Plov is considered one of the crowning dishes of Azerbaijani cuisine. There are three widely recognised types of plov in Azerbaijan - dashma, suzme and dosheme (that loosely translate as ‘overflowing’, ‘filtered’ and ‘layered’ respectively), based on cooking method, richness of ingredients and serving traditions. Among these types of plov, dashma plov is simpler to prepare and is distinguished by its relative antiquity.
One of the most common types of plov in Azerbaijan is suzme plov, which is served with a side dish. This type of plov is cooked by adding melted fat to partly cooked rice and placing a layer of flatbread in the bottom of the pan, then steaming it in pots. Raisins are added to the steamed rice, and red soaked saffron liquid is poured over it. Mutton is fried with dried apricots, chestnuts, plums and fried onions in butter to prepare a separate side dish, which is then placed on top of the plov.
For making plov, people prefer rice varieties such as sedri, akule, enberbu and khan. Depending on the side dish placed on top, there are more than 50 known types of suzme plov.
Below are the ingredients and recipe to prepare this delicious dish:
Ingredients:
- Rice - 100 g
- Table salt - 3 g
- Butter - 30 g
- Lavash (flatbread) - 1-2 pieces
- Saffron - 0.1 g
Side dish
- Mutton - 120 g
- Prunes - 30 g
- Dried apricots - 15 g
- White prunes - 15 g
- Onion - 25 g
- Chestnuts - 50 g
- Butter - 20 g
Topping
- Raisins - 20 g
Preparation
Rice is washed and soaked in salted water for 3-4 hours. The washed rice is boiled in a pot with salted water until half-cooked and then drained. Melted butter is added to the bottom of the pot in which the plov will be prepared. Lavash is divided into pieces and arranged around the bottom of the pot. 2-3 layers of lavash are placed in the pot, with butter in between, while a handful of rice and more butter is added on top.
If you are preparing plov with saffron, then you need to brew the saffron in advance. 1-2 pinches of saffron are added to half a cup of boiling water. It takes about 10 minutes to brew. The saffron infusion is added to the top of the rice after adding and buttering the rice.
The lid of the pot is wrapped in a clean kitchen towel, and the pot is covered tightly with a lid. The pot is kept on a low heat for about 45 minutes.
Side dish
The meat is cut into pieces slightly larger than apricots and boiled, after which the broth is filtered.
Chestnuts and onions cut into long pieces are fried in a pan with butter until they turn golden, at which point the turmeric is sprinkled in. The meat, chestnuts, dried apricots and prunes are then added, salt and pepper are sprinkled in and the filtered broth is added. It is cooked on a low heat for 20-25 minutes. Raisins are fried in another pan and the rice is stacked in a large pile.
A layer of crust (a crispy layer formed at the bottom of the pot) is placed on top, and the fried raisins and hot oil are added.
The sautéed ingredients are served in a separate dish.
Allergens
Mutton, saffron, turmeric, dried fruits.
