Pilaf
 Kabuli palaw, a variety of pilaf made in Afghanistan | |
| Alternative names | Polao, pulao, plao, pela, pilav, pilov, pallao, pilau, pelau, palau, polau, pulaav, palaw, palavu, plovas, palov, polov, polo, polu, kurysh, fulao, fulaaw, osh, aş, paloo, piles, kürüch |
|---|---|
| Course | Main |
| Place of origin | West Asia and South Asia |
| Region or state | Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia, South Caucasus, Maritime Southeast Asia, East Africa, Balkans |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredients | Rice, stock or broth, spices, meat, vegetables, dried fruits |
Pilaf (US: /ˈpiːlɑːf/ or pilau UK: /ˈpiːlaʊ, piːˈlaʊ/) is a rice dish, or in some regions, a wheat dish, whose recipe usually involves cooking in stock or broth, adding spices, and other ingredients such as vegetables and meat, and employing some technique for achieving cooked grains that do not adhere.
During the Abbasid Caliphate, such methods of cooking rice first spread across a vast territory from South Asia to Spain, and eventually to a wider world. The Spanish paella, and the South Asian pilau or pulao, and biryani, evolved from such dishes.
Pilaf and similar dishes are common to Middle Eastern, West Asian, Balkan, Caribbean, South Caucasian, Central Asian, East African, Eastern European, Latin American, Maritime Southeast Asia, and South Asian cuisines; in these areas, they are regarded as staple dishes.