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Shah Plov

Name: Shah Plov
Total time: 120 min
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: Azerbaijan
Ingredients: 2 cups Raw rice; 400g Lamb; 6 leaves Lavash (or tortillas); 100g Butter; 1 Onion; 60g Dried Apricots; 40g Raisins; 10 Chestnuts (roasted); A pinch Saffron; 1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder; 2 tsp Salt

Rice

⏱ 120 min

👥 Serves 8

Difficulty ⭐⭐⭐

Rice, meat, and dried fruit wrapped in thin lavash and baked into a crown — an Azerbaijani feast.

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📖 The Story Behind This Dish

Shah plov means 'king's plov,' a lavish dish that takes center stage at Azerbaijani weddings and celebrations. A pot is lined with buttered lavash (thin flatbread) and filled with saffron-tinted rice, lamb, chestnuts, dried apricots, and raisins, then baked. The highlight is cutting open the crown-like crust at the table.

🌆 Where it's eaten: At a wedding hall in Baku, a golden crown of plov is carried out on a platter, and when the knife goes in, colorful rice spills out with the steam.

🥕 Ingredients (serves 8)

Raw rice 2 cups
Lamb 400g
Lavash (or tortillas) 6 leaves
Butter 100g
Onion 1
Dried Apricots 60g
Raisins 40g
Chestnuts (roasted) 10
Saffron A pinch
Cinnamon powder 1/2 tsp
Salt 2 tsp

👩‍🍳 Instructions

Boil the rice about 70% done in salted water and drain. Soak the saffron in 2 tbsp hot water.
Cut the lamb and onion small and fry in a little butter, then add the dried apricots, raisins, chestnuts, cinnamon, and salt and simmer 10 minutes.
Brush the inside of a pot with melted butter and line the sides and bottom with overlapping lavash, letting it hang over the rim.
Layer half the rice, the meat and fruit, and the remaining rice, and drizzle with the saffron water and melted butter.
Fold the overhanging lavash over the top and brush with butter.
Bake at 180°C for 40–50 minutes and turn out onto a platter.

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