Rice Dishes

🇳🇬Nigeria

Nigerian Fried Rice

Fried rice

Rice fried with curry powder and thyme until it turns yellow-green, with diced liver, prawns, carrot and green beans through it.

🇨🇲Cameroon

Nigerian Jollof Rice

Jollof rice

Long-grain rice cooked down in a blended base of red pepper, tomato, onion and scotch bonnet until the grain absorbs it all and the bottom of the pot catches.

🇯🇵Japan

Ochazuke

お茶漬け

Hot green tea or dashi poured over rice, topped with salmon, umeboshi, or nori.

🇳🇬Nigeria

Ofada Rice and Ayamase

Ofada rice

Unpolished short-grain local rice with a strong fermented aroma, served in banana leaf with ayamase — a green pepper stew bleached in palm oil with assorted meats.

🇰🇷South Korea

Ogokbap

오곡밥

Ogokbap, five-grain rice eaten at Jeongwol Daeboreum with nine kinds of dried vegetable, is a named calendar dish with a hard lunar window.

🇮🇩Palembang, Indonesia

Oily Rice

Nasi Minyak

Palembang-style rice with Arab-Malay influences, cooked with ghee and aromatic spices for special occasions

🇬🇭Ghana

Omo Tuo

White rice cooked soft and pounded into balls, served in groundnut or palm nut soup.

🇯🇵Tokyo, Japan

Omurice

オムライス

Ketchup-flavored chicken fried rice wrapped in a thin omelet, a yōshoku classic from Tokyo.

🇮🇩West Java, Indonesia

Oncom Rice

Nasi Tutug Oncom

Rice mixed with fermented oncom, wrapped in banana leaves, a Sundanese specialty with smoky flavor.

🇯🇵Japan

Onigiri

おにぎり

A triangle or ball of rice wrapped in nori, with a filling like salmon, pickled plum, or kelp.

🇹🇯Tajikistan

Oshi Palav

Оши палав

Rice cooked in a cast-iron deg over lamb, yellow carrot, onion and cumin until the fat coats every grain, served in a mound with the meat on top.

🇸🇾Syria

Ouzi

أوزي

Spiced rice with minced lamb, peas, carrot and nuts wrapped in a thin pastry parcel and baked, then opened at the table.

🇯🇵Japan

Oyakodon

親子丼

Chicken and egg simmered together in sweet soy-dashi over rice, literally 'parent and child bowl.'

🇻🇪Venezuela

Pabellón a Caballo

A Venezuelan variation of pabellón criollo topped with a fried egg, the name meaning 'on horseback', a hearty, comforting, everyday meal.

🇻🇪Venezuela

Pabellón Criollo

White rice, black beans, shredded beef in tomato sofrito and fried sweet plantain arranged in four separate parts on one plate.

🇮🇩West Sumatra, Indonesia

Padang Rice

Nasi Padang

Steamed rice served with various Minangkabau dishes including rendang, gulai, and sambal, served in Padang restaurants.

🇪🇸Valencia, Spain

Paella Valenciana

The original paella from Valencia: short-grain rice cooked with chicken, rabbit, garrofon butter beans, green beans, and saffron over an open wood fire in a wide shallow pan.

🇮🇳Odisha, India

Pakhala

ପଖାଳ

Cooked rice is soaked and lightly fermented in water, then served cool with salt, curd, and fried accompaniments in Odisha.

🇧🇩West Bengal, Bangladesh

Panta Bhat

পান্তা ভাত

Cooked rice left overnight under water so it ferments lightly, eaten cold with salt, raw onion, green chilli and a little dried fish.

🇧🇩Bangladesh

Panta Ilish

পান্তা ইলিশ

Fermented watered rice served cold with fried hilsa, green chilli, onion and salt — eaten at dawn on the Bengali new year.

🇹🇹Trinidad and Tobago

Pelau

Rice browned in caramelised sugar with chicken or beef, pigeon peas, coconut milk and pumpkin, cooked down in one pot.

🇸🇱Sierra Leone

Pemahum

A Sierra Leonean rice dish where seasoned parcels of potato leaves, garden eggs, pepper, and ogiri are wrapped in banana leaves and placed on top of rice as it steams, infusing the grains with aromatic flavour; the name means 'put it on top'.

🇹🇷Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey

Perde pilavı

Perde pilavi, the Siirt "curtain rice" baked inside a butter-glazed dough dome and cut open at table, is a spectacular named dish and a strong collectible.

🇰🇲Comoros

Pilaou

Mahorais Pilao

A fragrant Comorian spiced rice dish with beef, chicken, or fish; the rice is cooked with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, turmeric, saffron, tomatoes, and onions; Arab-influenced, often prepared for special occasions.

🇰🇪Kenya

Pilau

A coastal Swahili spiced rice with meat, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon, a festive and daily classic

🇹🇿Tanzania

Pilau ya Zanzibar

A Zanzibar-style pilau with browned onions, cardamom, clove and cinnamon.

🇹🇷Turkey

Pilav Ustu Doner

Döner served over buttery rice.

🇺🇸Hawaii, United States

Plate Lunch

A Hawaiian meal of rice, macaroni salad, and a protein — from the lunch wagon tradition.

🇸🇭Saint Helena

Plo

A one-pot curried rice dish with meat or fish, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, pumpkin, tomato, curry powder, tomato ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce; the quintessential Saint Helena dish, often served at communal gatherings and Sunday lunch.

🇰🇿Kazakhstan

Plov

Плов

A Kazakh rice pilaf with meat, carrots, onions, and spices, a daily and festive classic

🇹🇲Turkmenistan

Plov (Osh)

Osh / Palov

Rice, meat, carrots, onion, and spices are cooked together in a kazan until the grains are separate and richly flavoured.

🇮🇳India

Poha

पोहा

Flattened rice tempered with mustard seeds, turmeric, peanuts, and curry leaves. A popular breakfast across Maharashtra and Central India.

🇰🇷South Korea

Pounded Rice Cake

인절미

Glutinous rice pounded until elastic and chewy, cut into pieces and coated in roasted soybean powder, a classic Korean rice cake.

🇮🇳India

Puliyogare

पुलियोदरೈ

A South Indian tamarind rice, tangy and spiced, packed for journeys and festivals.

🇴🇲Oman

Qabuli

قبولي

Rice dish with camel meat or chicken, garnished with raisins and nuts, eaten by hand with ghee, fluffy basmati rice with tender meat and sweet-savory balance from raisins, an Omani-style pulao with saffron.

🇶🇦Qatar

Qatari Biryani

برياني

Spiced basmati rice with meat, adapted from Indian biryani using Qatari bzar spice blend — a beloved everyday dish, served at home and at ghabga gatherings.