Bulgur with Chicken: Homemade Pilaf with Vegetables and Spices

Browning the chicken

1. From personal experience, whichever part of the chicken you cook, bulgur with chicken always turns out delicious. I suggest adding a chili and unpeeled garlic cloves: it won’t come out hot, but the spicy flavor is very pleasant. To tint the grain a golden yellow you can use saffron or marigold petals (a common substitute).

2. Clean the chickens of any feathers and cut them into 6-8 pieces. If you’re cooking a larger chicken, the pieces should be a size that’s convenient to eat.

   

3. In a large skillet with a lid, heat the butter and odorless sunflower oil, as this fat mixture is the best for browning chicken. Add the chicken pieces.

   

4. Without covering the skillet, fry the pieces over medium heat until browned, turning them often. The butter in the fat mixture can burn slightly, so keep an eye on it.

5. When the meat is browned, add a few unpeeled garlic cloves and a hot chili pepper cut into large pieces, if you like.

   

Vegetables and bulgur

1. Peel the onion and carrot. Cut the onion into thick strips and the carrot into rounds.

2. Add the vegetables to the chicken and fry everything together over medium heat until the onion starts to turn a nice golden color. Don’t overfry the vegetables, or the bulgur will have an off taste.

   

3. Measure out the bulgur, add it to the browned chicken and vegetables and stir gently.

   For home cooking we usually buy whole or coarsely cracked grain. Bulgur needs no preparation before use: you don’t have to sort or rinse it.

4. Fry everything together for 3-4 mins, stirring. This is important, because frying makes the grain much tastier.

   

5. Salt the grain, but only a little.

   You can also skip the salt and add 1-2 tbsp light soy sauce along with the water, as it’s salty enough and goes well with the dish.

6. Season with ground black pepper, add 0.5 tsp sweet ground paprika and, if you like, saffron or marigold petals.

   

Simmering and serving

1. Pour 4 cups of hot water (800 ml) into the skillet and stir. To keep the bulgur fluffy, we cook it in twice its volume of water.

2. Once the liquid comes to a boil, lower the heat to low so it barely simmers, and cover the skillet with a lid.

   

3. Cook the chicken and grain covered for about 20 mins, stirring from time to time, as bulgur absorbs water quickly. The grain is ready when all the water has been absorbed.

4. Turn off the heat and, without lifting the lid, let the grain steam for 10 mins so it turns fluffy. After that the dish is completely ready.

   

5. Serve the dish for breakfast while it’s hot. It’s best to make just enough to eat at once.

   At heart this is a kind of homemade pilaf. Variations:

   • you can add cumin and ground coriander to the spices; the flavor will be different, but very pleasant; add barberries if you want;
   • instead of bulgur, rice, buckwheat or well-soaked pearl barley will work;
   • instead of chicken you can use turkey.