Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan’s signature dish “Plov” mesmerized foreigners joining the Plov Festival, organized in Baku with the support of the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

The event was held at the Baku Tourism Vocational School as part of the 3rd Baku International Tourism Film Festival running in the capital on June 1-4.

The guests of the festival were informed about 200 species of plov that available in the national cuisine.

Initially, the guests enjoyed Karabakh region’s dish -- lobia-chilov, which they tasted under the sounds of "Karabakh shikestesi" mugham.

The festival also put on display different kinds of plov from Baku, Shirvan, Guba, Ganja, Shamakhi, Nakhchivan and Lankaran.

Each country has its signature dish, and in Azerbaijan, the “king” of the national cuisine is typically considered to be “plov,” a rice dish.

The country has a huge variety of plov: someone likes plov with cherries, pumpkin, fennel, dried fruits, beans or meat. But one thing unites them, that no one can remain indifferent to the Azerbaijani plov.

Not everyone can boast of a cooking this hearty dish, and for an inexperienced cook it may seem very difficult to prepare, as it should never be sticky.

Every Azerbaijani holiday, whether it is the celebration of springtime – Novruz Bayram -- or a special occasion such as a birthday or other important family event, always includes plov, often called “Ash” here.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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