I volunteered to make Beef Plov for a reunion lunch for our Central Asia tour group, which presented some problems because we would be tied up with our choir for a couple of hours before the reunion.  How could I prepare it and keep it warm.  I decided to use our slow cooker after looking around the internet for ideas.

On Saturday I made a beef and vegetable base including all the spices.  On Sunday morning, I heated up the beef and vegetables and added rice (1.875 American cups = 2.5 Japanese rice cooker cups) of rice and 2.81 cups of water to the slow cooker with a tsp. of salt, stirred it up and set it on high on the kitchen counter while we were at church.  We dropped by our house about 2.5 hours later to pick it up on the way to the lunch.  We found the rice unevenly cooked, and we stirred it.  When we got to the host’s house, we plugged it in to keep it warm, and by the time we served, all the rice was cooked (generally overcooked, although everyone spoke highly of it.)

So, a lesson learned for the slow cooker method (which I saw on some internet commentaries) is to stir the rice midway through cooking.  Also, if possible, I would recommend checking on doneness about every 30 minutes after about an hour, and when done switch to the Keep Warm setting.

Another idea is to use our Japanese rice cooker.  I think the best approach would be to add the rice to the rice cooker, and then to drain the meat and vegetables in a colander and to put the liquid in with the rice, and then to top it up to the mark for the liquid with beef broth.  After the rice has cooked separately, combine it with the meat and vegetables.