Plov, also known as pilaf or pilau, is a Central Asian rice dish.
The name of the dish comes from Sanskrit पुलाक pulâka (rice ball) → Hindi पुलाव pulāu / palāu → Pers. پلو polov (cooked rice) → Tour. pilâv (cooked rice) → Rus. plov.
In the 17th century in France, the Miroton dish was created, which was the result of an unsuccessful attempt to prepare Turkish plov according to the descriptions of French diplomats. Only in the 70s of the XIX century the recipe was brought to France from Egypt by the builders of the Suez Canal, who lived in the Ottoman Empire for several years.
Plov with innovations by the Persians, Arabs, Turks, and Armenians was popular in the Middle East and Transcaucasia. Later it was introduced to Israel by Bukharan and Persian Jews.
In XX century the Central Asian versions of the dish spread throughout all Soviet republics and became a part of the Soviet cuisine.