Kısır

The bulgur is soaked in tomato paste and hot water and never boiled, which is where the colour comes from.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 300 g fine bulgur
• 3 tablespoons tomato purée
• 1 tablespoon hot red pepper paste
• 400 ml hot water
• 1 onion, very finely chopped
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
• a very large bunch of parsley, finely chopped
• a handful of mint, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, finely diced
• 1 cucumber, finely diced
• 3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
• juice of 1 lemon
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper flakes
• salt
• lettuce leaves, to serve

Method

1. THE BULGUR IS SOAKED IN TOMATO PASTE AND HOT WATER AND NEVER BOILED. The purée and pepper paste are whisked into four hundred millilitres of hot water, poured over the dry fine bulgur, and the bowl is covered and left for thirty minutes. That is the entire cooking. Fine bulgur is already parboiled and cracked, so it needs hydrating rather than cooking, and boiling it gives a wet porridge-like mass that cannot be forked into a salad. Soaking in the tomato liquid rather than in plain water is also where the deep red colour comes from -- it is dyed from the inside, not coated.
2. IT MUST BE FINE BULGUR AND NOT COARSE. The fine grade, which looks like damp sand. Coarse bulgur will not soften in thirty minutes of soaking and stays gritty however long it is left; the whole method depends on the grade.
3. THE WATER IS MEASURED AND NOT POURED TO COVER. Four hundred millilitres to three hundred grams. Too much and there is standing liquid that has to be drained off, taking the tomato with it; too little and the centre of each grain stays hard. It is one of the few places in cooking where the ratio genuinely needs weighing.
4. THE PARSLEY IS A VERY LARGE BUNCH AND CHOPPED FINE. By volume it should look like as much parsley as bulgur before mixing. This is a herb salad with bulgur in it as much as the other way round, and a modest handful leaves it tasting of tomato paste.
5. IT IS WORKED WITH THE HANDS, NOT A SPOON. Once everything is in, the whole bowl is kneaded and rubbed between the fingers for a couple of minutes. It breaks the bulgur clumps apart, bruises the herbs so they release, and distributes the oil -- a spoon leaves pockets of dry bulgur and clumps of paste.
6. THE POMEGRANATE MOLASSES AND LEMON BOTH GO IN. Three tablespoons of molasses and a whole lemon. One is deep and fruity, the other bright and sharp, and dishes made with only one of them taste either dull or thin.
7. THE CUCUMBER AND TOMATO GO IN LAST. Added after the kneading, folded through gently. Kneaded in, they break down and make the salad wet.
8. The tomato purée and pepper paste whisked into the HOT water.
9. Poured over the dry FINE bulgur, covered, and left 30 MINUTES. NOT boiled.
10. Forked through -- it should be damp and separate with no standing liquid.
11. The onion, spring onions, parsley, mint, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, olive oil, Aleppo pepper and salt added.
12. WORKED WITH THE HANDS for 2 MINUTES, rubbing between the fingers until everything is evenly red and the clumps are gone.
13. The diced tomato and cucumber FOLDED IN LAST.
14. Rested 20 MINUTES for the flavours to come together.
15. TESTED: the grains should be separate and tender with no grit, and evenly coloured through. Gritty means coarse bulgur; pale means it was soaked in plain water.
16. Served with lettuce leaves to scoop it.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes