we had met before, and her friend's granddaughter as translator.

She's a gorgeous woman and we had a great time in our Plov-making lesson. 

First we poured 250ml oil (yep, not a typo!) into the cooking pot to get nice and hot and ready for our meat. Next we chopped up 1kg of beef into big chunks at least half the size of my fist. Don't ask me what cut of beef it was because I can't read those Russian words and the girls in the shop just put the correct meat into my hand. My teacher didn't look at it strangely. The chunks of meat went into the pot to be browned on all sides.

Then we chopped up1 kg onions and put them into the pot with the meat to brown. While they were browning we chopped up 1 kg carrots into straws. These were added to the big pot when the onions seemed 'ready'.

I had bought too much meat so we had to divide our Plov into two pans.

(The reason there are no photos of the earliest part of this lesson is that I forgot! Sorry about that.)

While the meat, onions and carrots were stewing away in the oil, we prepared 1 kg rice. Apparently I had bought low quality rice which needed cleaning - the downside of not being able to read the language. I wonder what else we ate because we couldn't read what the label said! 

We washed the rice and my teacher was fastidious about making sure everything that should be gone was gone. 

Now it was time to add the rice to the pan with 1 litre of boiling water along with 'the flavourings'. I had bought all but the flavourings because it was her responsibility to bring those. And so what were they? Chili powder and mono sodium glutamate! Yep, you got it! In it went! On went the lid and it cooked slowly away for 30 minutes.

Then more of the family arrived to join us to eat our delicious Plov. It was fun. I think I can do it again but I'll be leaving out the msg and finding some other 'flavouring'.

This is my last post for a couple of weeks. I fly to Bangkok again in two weeks for the YFC General Assembly and I expect to blogging again then. Enjoy the break.