This Saffron Rice Is Packed with Chicken and Wrapped in Buttery Flatbread

Chicken and rice is one of those flavour combinations so perfect, variations of it can be found in almost any cuisine. We have Hainanese chicken from China, Valencian paella, chicken biryani from India, and … erm, Nando's chicken and Spicy Rice?

And then, of course, there is Azerbaijani shakh plov, the flatbread-encased rice mountain stuffed with spices, dried fruits, and chicken.

Plov is eaten across the Caucasus but this Azerbaijani version comes from London chef Olia Hercules, who developed the recipe after taking a culinary road trip through Ukraine, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. It takes a little more time and effort than boil-in-the-bag rice, but the end result is, in Hercules' own words, "a regal dish."

RECIPE: Shakh Plov

To make this plov fit for a prince, first construct the filling by frying shredded chicken thighs in clarified butter, along with shallots, saffron, and dried apricot and cherries. This mixture is then added to an ovenproof pan layered with butter-dipped lavash—a type of unleavened flatbread. On top of that goes basmati rice and the overhanging lavash is folded to form a lid.

Finally, the plov is cooked in the oven for 40 minutes. After that, you'll need to tip it out onto a plate—upside down cake-style—so that it stands as a majestic, crispy lavash-skinned pie. Slice into it and layers of rice, fruits, shallots, and saffron strands will tumble out in a delicious, fragrant cascade.

Is there anything chicken and rice can't do?