Originating in ancient India, plov (or pilaf) is a traditional dish in Central Asia. It is highly popular in post-Soviet countries, especially the Uzbek-style plov. As a kid, I ate a lot of it. Although meat is a key ingredient in plov, I did veganise it without losing its authentic flavour. The recipe is pretty basic. You can also add raisins, nuts, chili pepper and substitute TVP with seitan, baked tofu, tempeh or chickpeas.
Rinse the rice a couple of times, cover it with fresh water, and leave it to soak for 30 minutes.
Bring 1/2 litre of vegetable stock to boil and cook TVP pieces for 10-15 minutes. Drain and squeeze the water.
Heat a big shallow pan over medium to high heat. Add oil and TVP and fry until it’s golden brown and crispy. Remove from the pan. Add more oil if needed, followed by onions. Sauté the onions until they are browned. Add carrots, TVP, cumin, turmeric, barberries, salt and pepper and continue cooking for a few more minutes.
Drain the rice and spread it evenly on top of the sautéed mixture. Push the garlic head down through the rice layer in the middle. Pour hot vegetable stock carefully. It should be at a level 1 cm (0.4 inch) above the surface of the rice. Cook without a lid for 15 minutes. The liquid on top should be absorbed. Cover with a lid, turn the heat low, and cook until the rice is done.
When rice is cooked, turn off the heat and let it sit for another half an hour. Remove the garlic, stir well and serve.
PrintVegan plov (Rice pilaf)
Veganised Uzbek-style plov (Rice pilaf)
- Prep Time: 30 min
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 min
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 3 1x
- Category: Main course
- Cuisine: Uzbekistan
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup long-grain parboiled rice
- vegetable stock
- 50g TVP pieces*
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 medium carrot, grated
- 1 whole garlic head
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp dried barberries
- oil for cooking
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse the rice a couple of times, cover it with fresh water, and leave it to soak for 30 minutes.
- Bring 1/2 litre of vegetable stock to boil and cook TVP pieces for 10-15 minutes. Drain and squeeze the water.
- Heat a big shallow pan over medium to high heat. Add oil and TVP and fry until it’s golden brown and crispy. Remove from the pan. Add more oil if needed, followed by onions. Sauté the onions until they are browned. Add carrots, TVP, cumin, turmeric, barberries, salt and pepper and continue cooking for a few more minutes.
- Drain the rice and spread it evenly on top of the sautéed mixture. Push the garlic head down through the rice layer in the middle. Pour hot vegetable stock carefully. It should be at a level 1 cm (0.4 inch) above the surface of the rice. Cook without a lid for 15 minutes. The liquid on top should be absorbed. Cover with a lid, lower the heat, and cook until the rice is done.
- When rice is cooked, turn off the heat and let it sit for another half an hour. Remove the garlic, stir well and serve.
Notes
You can substitute TVP (textured vegetable protein or soy meat) with any other protein like seitan, baked tofu, tempeh or chickpeas.
Nutrition
- Calories: 401.5
- Sugar: 6.2g
- Sodium: 888mg
- Fat: 10.2g
- Saturated Fat: 1.5g
- Carbohydrates: 61.9g
- Fiber: 6g
- Protein: 14.6g
This was very good, I had it with the Khoresh Rivas and replaced the barberries with Rasins and I enjoyed it very much. Plus it was easy to make at the same time as the Khoresh Rivas and they looked so pretty next to eachother. I will make this again for sure.
Awesome! I’m so glad you liked it!
Thanks for your feedback, Aurelia.
hi! is the first step of the recipe (“Rinse the rice couple of times and then cover it with fresh water and leave it to soak for 30 minutes”) a step to parboil the rice, or should the rice already be parboiled before that step? never seen a recipe that asks for parboiled rice before, so i’m a bit confused.
Parboiled rice is just the type of rice that we usually use for a plov here. You can use any long-grain rice variety. The rinsing and soaking is needed to remove extra starch so the rice will turn out fluffy.
I hope it helps!
hi! i’m back with more questions! i love this recipe but finds parts of it confusing.
1. when you pour the vegetable stock over everything in step 4, is it the same vegetable stock you used for the TVP in step 2? do you just use the stock that you drained? or new stock? how much stock?
2. the end of step 4 says “Cover with lid, turn down the heat to low and cook until the rice is done.” how do i know that the rice is done?
thank you!
oh, and
3. in step 5, you write to “turn off the heat and let it sit” — do you mean let it sit on that same hot burner, but with the heat off? or do you mean take it off the heat?
Yes, you let it sit on the same hot burner.
thank you! and what about the first two questions?
I’m sorry, I thought I replied.
1. I normally use new vegetable stock, because the one I used to cook TVP usually has a strong TVP flavor.
2. I check the rice after about 20 minutes and taste it. Time can be different, depending on the type of the rice you use.