Basmati rice biryani
This basmati rice biryani is about a dish. For the sovereign state, see Palau.
For the Dragon Ball character, see Emperor Pilaf. Not to be confused with Fried rice. At the time of the Abbasid Caliphate, such methods of cooking rice at first spread through a vast territory from South Asia to Spain, and eventually to a wider world. Achaya, the Indian epic Mahabharata mentions an instance of rice and meat cooked together.
Also, according to Achaya, “pulao” or “pallao” is used to refer to a rice dish in ancient Sanskrit works such as the Yājñavalkya Smṛti. Similarly Alexander the Great and his army, many centuries earlier, in the 4th century BCE, have been reported to be so impressed with Bactrian and Sogdian pilavs that his soldiers brought the recipes back to Macedonia when they returned. In doing so, he described the advantages and disadvantages of every item used for preparing the dish. Another primary source for pilaf dishes comes from the 17th-century Iranian philosopher Molla Sadra. Pilau became standard fare in the Middle East and Transcaucasia over the years with variations and innovations by the Persians, Arabs, Turks, and Armenians.
During the period of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian versions of the dish spread throughout all Soviet republics, becoming a part of the common Soviet cuisine. Some cooks prefer to use basmati rice because it is easier to prepare a pilaf where the grains stay “light, fluffy and separate” with this type of rice. However, other types of long-grain rice are also used. The rice is rinsed thoroughly before use to remove the surface starch. Pilaf can be cooked in water or stock. There are thousands of variations of pilaf made with rice or other grains like bulgur. In Central Asia there are plov, pilau on the Indian subcontinent, and variations from Turkmenistan and Turkey.
Kabuli palaw is cooked in large shallow and thick dishes. Armenian recipes may combine vermicelli or orzo with rice cooked in stock seasoned with mint, parsley and allspice. Armenian kinds of rice are discussed by Rose Baboian in her cookbook from 1964 which includes recipes for different pilafs, most rooted in her birthplace of Antep in Turkey. Baboian recommends that the noodles be stir-fried first in chicken fat before being added to the pilaf.
Lapa is an Armenian word with several meanings one of which is a “watery boiled rice, thick rice soup, mush” and lepe which refers to various rice dishes differing by region. Antranig Azhderian describes Armenian pilaf as “dish resembling porridge”. Azerbaijani cuisine includes more than 40 different plov recipes. One of the most reputed dishes is plov from saffron-covered rice, served with various herbs and greens, a combination distinctive from Uzbek plovs. Bangladesh cultivates many varieties of aromatic rice which can be found only in this country and some surrounding Indian states with predominantly Bengali populations.
Historically, there were many varieties of aromatic rice. These included short grained rice with buttery and other fragrances depending on the variety. Over a long span of time many recipes were lost and then reinvented. Since the 1970s in Bangladesh pulao has referred to aromatic rice first fried either in oil or clarified butter with onions, fresh ginger and whole aromatic spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper and more depending on each household and region. This is then cooked in stock or water, first boiled and then steamed. It is finished off with a bit more clarified butter, and fragrant essences such as rose water or kewra water.
