Plov for two pairs of hands

Three hours at one pot do what dinner in a cafe doesn't: people have to stand near each other, quietly and with something to do.

Agree with someone in advance and pick a time when you both have three hours and no rush. Do the shopping together, that's part of it: devzira or laser rice, lamb on the bone, plenty of yellow and red carrot, onion, tail fat or oil, cumin, barberries, a whole head of garlic. Then split the work and don't swap roles: one cuts the carrot into matchsticks by hand, not on a grater, the other minds the pot. The order is fixed: heat the fat, brown the meat to a crust, then onion, then carrot — don't stir it too often or it falls apart; add water, drop in the garlic and cumin, let the zirvak simmer half an hour. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear, lay it in an even layer without mixing it into the meat, pour boiling water two fingers above, and leave it uncovered until the water is gone, then heap it up, cover and don't touch it for twenty minutes. While it rests, lay the table and talk — that's what all of it was for.

What did you talk about at the pot that you don't talk about at the table?