Burundian Bulgur Wheat & Chicken: Boko Boko Harees

Burundi is a country just into the eastern half and just into the southern half of Africa. It has a population of between 11 and 12 million. Burundi is a relatively small country with Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda being its immediate neighbors. The main language of Burundi is Kirundi, but both English and French are spoken, to varying degrees of fluency, by parts of the population. It was a colony of Germany in the later part of the 1800s, but control went to Belgium in the aftermath of World War One, and Burundi gained independence in 1962. Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world, and perhaps, it is THE poorest country in the world.  

 

I have made this dish a couple of times and the first time I followed "some guidelines" from many of the recipes I looked at prior to deciding to do this recipe. Most gave specific water measurements that were used during the preparation of the dish, but I found that they didn't completely work and that it was better to use specific measurements in some cases, but also to use some less than specific measurements in other cases. The thing to remember is, you aren't making soup, so you don't want to end up with runny bulgur; on the other hand, you aren't making dough that you can roll out. The bulgur should end up pretty thick, like a thick porridge, but if you still have a little water, you won't turn into a pumpkin or a butternut squash (I figured I'd give you a choice... haha). You want to cook the dish like you would cook rice; that is, over low or very low heat, to prevent sticking or burning.

 

There are also similar bulgur dishes found in some other African countries, especially in neighboring countries to Burundi, and there are variations to recipes, even within Burundi, especially regarding the meat, as fish or mutton is also sometimes used, but it seems many Burundians seem to prefer chicken. Burundians often serve this dish with some beans (seasoned with onion and some spices) on the side.

Ingredients (in my judgment, easily serves 4 or 5):

2 cups bulgur wheat

water (see instructions below)

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 onion (baseball size), grated

3 inch piece of peeled ginger, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons butter 

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

 

For the giblets:

 

15 gizzards and hearts, chopped (I put the raw giblets into a chopper and coarsely chop them)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 

1 1/2 tablespoons ground turmeric

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water

 

See instructions below for preparation ...

 

For the onion rings:

 

1 medium onion cut into rings

2 tablespoons butter  

  

See instructions below for preparation ...

Soak the bulgur wheat for two hours in enough water to just cover it. After two hours, much or all of the water will be absorbed. In a heavy bottom pan, add the soaked bulgur, then the chicken breast, grated onion, chopped ginger, minced garlic and fresh water to an even level with the bulgur, cover with a lid or foil and cook about 45 minutes over low or even very low heat (like when cooking rice), until the chicken is tender. Temporarily remove the chicken to a plate and cut the cooked chicken into small pieces and then add it back and mix it into the bulgur. Stir in 1 1/2  teaspoons of salt and just 2/3 cup water, then top with 3 tablespoons of butter. Leave uncovered and cook a further 20 minutes (low/very low heat), stirring occasionally. In a small separate pan or skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the chopped giblets, sugar, turmeric, pepper, salt, and saute for 2 minutes, then add 1/2 cup water. Let come to a steady simmer, adjust heat to maintain that steady simmer, then cover and cook until the chopped giblets are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes, adding a little more water, if the mixture begins to become too dry. Peel and then cut the medium onion into 1/2 inch thick slices. Separate the slices into rings. In another skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat and then add the onion rings and saute them, turning often, until the rings are lightly browned. For each serving, dish up a scoop or two of the bulgur and chicken, spoon some chopped giblets over the bulgur, then top the giblets with a few fried onion rings. 

 

  

WORD HISTORY:

Euphemism-The first part of this word, "eu," is distantly related to "am" and "is," both from the Germanic roots of English, and it is related to the first part of "eugenics," a word (the whole word) developed in English, from Greek, and also to "eulogy," another Greek-derived word borrowed from Latin, which had gotten it from Greek. The main body of "euphemism" is related to a number of words, for example: "ban" (both the noun and verb forms), from the Germanic roots of English, to the second part of "blasphemy," a word of Greek derivation borrowed by Latin and borrowed by English via Latin-based French, and "fame," a word of Latin-derivation borrowed by English via French. The "eu" part goes back to Indo European "(e)su" or "(he)su," an extended form of Indo European "es" ("to be"), and "esu/hesu" had the notion of "good," with extended meanings of "favor, prosperity, good fortune." This gave Ancient Greek "eus," meaning "good" and "eu" meaning "well, well off." The second part, "phemism," goes back to Indo European "bha/bhe," which had the notion, "to speak, to say, to utter, to tell." This gave transliterated Greek "phanai" ("to speak), which then produced the noun "pheme," meaning "speech, voice, talking." These parts gave transliterated Greek "euphemizein," which meant, "to use good words in place of words of bad omen," which produced the noun "euphemismos," meaning "the replacement of words of bad omen with acceptable words," which later broadened to "replacement of offensive words with more acceptable words." English borrowed the word in the mid 1600s as "euphemism."