Cookbook: “Kısır” (Turkish Bulghur Salad)

Bulgur is a cereal food made from the cracked parboiled groats of several different wheat species, most often from durum wheat. It is very popular in the Turkish cuisine and often replaces rice. “Kısır” is a salad, made with the thinnest/finest sort of bulgur (which can be found in almost all supermarkets in Germany) with a lot of colorful, tasty ingredients. Using this base recipe, you can interchange, add, deduct ingredients to your taste. Kısır is often served in a big bowl that has been laid out with iceberg-salad leaves.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of fine bulghur
• 2 medium sized onions
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup of parsley
• 4-5 spring onions
• 1/2 cup of pickles (preferably salty ones from a Turkish brand; not the sweet German ones)
• 5 lemons
• 50 ml olive oil
• 50 ml pomegranate syrup
• 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 tablespoon red pepper paste (hot or sweet depending on your preference)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin (Kreuzkümmel)
• 1/2 teaspoon hot chili pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried mint
• 1 teaspoon salt

(To garnish:)

• 1 chopped tomato and same chopped amount of cucumber
• 1 iceberg-salad

Instructions:

1. Put the bulghur in a big, deep bowl, cover it with boiling water (add 2 cm more than full coverage). Let the bulgur swell up for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, finely chop the onion, parsley  & the spring onion.
3. Chop the cucumbers and tomatoes seperately in a small size and put them aside.
4. Wash and dry the leaves of the iceberg-salad.
5. Squeeze the juice from the lemons. (Don’t throw away the squeezed lemons!)
6. Add the lemon juice and squeezed lemon halves to the swollen up bulghur and knead them for 5 minutes. Then take the squeezed lemon halves out and throw them away.
7. Slowly add the spices, olive oil, tomato paste and pomegranate syrup and continue to knead.
8. When the bulghur softens, add the greens (all but the chopped tomato and cucumber. Those are for decoration) and mix them in thoroughly with a spoon. Your “kısır” is ready!
9. Lay the iceberg-salad leaves inside a large serving bowl and fill it with your “kısır”.
10. Garnish with the finely chopped tomatoes and cucumbers. Add a few leaves of parsley if you will.

Afiyet olsun! (Bon Appetit!)