Oshi Palav – the 'King of Meals', is a traditional dish of Tajikistanic communities, based on a recipe that uses vegetables, rice, meat, and spices – though there are as many as 200 different varieties.
The dish is important to communities in Tajikistan with sayings such as “no Osh, no acquaintance” or “You must respect someone for 40 years if you have eaten Osh from them.” Individuals or small groups cook the dish either in their houses or at teahouses while socializing or listening to music and singing.
This ubiquitous dish played a role during the civil war in Tajikistan in the 1990s when warring factions tried to reach an agreement over the country's fate while sharing a plate of 'oshi palav' together.
In 1997, an agreement was reached under UN auspices that were known as 'oshti-ye millli'. It was a word used in Tajik to refer to 'reconciliation'. However, although difficult to translate into English, it has the meaning of 'bridging the gap' in social or communal differences.
The dish is eaten communally on a single large plate placed in the center of the table, often with one's hands – in the traditional way. Oshi palav also can be enjoyed at regular mealtimes as well as social gatherings, celebrations, and rituals. It is considered to be an inclusive practice that aims to unite people of different cultural backgrounds.
There are three steps to the preparation of oshi palav: frying the main ingredients, preparing the zirbak (in which rice is cooked), and simmering the rice. They each have their own timing, and the oshi palav is cooked in cast iron pots. Over the course of its centuries-long development history, different types and varieties of oshi palav have evolved among Tajik people, each unique to the additional ingredients used.
As soon as an apprentice masters oshi palav, the apprentice often hosts a dinner for trainers and guests where the trainer is presented with traditional clothing and a skullcap, while the apprentice is presented with a skimmer (a tool for cooking oshi palav) symbolic of their independence.
Pilaf and similar dishes can be found in the cuisines of the Balkans, Caribbean, South Caucasians, Central Asians, East Africans, Eastern Europeans, Latin Americans, Middle Easterners, and South Asians.
In addition to being passed down through families, knowledge and skills are transmitted through cooking schools by masters to apprentices. Today Palav, is served in different varieties at home and in public restaurants.