Have you ever had a day, when you’ve been beset by a sudden, stubborn longing to travel to a particular place, come what may? Where you spend hours going from wishful thinking to rationalization and finally, determination; and somehow finally tackling this longing and accepting that a substitute would have to do, for now? No? Ah.

Anyhow, this happens to me a lot; I get the travel itch at the most inconvenient of times, and quite often at that; and most of those times have to be dealt with, as though they were real problems. Over the course of several years’ trial and error, I have found that cooking a dish native to the country I wish to visit culls the yearning a bit. A minuscule bit, but a bit, all the same. After that, it’s only about staying away from travel blogs and National Geographic. Sigh.

Recently, North Africa has been floating around in my mind; and uncannily, everywhere else too-tv, a random travel magazine I happened to pick up, some of the travel blogs I regularly peruse-ever noticed how sometimes you think of something and then you see it everywhere?! Weird, eh?!

So North Africa, yea. I’ve long harbored a desire to go to Morocco; always wanted to snap a photo of that ubiquitous one of a souk, with all its multicolored spices and the one by the ocean where the heat rising off the ground is almost palpable. I fancy browsing through beautifully crafted ceramics and brass ware, and enjoying  sweet mint tea, rich pastries ever so delicately scented with rose and orange blossom water and luscious Medjool dates; running my hands through lovely silks and artisan fabrics and getting a glimpse of Bedouin culture. And lately, I’ve been very interested in Algeria as well; with its Moorish history and  Rai music.

The cuisine of both countries is not too dissimilar, although I’m sure there are always those minute regional differences only a native could discern.  I’m a big fan of couscous in any form, and a Tagine is a common enough dinner meal at the household. But I needed something new, substantial, but new, to keep me from sinking into self-pity for not being able to make the trip yet. And so, I hit upon Tcicha bel Khoubiz.

If there is anything that keeps me from preparing North African inspired cuisine regularly, it’s the time consuming aspect. I suppose I could get around that by going with instant couscous; or a couscousier, for that matter, but you know me, little Ms. complicated. It was a sort of jackpot then that I discovered Tchicha bel Khoubiz , or Bulghur with Greens. The very idea of combining Bulghur with leafy greens in a warm, spicy broth sounded fantastic, and I got cracking. Morocco and coastal Oran in Algeria can wait. Here was a Casbah delight at arm’s length. And best of all, I found another way to cook with bulghur!

The greens in question, Khoubiz, are apparently a wild variety in most North African countries. Their taste is likened to the pungent tartness of watercress. I combined a little arugula with a bunch of chard for that slight tang instead, and the result was superb-earthy, warm and hearty.

And unlike Tagine, it didn’t take any more than 10 minutes, 15 max. The greens are washed and cooked lightly in a little water and chopped coarsely.

Garlic is pounded in a mortar & pestle with turmeric, chili flakes, cumin and b. pepper to a coarse paste;

onions are sauteed to translusence in olive oil with the garlic & tomato paste;

all of which are cooked with bulghur in broth. The cooked greens are added finally , with a sprinkling of cilantro & parsley, before being served piping hot with warm pita.

The actual recipe can be found here.

I may still be a long way away from making the trip to Algeria a reality, but perhaps Algeria can come visit me often enough in te meanwhile. Cheesy, yes; but whatever works, right?!