Polo (a Central Asian variant on the word pilaf) is a food staple found across Central Asia, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and parts of northwestern China. The different peoples of each region have their own takes, and their own flavors, for the recipe. This recipe is for Uyghur polo, the variant of the dish found in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Uyghur food is on the whole closer in taste to Indian, Persian, or Mediterranean food than it is to conventional Chinese food.
