The Bulgar Bugle

This is an OKLAHOMA CITY Treat.

So there I was yesterday, thinking about dinner.  Bulgar was on the menu, but it was time for something new.  The coop’s May order is approaching and I need a new recipe for my producer notes this month.

Back when I bought a lot of supermarket foods, one of the staples of my shopping cart was “Rice-a-Roni: the San Francisco Treat!”  Something brought that memory up from the depths of my long-term brain archive, and I thought, “That’s it — I’ll make ‘bulgaroni’”

So I sauteed some onions and shitaake mushrooms and shredded carrots in olive oil in a cast iron skillet.  I added two cups uncooked unsifted bulgar, and 1/2 cup vermicelli broken into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces and sauteed the vegetable/bulgar/pasta mixture a few minutes.  Then I added 5 cups beef broth from the freezer, 2 teaspoons of my infamously Hotter than Hades Habanero Sauce, and brought the mixture to a boil. 

I put the cover on the skillet (it’s actually a “dutch oven skillet” and popped it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Voila, a brand new dish was born – bulgaroni, and it was quite tasty as a side dish with ham and baked carrots.   It would be quite tasty as a main dish.  I can imagine adding some fried hamburger, or cooked turkey or chicken (with turkey or chicken broth instead of the beef), or more assorted vegetables and a vegetable stock for my friends who are vegans or vegetarians.

The next time I do this I am going to increase the amount of pasta.  The original Rice-a-roni version is equal parts rice and pasta.  In my recipe, just as you add twice the amount of broth as you do bulgar, I added twice the amount of broth as I did pasta, so 2 cups unsifted bulgar and 1/2 cup pasta called for 5 cups broth.  I also think it is important to saute the bulgar and pasta.

Perhaps I should call this bulgarcelli, since I used vermicelli pasta.

Turkey - potato - carrot - onion - cabbage — bulgar - whole wheat

So I took a cup of whole wheat flour, added a teaspoon of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, then 3/4 cup of yesterday’s soup (it was a thick, not a thin soup), plus 1/4 cup yogurt. 1 egg, and let it sit for about 20 minutes.  I heated up the deep fryer (bought for $2 at a garage sale) and dropped the mixture by spoonfuls into the batter and fried them until they were done.  Very tasty, kind of like a hush puppie.

Since the first batch was a success, I added some diced turkey (a farmer gave me a turkey recently, which I cooked last week).  Voila!  Turkey - potato - carrot - onion - cabbage — bulgar - whole wheat fritters!  If you fix these, people will write home to your mother and thank her for raising such a wonderful person.

The consistency of the batter, by the way, is thicker than a thick pancake batter, but it is not like a biscuit dough. 

I suppose if I added more yogurt, and made a runny batter, it would make “turkey - potato - carrot - onion - cabbage — bulgar - whole wheat” funnel cakes, but that will be an experiment for another evening.

It’s been a cold and damp day.  I helped deliver food parcels at 5 public housing locations today.  Got home tonight, no particular plans for supper.  It’s a Friday in Lent, so let’s see what I have.  Potatoes, carrots, cabbage. . . and bulgar of course.  So I shredded two carrots and chopped half an onion, and put them in the electric skillet with a dab of olive oil.  I put some water on to boil, added 1 cup bulgar, 4 finely chopped potatoes (unpeeled), and about half a head of finely chopped cabbage.  About then the onions and carrots were done, so I put them in along with some black pepper and garlic powder and once it was boiling, I turned it down to a slow simmer and read email and worked on the delivery lists for Saturday’s food deliveries to the poor.  After about an hour,  I checked the soup, it seemed ready, so I took the mixer and blended it up a bit, added some milk and shredded cheese, warmed it back up, and had a very satisfying and simple evening meal with some rye bread toast.

I’m thinking that Saturday the leftovers will make a nice sauce for a casserole.  The bulgar added a very tasty texture to the soup.

I already have a bulgar and brisket recipe here, but this is another variation on the theme.

• 3 cups uncooked bulgar
• 3 cups beef stock
• 3 cups water
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed
• 1 teaspoon caraway seed
• chopped mushrooms
• left over brisket, chopped in chunks
• Small can of tomato sauce

Put the onion, mushroom, caraway and cumin seeds in a skillet in 2 tablespoons of olive, saute until the onions are starting to clear, then add the uncooked bulgar.  Continue to cook until the bulgar has started to change color (a little darker) and it smells a bit like roasted nuts. Put the stock and water into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Put the bulgar/onion/mushroom mixture into a baking pan, add the chunked brisket and the boiling hot broth.  Add a small can of tomato sauce.  Cook in a 350 oven for 30-45 minutes, until all the liquid is absorbed.  Voila, bulgar and brisket!

It’s winter, and one of the staple winter veggies is the Turnip.  For some reason, many Americans seem to have a prejudice against turnips.  I don’t know why, because the turnip is nutritious, tasty, and fun to cook with.  This morning I made turnip cakes for breakfast, using some left-over mashed turnips from last night’s dinner.

• 1 cup mashed turnips (serve mashed turnips for dinner the night before you plan to make this breakfast, be sure to make enough so that you have left-overs for breakfast).
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup yogurt cheese (or yogurt, or buttermilk, or milk with a teaspoon of vinegar)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg, beaten

Mix the ingredients, fry in oil in medium hot skillet.  This makes a fairly thick pancake, if you like a thinner pancake, add a bit more liquid.  I did not add any oil to the recipe, only to the pan for frying, because I had mashed the turnips last night with butter.

Serve with just a bit of jam on top.  I used raspberry, made by a local farmer, that I got through the Oklahoma Food Coop.

This makes about 12 dollar size pancakes.  It would make more if you make a less thick batter.

This was a very bon appetitin’ breakfast.

Anyone of a culture that derives from the American South knows the absolute importance of eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day.  Here’s an easy and very tasty way to start the New Year out right that is a bulgarish twist on the traditional “Hoppin’ John recipe.

Before you go out to party on New Year’s Eve, take out your crock pot, and fill it with:

• 1 lb dried black-eyed peas
• 1 cup uncooked bulgar
• Ham bone or chunks of ham or a hamhock or two or some bacon and/or enough broth or stock to fill the pot
• Seasonings to taste — I always add sauteed garlic and onions and my infamous Habanero sauce.

Turn the crockpot on low, cover, and leave it on overnight.  In the morning you wil have wonderfully seasoned, tender, black-eyed peas and bulgar.  If you have some frozen cooked greens in your freezer, heat them up and stir them in with the cooked peas and bulgar and you will double your abundance in 2009, since greens are another Southern tradition for New Year’s eatin’.

This possibly could be the ultimate comfort food for a cold winter night.

• 1-1/2 cups cooked salad bulgar (bulgar that has been cooked in fruit juice),
• 2 cups milk, divided 1-1/2 cups, and 1/2 cup
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2/3 cup dried fruit (I used raisins and cranberries, if you use a larger fruit like apricots, chop into small pieces)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla exrtact
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon butter

Put the cooked bulgar in a saucepan with 1-1/2 cups milk.  Add the dried fruit and honey.  Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes.  The fruit will plump and the mixture will become a bit creamy.  In a cup or bowl, beat the eggs with 1/2 cup milk.  Add to the rest of the ingredients, stir well.  Heat until it starts to bubble, then for 2-3 more minutes until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat, add the butter, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Serve hot or cold.

I pulled the ingredients for this soup out of my freezer and pantry and it has simmered to the point delectibility.

• 1 pint beef broth
• 1 pintcabbage broth
• 1 pint bean soup
• 1 quart package of cooked stew meat (left-over from the last stock-making day)
• 1 cup bulgar
• 1 can rotel
• 2 cans diced tomatoes

I add the frozen ingredients to the pot while still frozen, poured in the rotel and diced tomatoes, and turned the burner on low.  I added some garlic and onion powder.  A couple of hours later. . . Voila, cheap, easy, nutritious, and oh-so-tasty soup.

This is a great tasting and nutritious dessert that is based on a traditional baked rice and custard pudding.  Use “Salad Bulgar” — which is bulgar that has been cooked in fruit juice (like orange or apple juice instead of a meat or vegetable stock).

• 4 eggs, beaten
• 3 c. milk
• 4 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 c. cooked bulgar
• 1/2 c. raisins (dried cranberries are nice too)

Combine all ingredients.  Pour into a 2 1/2 quart baking dish. Set this baking dish in a larger pan of water in the oven. Bake at 300 degrees for about 1 hour. After first 30 minutes, insert spoon at edge of pudding and stir from bottom. Bake until knife inserted near center of pudding comes out clean. Don’t overbake, the over-baked custard yields a bit of water when spooned into a serving dish.  Serve hot, warm or cold. Serves about 6 to 8.

In my post on Chicken Fried Turkey, I mentioned frozen turnip greens.   

I bought a lot of turnip and mustard greens on the November coop order, and cooked them all in a big pot, portioning them into six meal-sized packages in the freezer.  I just pulled one out, popped the frozen mass of greens into a pot, set it on low, and went about the business of the rest of dinner, and when it was ready, so were the greens.

How did I cook them?  First I washed and chopped them, and ripped out some of the stalks that seemed particularly woody.  I then put them in a large pot, with a bit of oil, 8 chopped cloves of garlic, one chopped onion, and some shaved ham from Colpitts Pine Ridge Ranch in eastern Oklahoma.  I sauteed them until they were wilted, then I added some chicken stock, 1/8 cup brown sugar, and some habanero sauce, brought the pot to a boil, turned it down to a simmer, and let it simmer a couple of hours.  That’s the way I like my greens, served with a dash of vinegar.

To freeze them, I simply scooped meal-size portions into freezer containers, and poured some of the pot likker over that, sealed them and popped them in the freezer.