From Plov to Bakhsh: Essential Bukharian Dishes Still Anchoring Queens Tables

In Forest Hills and Rego Park kitchens—and in Haifa and Holon—Bukharian Jewish cooking still centers on rice, herbs, slow heat, and Shabbat-friendly techniques that traveled the Silk Road.

Writing for My Jewish Learning’s Nosher, Rachel Pakan listed eight dishes that define the tradition. Bakhsh, a green herb rice with finely chopped meat or chicken, can be cooked in a pot or boiled in a bag—an approach long favored for Shabbat. Osh sovo is a slow-cooked, fruity meat-and-rice dish often started before Shabbat and served for Saturday lunch. Osh palov (plov), Uzbekistan’s national dish, layers browned meat, carrots, and onions under rice and frequently appears as a celebration centerpiece with raisins, chickpeas, or garlic.

Other staples include kov roghan (potato wedges simmered with chicken or meat), osh piyozi (stuffed onions with meat and rice), samsa (savory pastries adapted with non-dairy fats for kashrut), cold garlicky sirkoniz, and large steamed manti dumplings.

The Jewish Food Society preserved a family plov recipe shared by Ruti Merom, whose Bukharian line runs from Andijan, Uzbekistan, to Haifa. Her chicken plov uses basmati rice, onions, julienned carrots, and a careful layering method: meat and vegetables are packed flat before soaked rice and boiling water are added, then steamed and aerated until the liquid is absorbed.

Food writers note that Bukharian seasoning tends toward cumin, coriander, turmeric, pepper, and herbs rather than heavy spice heat, with meat used to enrich dishes rather than dominate them. In Queens, those flavors remain everyday fare at kosher Bukharian bakeries and restaurants along corridors often nicknamed “Bukharian Broadway.”

Sources: Nosher / My Jewish Learning; Jewish Food Society (Ruti Merom plov). Image: Adam Harangozó / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.