Bulgur Porridge

It is still mango season so expect mangoes in every possible form! While in Uganda, I struggled to find bulgur (cracked whole wheat grains) and whole wheat itself. I would get it once in a year from generous family friends in my home village who grow it small-scale for home consumption. I have always wondered why we don’t produce more wheat as a nation especially since we rely on wheat flour for most of our daily meals. Take mandazi, chapati and daddies for instance. These are foods we eat on a daily basis! Because it isn’t ‘chai mukalu’ with an equally flaky and chewy chindazi! So you can imagine my excitement when I found out Bulgar is sold in most food stores here in Jamaica at a relatively low-cost (a little over a US Dollar). And because I am still in bulguar heaven, I am sharing with you another dish that you can make with it. This dish is actually popular and it is how bulguar is mostly eaten in Jamaica. This is my simplified take on the porridge but you can definitely play with your spices (like cinnamon, cloves, etc) and variations of milk to get your desired porridge. When soaked and boiled to perfection with some milk, it brings back memories of oatmeal. And to make it a tad more colorful, I added sliced mangoes, Otaheite apple jam ( Which is a blog post for another day), raisins and crunchy nuts. This porridge doesn’t need sugar since all the toppings are generously sweetened.

What you will need:

1 C. Bulgur

2 C. Warm water

1 C. Warm water

3 Tbsp. Coconut milk powder

1/2 Tsp. Nutmeg

Toppings:

3 Mangoes, peeled and thinly sliced

1/2 C. Nuts

1/2 C. Raisins

Otaheite apple jam

Here is a short video to give you an idea on how the porridge is made

Method

Add the bulgur in a clean pan. Add the two cups of water and let it soak for an hour.
After soaking, add the remaining water and nutmeg and cook the porridge on medium fire. Let it cook for about 15 minutes.
Add the milk powder 5 minutes before removing the porridge. Remove from fire.

Toppings