Plov is a rice pilaf with meat, carrots, onions and spices, tender chunks of meat and fluffy rice with lots of aromatic flavors.
Plov is traditionally made with lamb and is cooked in a huge cooking vessel over an open fire. It is a skill that is passed down through generations and is perfect for holidays and gatherings with lots of people.
Of course, Plov is also prepared on a humble and ordinary stovetop too. It is a beloved dinner and is a reliable staple menu option. It is delicious served immediately, but also reheats very well too, so I tend to make a big batch so I can have a day off from cooking the next day.
Anyway, Plov is a rice pilaf with meat, carrots, onions and spices. It's absolutely delicious - tender chunks of meat, fluffy rice with lots of aromatic flavors given by onions, carrots and garlic. It also has several great spices to kick it up a notch.
Ingredients:
1 ½ - 2 lbs beef chuck, cut into ½ inch pieces
¼-1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
3-4 carrots, peeled and julienned into matchsticks, or shredded
1 ½-1 ¾ cups water, for braising
salt
freshly ground black pepper
2-4 dry bay leaves
1-2 teaspoons cumin
1-2 teaspoons paprika
3 cups long grain rice
1 garlic head
4 cups water, hot, when cooking the rice
Instructions:
Cut the beef, about 1 ½ lbs, into ¾-1/2 inch chunks. It really depends on how big you like your meat. I like it medium sized, so that's the size I use.
Traditionally, lamb is used in Plov. I prefer the taste of beef. You can also use chicken, but if you do, use dark meat, not chicken breast.
Blot the meat dry using a paper towel.
Why? Because the meat needs to sear (get really nicely brown). If you put it in wet, first of all it will splatter in the hot oil and second of all, it will start to steam instead of sear. The golden brown meat will give an awesome flavor to the whole dish.
Using a dutch oven or a large pot, heat about ¼-1/3 cup of oil over high heat until it's smoking hot.
You should have enough oil to generously cover the bottom of the dutch oven.
Add the meat to the oil, and cook for 7-10 minutes, until the meat has a deep golden brown color. 
Reduce the heat to medium and add the two chopped onions to the dutch oven. Cook for 5-7 minutes more, until the onions are tender and slightly golden. 
Add the shredded or julienned carrots, stir to combine and season with salt, pepper, dry bay leaf, paprika and cumin.
Instead of shredding the carrots, you can julienne the carrots or cut them into strips. It's really up to you.
The cumin and paprika will add a lovely golden color to the Plov. They are both very aromatic and punch some real flavor into the finished dish.
Cover the beef, onions and carrots with about 1 ½ -1 ¾ cups of water, enough to barely cover them. Cover with a lid and simmer for about 45 minutes - 1 hour, until the beef is tender.
Don't skip this step, since the meat will be rubbery and chewy if you don't give it enough time to cook into tender and moist chunks.
Meanwhile, if you want an extra precaution, rinse the rice in water, until the water runs clear. I place the rice in a fine mesh sieve and place it over a bowl, fill it with water, rinse, pour out and repeat about 5 times.
The point is to get rid of an extra starch that is on the rice. Starch will make the rice sticky, and for this dish we are trying to achieve fluffy rice, where each granule is separate.
When I use basmati rice, it cooks a little bit quicker than regular long grain white rice. If you use the plain long grain rice, cover it with boiling water and let it stand it in while the beef, onions and carrots are simmering.
This will help to ensure that the rice cooks all the way through. Basmati doesn't need the extra soaking in hot water, otherwise it will overcook and turn into mush. I don't even rinse basmati rice or steep it in hot water either. 
When the beef is tender, drain the water from the rice (if you're soaking it) and place the rice on top of the the beef, onions and carrots. DON'T mix them together. Spread the rice out evenly, and pour in about 4 cups of hot, or boiling water. Season with salt.
Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to medium high heat and keep cooking it, uncovered, until most of the water is absorbed. 
Insert a whole garlic head into the rice, make a few holes in the rice, to help the water cook out faster, (I use the handle of a long wooden spoon to create the holes, cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and cook for another 10-15 minutes, just until the rice is cooked through.
At this point, take out the roasted garlic and mix the whole dish, to incorporate the beef, onion, and carrots with the rice.
You can press some of the roasted garlic through a garlic press and add it to the rice, or used the roasted garlic in flavored butters, Garlic Bread, etc. 
Plov freezes very well too, so you can make a large batch and freeze the extra portions.
To reheat, thaw the Plov, and heat it up, either in the microwave or in a skillet. I like adding a little bit of grated cheese to leftover Plov when I'm reheating it in a skillet. The cheese melts, and becomes a little crisp in some places and adds creaminess and crispness to the dish.
Plov
Plov is a rice pilaf with meat, carrots, onions and spices, tender chunks of meat and fluffy rice with lots of aromatic flavors.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 120 minutes
- Total Time: 145 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Main Course
Ingredients
- 1 ½ - 2 lbs beef chuck (cut into ½ inch pieces)
- ¼-⅓ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 2 onions (chopped)
- 3-4 carrots (peeled and julienned into matchsticks, or shredded)
- 1 ½-1 ¾ cups water (for braising)
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2-4 dry bay leaves
- 1-2 teaspoons cumin
- 1-2 teaspoons paprika
- 3 cups long grain rice
- 1 garlic head
- 4 cups water (hot, when cooking the rice)
Instructions
- Cut the beef, about 1 ½ lbs, into ¾-1/2 inch chunks. Blot the meat dry using a paper towel.
- Using a dutch oven or a large pot, heat about ¼-1/3 cup of oil over high heat until it's smoking hot. You should have enough oil to generously cover the bottom of the dutch oven.
- Add the meat to the oil, and cook for 7-10 minutes, until the meat has a deep golden brown color.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the 2 chopped onions to the dutch oven. Cook for 5-7 minutes more, until the onions are tender and slightly golden.
- Add the shredded carrots, stir to combine and season with salt, pepper, dry bay leaf, paprika and cumin. Cook for about 5 more minutes, until the carrots also become tender. Instead of shredding the carrots, you can julienne the carrots or cut them into sticks, as thick or thin as you like.
- Cover the beef, onions and carrots with about 1 ½ -1 ¾ cups of water, enough to barely cover them. Cover with a lid and simmer for about 45 minutes - 1 hour, until the beef is tender.
- Meanwhile, if you want an extra precaution, rinse the rice in water, until the water runs clear.
- When I use basmati rice, it cooks a little bit quicker than regular long grain white rice. If you use the plain long grain rice, cover it with boiling water and let it stand it in while the beef, onions and carrots are simmering. This will help to ensure that the rice cooks all the way through. I don't rinse basmati rice or steep it in hot water either.
- When the beef is tender, drain the water from the rice and place the rice on top of the the beef, onions and carrots. DON'T mix them together.
- Spread the rice out evenly, and pour in about 4 cups of hot, or boiling water. It should cover the rice by about an 1 -1 ½ inches. Season with salt. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to medium, high heat and keep cooking it, uncovered, until most of the water is absorbed.
- Insert a whole garlic head into the rice, make a few holes in the rice, to help the water cook out faster, (I use the handle of a long wooden spoon to create the holes), cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and cook for another 10-15 minutes, just until the rice is cooked through.
- At this point, take out the roasted garlic and mix the whole dish, to incorporate the beef, onion, and carrots with the rice. You can press some of the roasted garlic through a garlic press and add it to the rice, or used the roasted garlic in flavored butters, garlic bread, etc.
- Plov freezes very well too, so you can make a large batch and freeze the extra portions. To reheat, thaw the Plov, and heat it up, either in the microwave or in a skillet. I like adding a little bit of grated cheese to leftover Plov when I'm reheating it in a skillet. The cheese melts, and becomes a little crisp in some places and adds creaminess and crispness to the dish.
OMG!! This plov taste so much like the uzbekistan restaurant has by my house. Amazing!! Thank you. I no longer need to order from them. 🙂
That's wonderful, Tanya! I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed it.
Hi, Olga! Did you use ground cumin or cumin seeds? Thanks!
Sveta, I used ground cumin.
Hi. Thanks for sharing this recipe! One question, can I replace the cumin with another spice if I don't have it? If so, what spice can I replace it with? If not, where do I buy cumin?
Hi Augustina,
Cumin is a very specific spice for Plov. There isn't another spice that will give it the same flavor and color. If you'd rather not use it, you can omit it.
Silly question but how do you roast the garlic. I have never done that before. Any suggestions!? 🙂
Hi Oksana!
The garlic will roast as it cooks in the rice.
However, if you want to roast garlic separately, you can do you several ways.
My favorite - wrap a whole garlic clove in aluminum foil and roast it in the oven (400 degrees) for 10-30 minutes, depending on the size of the garlic head. You can check for doneness by pressing on the garlic head. If it's soft, it's done.
You can also separate the garlic head into cloves (with the skin on) and place it in a dry skillet. Cook on medium heat until golden on both sides.Once again, check for doneness by pressing on the garlic clove. If it's soft, it's ready. Here's a recipe for Garlic Bread the has more details and photos on roasting garlic.
Hi!! I just came back to tell you I absolutely LOVED this recipe!! I always failed at making yummy plov before. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!!! I am excited to have found it!! May God bless!
I'm so happy to hear that, Sveta! I know the feeling well. I'm so glad this recipe worked out for you too.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I'm finishing up some that i made a few days ago. you're a great chef! =] plov is yummy!
That's great, Olga. I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed it.
Prigotovila i vishlo vkusno. Davno takogo ne ela plova!
Spasibo za recept.
That's wonderful! So glad you liked it, Tatyana.
I came from Kazakhstan and those people know how to make some yummy plov. My mom makes it perfectly so I've been trying to master it myself and I fail :/ I will be trying this recipe though
I bet your Mom makes amazing Plov. I'm sure you will master it soon too. It's in your blood:).
Looks delicious!Except I make mine without garlic.
I've cooked plov many times, and used different recipes, last time i cooked one, the recipe was too overwhelming with fats. i mean, it was leaking fat from the fork, when you eat.. yuck! :-/ I did not like it, at all.
So, this one looks very good and similar to the simple recipes i've done before (i've not used paprika or cumin) - love both, so will add those this time.
I do have a question tho, will plov turn out with brown rice? I've never used it in plovs, and wanted to give it a try, but thought before i ruin the ingridients and kill all that time for nothing, I better ask, as i know it takes MUCH longer to cook...
Hi Oksana K,
Unfortunately, I've never made Plov with brown rice, so I can't help you with that. If you ever try it, let me know how it turns out; I'd love to get some pointers.
If i get brave enough i will try. And for sure will let you know 🙂
I have cooked this recipe with brown rice and it took a LONG time to cook. It didn't cook through by the time the water was gone. So, next time I will have to adjust water as my husband won't eat it with white rice. 🙂
Brown rice will definitely take a lot longer to cook than brown rice. If I were making Plov with brown rice, I would cook the meat and vegetables on the stovetop, but when I add the brown rice, I would cook it in the oven, just like I did in this recipe: Brown Rice in the Oven.
This plov looks delicious, I would love to try it :).
This is so funny. Im coming two Plovs right now....October 2020. One is this one by Olga. And the other is yours Natasha, the Instant Pot version. Both amazing!
I always buy jasmine rice. Do i still have to rinse it? And what about cooking time? When i cook white rice i never rinse and its not sticky. Thanks
Hi Liliya!
Jasmine rice would take the same amount of time to cook.
If your rice isn't sticky when you make Plov, then by all means, don't rinse it.
However, if you meant that the rice isn't sticky when you simply cook it by itself, that is a different story altogether. When I cook plain rice, it's never sticky either.
When you cook Plov you are using additional ingredients and are cooking it with a different cooking method, that's why it tends to be clumpy.
Like I said, some rice doesn't need this extra step. I am talking about rinsing plain long grain rice.
Loved it I made it yesterday it was yummy my husband loved it also, thank u
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Helen. Thank you for taking the time to write.
I love plov. I make mines exactly like yours only I don't add paprika. Will have to try it next time.
Nice! I love comparing recipes with others. I skip the paprika most of the time too:).
Yummy! I love plov, and I will have to try you method of making it. Mine comes out good but I usually make with chicken. Yours just looks more aromatic and I love the color.I think my husband will appreciate the beef ...he loves his meat!
This looks delicious. Mine for some reason usually turns out kind of clumped together and I'm starting to think it's because I don't rinse it well enough? Thanks for the tips!
That could be the reason, Anna. Another reason might be that you're overcooking it. Some rice cooks faster than others. For example, when I use basmati, it cooks much faster. Also, different types of rice has different levels of starch on it. The more starch, the stickier it will be. I recommend using long grain rice. Definitely not medium or short grain rice.(Those are great in rice pudding - risovaya kasha, or risotto.)