Uyghur polo

Uyghur polo, also written polu, is a rice dish with carrots and meat, including lamb preparations. Scholar and translator Elise Anderson records a version learned from Gulnisa Nazarova in Bloomington, Indiana. She calls it qara polu, referring to the darker colour of the finished rice, and describes its onion, garlic and cumin seasoning as a Uyghur-Uzbek hybrid.^[1]

In that method, onions are cooked in oil before lamb and carrot sticks are added. Water, salt and cumin follow, with whole garlic heads cooked in the pot. The meat and garlic are temporarily removed while rinsed rice is layered over the carrots; they then return above the rice for the covered cooking stage. The carrots are mixed through at the end, and meat and garlic placed on top. Anderson serves her version with a vinegary salad or yoghurt and notes that other preparations can include dried fruit.^[1]