Uzbek Rice Recipes

Uzbek cuisine — Plov, samsa, lagman — hearty Silk Road cooking from the heart of Central Asia — brings its own distinctive techniques and seasonings to every ingredient it touches. When Uzbek cooks work with rice, they reach for its own regional aromatics, fats and signature spice blends, and the techniques that come up most across these recipes are simmering, boiling, steaming and caramelising.

The everyday grain for half the planet — a neutral base that soaks up the flavours around it, from pilafs to fried rice. In this collection it's most often cooked with fine sea salt, garlic, onion, dill, cumin and cumin seeds. The dishes here span uzbek classics ready in as little as 40 minutes to slower, more involved cooking that rewards a relaxed afternoon.

Reader favourite: Samarkand Plov is the highest-rated dish in this collection at 4.9★ from 1,450 ratings.