Bulgar Wheat
Quick version:
- Bulgar wheat, the dark kind with husks
- 2 big fresh carrots
- Broccoli
- bean sprouts
- Fresh garlic
Cook bulgar wheat in chicken broth with pepper and garlic cloves.
Sautee big carrot slices and broccoli with salt, pepper, sazón Goya,
just enough so they're not raw; don't let them get soft.
At the last minute add bean sprouts and some garlic to the pan.
Mix everything together at end.
More ambitious version:
Ingredients:
- 1 48-ounce box of chicken broth, not salt-free, e.g. Kitchen Basics
- 2 cups of bulgar wheat
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 1 bunch of broccoli rabe or broccolini if available
- 1 big yam
- 1 big batata (or if you can't find it, use red potatoes)
- several large carrots
- 1 big red sweet pepper or 2 regular ones
- fresh mushrooms
- Garlic - 4 or 5 big cloves, sliced
- Steak in thin strips (the kind that's pre-cut-up for making pepper steak)
- Sea salt
- Black pepper freshly ground (the McCormick's grinders are good)
- Sazón Goya Culantro Achiote
- Tamari sauce (or Kikkoman low-sodium soy sauce if you can't find Tamari)
- Worcesterchire sauce
- White wine (optional)
- Put olive oil in cooking pot, heat it, and then add the
bulgar wheat, stir it around with wooden spatula until it
gets a bit toasted.
- Add 2 cups chicken broth, stir, bring to boil, then
cover and simmer 12-15 minutes.
- While the wheat is simmering, scrape the carrots, peel the
yam and the batata.
- Cut all of those into 3/4-inch chunks.
- Pull the cauliflower apart, keeping the leaves and the stem.
Slice the thick parts.
- Put olive oil in the big stock pot with thick bottom, put on
high heat, and throw all of the above. Put salt and ground
pepper, stir around with wooden spatula to get everything
coated. While doing the next part, come back and stir from
time to time so everything browns but nothing burns.
- Then turn off the flame under the big pot while you do the
next parts.
- Scrub the red peppers and cut into 3/4-inch squares.
- Put olive oil in a big frying pan, put on high heat, put in
the peppers, add salt, ground pepper, and an envelope of Sazón
Goya. Sautee until there are some black parts, then dump them
into the other pot.
- Now put the sliced mushrooms in the same pan and sautee them.
Add salt, ground pepper, another envelope of Sazón Goya. Don't
let them get soft, just make sure they are browned. At the last
minute put some white wine (or chicken broth) and throw in some
of the garlic slices for just a few seconds (don't ever let garlic
burn). Then dump the mushrooms into the big pot.
- When the kitchen timer goes off, check the bulgar wheat. If
there is liquid left, give it another minute or two but keep an
eye on it. When the liquid is gone (but before it burns!), turn
off the heat, un-chunk it, chop it up, fluff it, etc, so it
doesn't form a big clump. Then just let it sit until needed.
- Throw the broccoli into the big pot (the broccoli goes
in last so it won't get mushy). Add some chicken broth, stir
everything up with the wooden spatula, and turn on a low
flame. Taste and adjust seasoning. Then cover.
- Put the steak in the same frying pan with high heat. Season
with salt and ground pepper. It only needs to be sauteed for
about a minute. At the end throw in the rest of the garlic
slices but don't let them burn.
- Dump the steak in the big pot, with all juices and garlic from
the frying pan, mix everything well, give it a taste. If it
seems bland, add a few dashes of Worcestershire and some
Tamari, mix and taste again. Check the carrots, batata,
cauliflower, etc, to see if they are still too hard. If so,
let the pot simmer some more, covered. The important thing is
to keep all the vegetables from turning into mush. Turn off
the heat while the vegetables are ALMOST cooked, because it
will continue to cook by itself a little more from its own
heat.
- After turning off the heat, mix in the bulgar wheat.
Yield: 8 dinners, about 16 ounces each. Hint: put them in those
plastic single-serving Chinese takeout containers. Then just
pop each one in the microwave when it's time to eat.
WHY STRIP STEAK? Because it's not "plumped" with water and
animal by-products, like chicken is, nor with Pink Slime, like
ground beef. It's lean, pretty cheap, and cooks fast. This
recipe would be good with chicken or ground beef that was
additive-free, if you could find it.