This was the side dish.
I offered some up to Laura, but she told me she didn't want to eat barley. That really confused me as I can't remember the last time I ate barley. I thought...I don't want to eat barley either. I sure hope this isn't barley. Barley usually comes too firm for my taste preference.
My educated guess was that this was bulgur given we had been to cooking class the day before and one of the dishes we cooked was kisir, cracked wheat salad, made with finely ground bulgur. I assumed this was coarser bulgur. You may be familiar with bulgur from tabbouleh which is made of bulgur, cucumber, and tomatoes. After going to Peru last year, I got very convinced that quinoa tastes great and is healthier than potatoes, rice, and bread. My problem with quinoa is that it is difficult to cook / I am too lazy to cook it.
In cooking class, we learned that to cook bulgur, you just throw it in a bowl with bowling water and let it steam on its own for 15-30 minutes. At that point you fluff the cooked grains and you have some nice fluffy bulgur to use.
Bulgur, a whole grain, is very comparable to quinoa in its positive nutrition benefits. It is high in fiber and protein. It has around half the calories of quinoa for the same cooked volume. For more detail, see here http://www.livestrong.com/article/554143-nutrition-of-bulgur-vs-quinoa/
Bulgur tastes great. In my opinion, the fine ground version tastes like couscous and the coarser version tastes similar to rice.
Oguz, the friendly and informative instructor/owner, of Istanbul Cooking School was kind enough to let me share their kisir, cracked wheat salad, recipe with you. Go buy yourself some bulgur and make this salad. It's healthy. Let me know what you think.
I ordered the pomegranate syrup/molasses off Amazon, but I am sure you can find it in an ethnic grocery store.
KISIR –
CRACKED WHEAT SALAD (Serves 4 people)
2 cups of fine
cracked wheat (bulgur)
½ cups of olive
oil
2 onions
4 pieces of
spring onions
3 tomatoes,
peeled and diced
4 peppers
1 tbsp of tomato
paste
2 lemon
1 bunch of
parsley
2 teespoon of
salt
2 teespoon of red
pepper
2 teespoon of
cumin
2 teespoon of
sumac
3-4 tbsp of
pomegranate syrup
Fresh or dried
mint, 2 teaspoon
1) Put
the wheat in a bowl and pour hot boiling water (app 0,80 cups of boiling water
for 1 cup of wheat). Close the bowl tightly and let it rest untill all the
water is absorbed and the wheat expands, ~½ hour.
2) Chop
the onions in small pieces and cook them with 1-2 tbsp of oil untill they get
glasy. Add the pepper mark and cook till the mark is cooked overall well.
3) Chop
all the vegetables in small pieces. Put them all together with the wheat and
the spices and mix well.
4) Add
the oil and the lemon juice and the pomegranate syrup according to your taste.
Serve with lettuce leaves.
5) Add
fresh mint
(There may be some spelling abnormalities in translation as I am copying and pasting...)
(There may be some spelling abnormalities in translation as I am copying and pasting...)
