  Chicken Pulao with Pumpkin Recipe  Makes: 6 servings  The
Uighurs share with their close cousins the Uzbeks a delicious
pulao tradition. Pulao or pilaf is the name for a rice dish that
is cooked together with flavorings, most often including meat,
and water, to make a generous one-dish main course. It’s a dish
of celebration, for rice is a luxury food in the oases of
western China, while bread and noodles are the everyday foods.
The pulao idea seems to have spread out from the sophisticated
cuisine of Persia (Iran), radiating east along the Silk Road and
west into Arab-held lands (and eventually through the Arabs to
Spain, where it became paella). It also traveled south into
Afghanistan and eventually to the Indian Subcontinent with the
Mogul invaders. Along the way, it was adapted to local
conditions in interesting ways.  In Uighur hands, pulao is most
often cooked in a q’azan, a wide shallow wok-like pan. We use a
wide heavy pot or sometimes a very large wok. As with paella or
risotto, the flavor base co