Aral Sea Legacy · Fish Plov

Baliqli Osh (Fish Plov)

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The recipe survives from a time when the Aral Sea and its rivers held so much fish that cooks swapped out plov's usual lamb for sturgeon or carp — even though the sea that once fed it has now largely vanished.

Karakalpak fish plov simmers rice with onion and carrot in a broth built around river or lake fish instead of the lamb or beef used almost everywhere else in Uzbekistan, finished with the fish flaked or laid whole over the top. It's cooked in Nukus and along the Amu Darya using fish caught from the river and Karakalpakstan's remaining lakes.

Why it's made this way: Karakalpakstan's identity as the country's fishing region — built around the Aral Sea before its catastrophic shrinking — shaped a version of the national dish unlike any other in Uzbekistan.

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