Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Kazakh Plov
The Kazakh celebration pilaf: rice cooked over lamb, sweet carrots and onion in a cauldron until every grain is separate and rich.
Kazakh · medium · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 70 min
~718 cal · 27g protein · 92g carbs · 26g fat · 4g fiber · 5g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Plov is the great communal rice dish of the Kazakh steppe, as celebrated here as anywhere in Central Asia and traditionally cooked by men in a wide cast-iron qazan over fire. Lamb is browned, then onions and carrots build the flavour base, called the zirvak, before the rice is layered on top and steamed undisturbed.
Kazakh cooks favour a light hand with spices, letting the sweetness of carrots and the richness of lamb fat lead, sometimes with chickpeas or a whole head of garlic tucked in. It appears at every wedding, gathering and feast.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1 lb lamb, cubed
3 cups long-grain rice
4 carrots,
3 onions, sliced
1 whole head of garlic
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 cups water
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Rinse the rice until the water runs clear and soak while you build the base.
2
Heat the oil in a heavy pot and brown the lamb well on all sides, then add the onions and fry until golden.
3
Add the carrots and fry a few minutes, then season with cumin, coriander and salt and pour in enough water to just cover. Tuck in the whole garlic head and simmer 20 minutes to make the zirvak.
✎ Chef’s note
Do not stir once the rice goes on: plov is built in layers and steamed, not mixed.
4
Spread the drained rice evenly over the top and add water to sit about a centimetre above the rice. Bring to a boil.
5
Cover tightly and cook on very low heat 25 minutes, then rest 10 minutes. Fold the layers together gently and serve on a platter.
Kazakh celebration table.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Almaty. The city is named for its fruit. The wild forests in the Tian Shan foothills around Almaty grow Malus sieversii, identified by genome studies as the primary ancestor of every cultivated apple in the world, and the name is usually explained from alma, the Kazakh word for apple.
🗺️
Kazakhstan. The steppe pantry is preserved by necessity. Kazy and shuzhuk are horse sausages, the first made from rib meat packed into casing; baursak are squares of fried dough piled up for guests; kumis is mare's milk fermented in a leather or wooden vessel and drunk cold. What ties them together is a herding year rather than a growing season.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kazakhstan
Beshbarmak"Five fingers": boiled meat over wide noodle sheets with onion gravy, Kazakhstan’s dish of honor, eaten by hand.
BaursakFluffy yeasted fried dough puffs served warm with butter, jam, or honey and tea.
KuyrdakA hearty fry-up of meat, potato, and onion, the celebratory dish traditionally made when an animal is freshly butchered.
Browse all Kazakhstan recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Kazakhstan meal
KumisDrink
ZhentDessert
KuyrdakLunch
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Themes
Frequently asked questions
What is Kazakh Plov?
The Kazakh celebration pilaf: rice cooked over lamb, sweet carrots and onion in a cauldron until every grain is separate and rich.
Where does Kazakh Plov come from?
Kazakh Plov is a Kazakh dish from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Can Kazakh Plov be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kazakh Plov recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kazakh Plov safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kazakh Plov take to make?
About 95 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 70 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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