Pourgouri pilafi

Ingredients

The bulgur

• 400 gcoarse bulgur
• pourgouri
• rinsed briefly

The base

• 1onion, finely chopped
• 60 gvermicelli
• broken into short pieces
• 3 tablespoonsolive oil
• or butter
• 2tomatoes, grated
• or 2 tablespoons tomato paste

The liquid

• 700 mlchicken or vegetable stock
• salt
• black pepper
• 1cinnamon stick, optional

To serve

• thick yoghurt
• and a tomato salad

Directions

1. Check the packet before buying. It should turn deep golden brown. Stir it constantly as it toasts. Take it off the heat at deep gold. It takes up every bit of the stock. Rinse the bulgur briefly in cold water. Rinse it rather than soaking it. Soaking makes it absorb too early.
2. Drain the rinsed bulgur thoroughly. Some cooks do not rinse it at all. Heat the oil or butter in a pot. Add all the broken vermicelli. Use a medium heat rather than high. Stir it constantly as it toasts. It colours unevenly if left still. Take it off the heat at deep gold. Add the chopped onion to the pot.
3. Cook it for about five minutes. It also stops the vermicelli darkening. Add the grated tomato or paste. Cook it for about three minutes. Cook the paste out if using it. Add the drained bulgur to the pot. Stir it through the whole mixture.
4. Coat every single grain in the fat. That keeps the grains separate. Pour in all of the hot stock now. Use hot stock rather than cold. Cold stock stops the cooking dead. Heat the stock before it goes in. Season it with salt and black pepper. Add the cinnamon stick if using it. It gives a warm background note. Bring the whole pot right up to a boil.
5. Cover it with a tightly fitting lid. The lid must fit down tightly. Steam escaping means dry bulgur. Put a cloth under a loose lid. Cooking it takes about fifteen minutes. Let it cook for about fifteen minutes. Do not lift the lid at all during it.
6. Take it off the heat after fifteen minutes. Leave it covered for ten more minutes. They also firm up and separate. Use a fork rather than a spoon. Lift it from the bottom upward. Remove the cinnamon stick as you go. Judging it takes a careful look.
7. Adjust it next time from that. Serving it is always done hot. Spoon it out into a serving dish. Serve thick yoghurt alongside. Serve a fresh tomato salad with it. It keeps three days refrigerated. Steam it rather than stirring it hot.

Technique

• Use coarse bulgur rather than fine: fine bulgur only needs soaking and turns to mush in a pilaf, where coarse needs proper cooking. Using the wrong grade ruins the dish, so check the packet.
• The vermicelli is toasted in fat until deep golden brown before anything else goes in, and that toasting is where the flavour comes from — untoasted vermicelli adds nothing. Stir constantly over a medium heat, take it off at deep gold since it darkens further from residual heat, and watch closely: burnt vermicelli tastes bitter and that spreads right through the pilaf.
• It cooks by absorption at roughly one part bulgur to one and three quarters liquid by volume, with the lid on throughout and no lifting it — that releases the steam that cooks it. Then rest it covered off the heat for ten minutes, which lets the grains finish and firm up; opening it early gives wet bulgur.

Substitutions

• Grated fresh tomato gives a fresher flavour and tomato paste a deeper darker one; both are genuinely used, and cook the paste out if using it.
• A cinnamon stick gives a warm background note and is removed before serving; some cooks use none at all.

Variations

• Cyprus keeps cracked wheat rather than rice as its default grain, which is a genuine regional difference — durum grows locally and bulgur, being parboiled and dried before cracking, stores well and cooks fast.
• Use hot stock rather than cold, since cold stock stops the cooking and makes the timing unreliable.
• Fluff it with a fork rather than a spoon, lifting from the bottom upward, which separates the grains without crushing them.

History

Cyprus keeps cracked wheat rather than rice as its default grain, milled from local durum.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pourgouri pilafi?

Pourgouri pilafi is a salad & side from Cyprus: bulgur pilaf toasted with vermicelli and tomato, served with yoghurt. Cyprus keeps cracked wheat rather than rice as its default grain, milled from local durum.

How long does Pourgouri pilafi take to make?

Pourgouri pilafi takes 15 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Pourgouri pilafi?

Yes, within limits. Grated fresh tomato gives a fresher flavour and tomato paste a deeper darker one; both are genuinely used, and cook the paste out if using it. A cinnamon stick gives a warm background note and is removed before serving; some cooks use none at all.

What is the most important thing to get right in Pourgouri pilafi?

Check the packet before buying. It should turn deep golden brown. Stir it constantly as it toasts. Take it off the heat at deep gold. It takes up every bit of the stock. Rinse the bulgur briefly in cold water. Rinse it rather than soaking it. Soaking makes it absorb too early.