Bulgur Pilaf (Jollof Bulgur)

Happy new week people. Hope you had a wonderful and lovely weekend as I did. For those of us in the UK, it was a warm, lovely weekend. Did you have the chance to try out my refreshing tropical lush slush recipe? If you haven't you can find the recipe HERE.You might want to try it on hot summer days 🙂 .

Last week I gave you the bulgur solid (recipe HERE) and today I am giving you another recipe for bulgur wheat.

If you are new to bulgur, read my previous post on bulgur solid (HERE) where I gave information on bulgur wheat.

This recipe is basically like Jollof rice but replacing rice with bulgur wheat.

Preparation time : 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS (Serves 2)

2 cups bulghur wheat ( all recipes on this blog make use of standard measuring cup)

Blended pepper (about 200ml mixture of scotch bonnet (rodo), bell pepper (tatashe), tomatoes and onion)

1 brown onion (sliced)

1 fresh tomato (sliced)

2 bouillon cubes (maggi cubes)

Sliced mixed peppers (optional)

1 cooking spoon sunflower, vegetable or olive oil

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon tomato puree

Chicken broth

Salt

DIRECTIONS

1) Heat sunflower oil in a pot and add blended pepper, maggi cubes, curry powder, thyme, half of the sliced onions and half of the sliced tomatoes. Leave to fry for about 5-10 minutes.

Note: I did not parboil the pepper as the quantity didn't require much water to evaporate and it did not take time for the pepper to fry.

2) Add the tomato purée. The pepper thickens with the addition of tomato puree. Let it fry with the pepper for a minute to two while stirring constantly to avoid burning.

3) Add the chicken broth and 2 cups of water. Cover the pot and bring content to boil.

It is important you do not add too much water as doing this will make your Bulgur pilaf soggy.

4) When this boils, add the already washed Bulgur wheat. Cover with foil before covering with the pot lid and cooking on very low heat.

The foil help locks in the steam and low heat ensures bulgur wheat doesn't burn too quick.

5) After about 10 minutes, open the pot. At this stage, the bulgur wheat should be almost cooked and you will see some of the stew nicely settled on top.

6) Add the remaining half of the sliced onions, tomatoes and the sliced mixed peppers.

7) Use a spoon to turn this with the bulgur wheat while taking care not to get to the very bottom of the pot with the spoon.

8) Cover the pot and leave bulgur wheat to cook for another 5-10 minutes till it's soft.

K's Cuisine recommendation: Don't be tempted to cook with a lot of water. It's best to cook it with steam.This locks in the flavour and makes the bulgur pilaf very tasty.

9) Open the pot and turn the bulgur wheat with spoon.

At this stage my six month old started crying and needed attention so I left the bulgur wheat cooking for a bit longer than I would normally and it burnt a little as one would burn party jollof rice. I wasn't going to let this burn but it ended up doing just that and I totally love the flavour it added to the jollof bulgur wheat so you might want to let it burn just a little 🙂

10) Turn the rice and that's Bulgur Pilaf done Nigerian style aka Jollof Bulgur wheat or Bulgur jollof. Let me know which name you like best for it.

It tasted so good just like jollof rice except that it is small grained. Most people might not be able to tell the difference with a blind taste but some of us the loyal rice club members will be able to tell. lol.

This Bulgur pilaf  and Bulgur Solid are my two favourite ways of cooking bulgur wheat. Plain boiled bulgur wheat with stew is a no no for me and I won't advise you try bulgur wheat that way for the first time.

I served it with barbecue chicken (recipe coming soon) and salad.

You can also serve with sides such as Kelewele  (HERE), Moin moin (HERE) and other sides. Enjoy!

Do try out this recipe and let me know your thoughts. I am still going to bring you the bulgur breakfast porridge recipe as also promised.

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