Pilaf (also known as pilav, pilau, plov, pulao, polu and palaw) is a dish in which rice is cooked in a seasoned broth. Pilaf can be made with meat, vegetables, herbs, dried fruits. Although the word pilaf is is borrowed from turkish pilav there were mentions of rice and meat cooked together, and the word pulao or pallao is used to refer to the dish in ancient Sanskrit and Tamil works, such as Yagnavalkya Smriti. -Source: Wikipedia