Burghul bi Dfeen

Small onions, or sliced onion, are browned in clarified butter until dark. Boiled chickpeas go in, then the coarse bulgur. The liquid is meat or chicken stock; the spicing is cinnamon and allspice, sometimes caraway and cumin. It steams on a low flame, and grains that stay separate are the sign it was cooked right. When meat is used, pieces of lamb or chicken are laid across the top.

What the name says

Dfeen means buried. What is buried is the chickpeas: when the dish is served they are out of sight, and they surface as the spoon goes down. This is one of the cheapest filling pots in Syria, and the version without meat is treated as a complete meal rather than a lesser one.

How it differs from mujaddara

Mujaddara is built on lentils; this is built on chickpeas. Mujaddara is finished with a heap of fried onion rings and tastes of onion and olive oil. Burghul bi dfeen leans on clarified butter and on the cinnamon and allspice pairing, so it lands warmer and more spiced. Both can be made with bulgur, which is why they get confused.

Where to eat it

It is a household pot. To find it in a restaurant, look for the lunchtime places that cook from a pot and keep the pans in a glass case at the front. Plain yoghurt or labneh comes alongside, with pickles, spring onion and green chilli. It fits a winter lunch best, though it is cooked in summer too.