Armenian-style chicken and bulghur (bulgur)

[lagatta]

This is interesting, but I don't think "dried basil" is the most appropriate of spices or herbs. This recipe dates back to 1984. I think it needs a bit more aromatic (not hot) Middle-Eastern spicing. Poor author, named Capon, and writing chicken recipes...

New York Times
Dining & Wine: Recipes
Armenian-Style Chicken And Bulgur Wheat
By ROBERT FARRAR CAPON
Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil (or more, to taste)
2 cups chicken stock or water
6 leg-thigh pieces of chicken, skinned and cut apart
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 cup bulgur wheat
1/2 cup broken walnut pieces
2 tablespoons dried basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preparation

1.
Saute onion in butter in a pot until onion is wilted. Add stock, chicken pieces and salt; boil, cover and simmer over very low heat for 20 to 25 minutes.
2.
Add bulgur wheat, walnut pieces, basil and pepper; stir to mix well, cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat and allow to stand 10 minutes, covered and undisturbed, in a warm place. Fluff bulgur before serving.

YIELD
6 servings

[fumobici]

I don't think I've had or used dried basil since 1990-something. We didn't know any better back then.

[lagatta]

I don't think I've ever used it. On the other hand, some dried oregano is actually very good, especially from Greece.

I made something similar early this morning. I had some of the coarse bulgur, which is sort of cracked wheat, already cooked, and had roasted a couple of good - and large - chicken legs. I added red onion and very finely sliced red sweet pepper, then green beans sautéed with garlic, as well as some edamame (the beans and edamame were frozen, but the frozen beans I had were of the very fine calibre); different aromatic spices including cumin. No dried basil!

The chicken is "pulled" but not as reduced to filaments as pulled pork is.

I doubt I'll eat this tonight, but it is going into the rotation - I try to have about three different dishes.

[Deleted]

Spices and herbs must have been rare in NYC back then. There are almost no ingredients.

However, one thing shocks me more than anything else. I know that the American Food Police have long demanded that chicken be skinned, but I certainly cannot imagine Armenians (or just about any other European) getting rid of the most flavourful part of a chicken before cooking it.

I'm sure that I still have a jar of dried basil in the cupboard, but it probably dates from 1981 when I inherited all of the non perishable foods that my parents left behind when they moved back to the United States. Every now and then when I am making a stew of some sort, to which I often add absolutely any spice that I can find in the cabinet, I try to use a little dried basil as well. I'll get to the end of that jar some day.

[Deleted]

Yes, I'd add cumin to that as well, lagatta, maybe even a pinch of cinnamon. No garlic, huh?

My husband often has a basil plant sitting in the window. When it goes to seed once too often and there's nothing more to pinch back, I save the seeds and then pull off the leaves and lay them on a towel to dry. They stay very aromatic for the month or two that they stick around. We eat so many salads and a little freshly dried basil in a vinaigrette over a tomato and bocconcini salad is pretty fine.



EDIT: Well, I was curious so I looked it up, if you can believe Wikipedia on Armenian cuisine.

Armenian cuisine uses spices sparingly. The primary spices used in Armenian cuisine are:

• Salt
• Garlic
• Red pepper (particularly Aleppo pepper, which is a spicier variety of paprika)
• Mint (in Western Armenia)
• Dill (in Eastern Armenia, the current Republic of Armenia)
• Parsley
• Tarragon
• Paprika
• Cumin
• Coriander
• Sumac (the powdered dried berry of the Mediterranean sumac bush)
• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Mahlab (the powdered pit of the black cherry)
• Rose water
• Orange blossom water
• Basil and bay leaves are used in certain dishes
  
  
  
  
  
  

[lagatta]

Aleppo pepper is a very nice spice.

Don't worry, Kerouac, I don't discard chicken skin.