Valley Specialty · Red Devzira Rice Plov

Devzira Palov

🍚

Photo coming soon

Devzira rice is grown almost exclusively in the Fergana Valley's foothill microclimate — its reddish husk is polished off before cooking, but the grain still carries a faint rosy tint and soaks up oil and spice unlike any other Uzbek rice.

Fergana Valley plov is built on devzira, a dense, oblong rice grown in the valley's foothill villages, cooked with generous oil, whole garlic heads, and — in Andijon's version especially — extra cumin and hot pepper for a spicier finish than plov from other regions. It's the pot of choice at market food rows in Andijon, Farg'ona, and Kokand.

Why it's made this way: Devzira's growing requirements — a closed mountain valley, snowmelt irrigation, particular soil — mean it's genuinely difficult to replicate outside the Fergana Valley, giving the region's plov a rice base other Uzbek cities can't easily match.

Read it in context →

More from Uzbekistan

🥒 Chalop

Plov (Osh/Palov)

Samsa (سمسا)

Non (Uzbek Tandoor Bread)

Shashlik (Шашлык) 🍚 Samarqand Oshi (Layered Plov)

Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.