Booya! (It's a food I promise!)

So right around this time the church up the road from us starts selling my most favorite Midwestern food. Booya! Booya of the past was roughly a community stew, where everyone would contribute something, veggie, spice, wild game. It was a way to use up the stuff you had left over before hunting season started, cleaning out your freezer and eating like a king in the process. My grandma has the best story about Booya that I'll share in the end because if you heard it now you wouldn't even attempt to look at the recipe. But it's good. Stay tuned.

My family isn't really filled with hunters, so we just purchase this every year and enjoy it until it runs out and we have to wait an entire year to have more. NOT ANY MORE! I adapted this recipe from a random Food Network recipe I found that turned Booya in to a Southwestern style stew. I don't understand that, you can't say it's a Midwestern recipe and make it Southwestern. Then it's a Southwestern stew. That drives me crazy. I see so many Midwestern recipes that they spice the crap out of and make it more southern or southwestern. We like our flavors a little more subdued and more meaty. It isn't for everyone.  So I adapted this recipe to the flavors I tasted in our church's booya and my reward was The Most Amazing Booya Ever! Not to toot my own horn but... Toot Toot! It is even more delicious then the booya we buy. Booya now is normally made with beef, pork, and chicken. However, you could use deer, turkey, grouse... whatever wild game you like as well. Stay away from fish because it has a distinct flavor. Make a seafood gumbo with your left over fish instead!

I like to save up our left over meat from other meals until I have enough for a batch of booya. As a family of 5 we generally end up with 1 steak, or 2 slices of pork roast, or 2 chicken legs left over here and there. This would normally go in the trash after it sits in the fridge for a week, so I like that this also helps us waste less. When you put already cooked meats in the freezer you'll want to protect it a little more. I put it in a ziplock, squeeze out all the air then wrap it in foil and cover all of that with another ziplock bag. It might be a little overkill but I've never had an issue with freezer burn or the meat tasting odd afterwards. It should keep for at least 6 months. Chicken especially needs to be protected because it can take on a weird and disgusting taste after it's reheated. I like to use chicken that's in a sauce which further protects it from drying out and getting gross. Just keep a little bit of the sauce in with the chicken when you freeze it. If you don't want that sauce flavor in your booya just rinse it off before you throw it in. Done.

All of the ingredients are diced up  or shredded in to soup sized pieces. You can make yours thicker or smaller, none of this is set in stone. If you're dying for a carb, you can serve it over rice or add some noodles. homemade dumpling noodles would be amazing in this, just add the noodles to your pot last. You'll want to either thaw the meat or nuke it in the microwave until it's easy to cut apart. You can also use raw meat but you'll have to cut it up before adding it to your stew and just make sure it's cooked through. I like to add some cooked hamburger in mine pretty much always, I just roughly break it up so there are still some chunks left.
The veggies are completely interchangeable as well.  I like to add black beans to mine. If you don't like any of the veggies I used you can remove them and replace them with anything else. Broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, peas, chunks of winter squash... you name it, you can chuck it in here. Although the broccoli and cauliflower should be added at the end and cook it until it's just soft, or else it can break down into nothing... Which has totally happened to me before. You do need the onion though, it's a running joke that onion is a spice here, because that's how we use it. Use onion.  Also, cooking the tomato down is not an option you can skip over. I know it's annoying and takes forever. (about 20 minutes lol)  But it gives the stew this sweet onion and garlic spiked tomato flavor that's punched up with all the other ingredients, heaven. Don't skip cooking down your tomatoes. Also if you end up with large tomato pieces, you can either use an emersion blender or a potato masher and just break them up a bit. Unless, of course, you like giant chunks of tomato then rock on.

extreme close up of the deliciousness!!

Booya

 

 

What you'll need

 

• 4 Tablespoons of Butter (cold or soft it doesn't matter) 
• 5 Celery ribs (diced)
• 2 medium sized onions (diced)
• 5 carrots (diced)
• 4 Tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 jars of tomato puree (I use the stuff I can at home but you can use 3 of the small cans of petite diced tomatoes or you can use 1 large can plus 1 small can of stewed tomatoes.)
• 4 Cups Chicken stock or broth (I just use a couple heaping teaspoons of the powdered chicken soup base with 4 cups of water and call it a day)
• 4 Cups of water (in addition to the 4 cups of chicken broth)
• Chicken, Beef, Pork leftover or raw, diced or shredded
• Corn (the amount depends on your taste)
• 2 cans of Black, White, or Red beans, mix and match. Drained and rinsed
• Thyme, Oregano, Garlic salt, Onion powder, and Cumin I used probably about 2 teaspoons of each and 3 teaspoons cumin but it's all to your taste.

 

1. Melt the butter in a pan (I use a dutch oven, use the pot you'll be cooking your soup in)
2. Sauté on medium heat the onion, carrot, and celery in the butter until soft, about 20 minutes, keep the lid on and stir occasionally.
3. Add tomato and garlic. Cook on medium heat with the lid on until thick, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add your seasonings and give it a really good stir. 
5. Add chicken base, water, and meat. Cook on low for 1 1/2 hours stirring occasionally.
    I also cook the hamburger meat in a different pan at this point and throw it in the pot so it gets about an hour of cook time.  
6. Add corn and beans. Cook on high until everything is heated through. About 10-15 minutes. 

 

 

And you're done! So it takes about 3- 3 1/2 hours from start to finish but it's super yummy and filling! One of the very best things about booya is that it gets even better as left overs, something about sitting in the fridge for a couple days makes the flavors so much more fantastic. It's amazing. This also freezes and reheats really nicely. If you're going to freeze it though, don't add rice or noodles as they tend to get soggy and develop a weird texture when frozen and reheated.

Grandma story time bonus!
So, where my grandma grew up, they used to do a big Booya cook off in the park and this one family would cook theirs in a giant pot for a couple of days outside in said park. They won for several years until everyone discovered that the army worms in the trees were falling into their pot as they cooked it. That kind of ended things.
So just throwing that out there too, army worms are a delicious addition to your booya I guess. *shudder* could you imagine....

I really hope you try this!!
But without the army worms
As always,
Enjoy!