Shah Plov

Hard·1 hour

A festive showpiece in which saffron rice, lamb, dried fruit and nuts are packed inside a crown of overlapping lavash, then baked until the bread shell turns deep golden and crisp before being dramatically unveiled at the table.

Shah plov (the 'king of pilafs') is a festive Azerbaijani plov baked inside a lavash crust crown — one of the signature dishes of the Baku table.

Your knife cracks through a shatteringly crisp, butter-soaked bread shell into fluffy saffron rice studded with sweet apricots, raisins, soft chestnuts and tender lamb. Each bite balances the buttery crunch of the crust against soft, fragrant grains and bursts of sweet dried fruit.

The butter-soaked lavash crown is both baking vessel and crust: pressed against the hot pot walls, the fat conducts heat straight into the bread so it dehydrates and Maillard-browns into a rigid golden shell that holds the rice dome, while the sealed crust traps steam so the rice finishes by steaming and stays moist yet separate. As is traditional for Azerbaijani plov, the lamb, chestnuts and dried fruit are cooked separately and spooned over the saffron rice, so the grains never turn soggy.

Variations

shah plov with fisinjan walnut-pomegranate sauce, version with chicken instead of lamb, individual mini crowns, version with sweet milk-soaked dough crust

On the Palate

Where Shah Plov sits in the Azerbaijani flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 6

How it's made

8 steps · 1 hour

1
15 min
Parboil long-grain rice in salted water until half-cooked, then drain.
Watch out
Parboil the rice only to half-done — bite a grain and the center should still be firm; it finishes steaming in the pot, so soft now means mush later.
2
15 min
Brown chunks of lamb with onion, then add chestnuts, dried apricots, raisins and a little saffron water.
3
8 min
Brush a deep pot generously with melted butter and line it with overlapping sheets of lavash to form a crown.
Watch out
Overlap the lavash sheets with no gaps and let them drape well over the rim — any hole and the rice leaks out when you invert it.
4
5 min
Layer the parboiled rice and the lamb-fruit mixture inside the lavash-lined pot.
5
3 min
Fold the overhanging lavash over the top and brush with more saffron butter.
6
55 min
Cover and bake in a moderate oven until the bread shell is deep golden and crisp.
Watch out
Bake until the bread crown turns deep golden and sounds crisp when tapped — a pale, soft shell will collapse and won't hold the dome.
7
5 min
Rest briefly, then invert the pot onto a platter to reveal the bread crown.
8
4 min
Cut into wedges so each serving shows crust, rice and filling.