Kisir: Turkish Bulgur Salad Recipe with Fresh Vegetables

Name: Kisir: Turkish Bulgur Salad Recipe with Fresh Vegetables
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: Fine bulgur 1 cup; Bell peppers 2; Hot pepper 1-2; Young cucumbers 2; Cherry tomatoes 5-6; Spring onions 1-2; Parsley 0.5 bunch; Lettuce 0.5 bunch; Tomato paste 1 tbsp; Olive oil 3-4 tbsp; Salt, black pepper, grape vinegar to taste

Anyone who has been to Turkey probably remembers kısır, a traditional bulgur side dish or starter served on lettuce leaves. This bulgur salad is served chilled or at room temperature, is packed with all sorts of vegetables and has a reddish tint thanks to tomato paste or tomato pulp. Depending on your taste, it can be spicy, fragrant, heavily seasoned and so on.

As a rule, bulgur salad is made from good-quality cracked wheat with tomato paste, parsley and a variety of vegetables. Most often these include peppers, both hot and sweet, tomatoes and cucumbers, sometimes onion and garlic. The salad is dressed with a mix of olive oil and something sour: lemon, pomegranate juice or grape vinegar. Kisir is a bit like another Middle Eastern salad, tabbouleh, which is usually made with couscous.

Starters and side dishes similar to kisir exist in many countries of the Caucasus and the Middle East. Eetch, a bulgur salad traditional in Armenian cuisine, is made in a very similar way and can be served cold or warm. All these salads are served on their own or as part of a meze spread. Bulgur salad is also an excellent vegetarian dish.

Bulgur is wheat that has been treated with boiling water or steam, then dried and cracked. Depending on the size of the grains, it is used for different dishes. Bulgur is often confused with plain cracked wheat. The main difference is that bulgur has already been cooked in water, so it often doesn't need boiling: just pour boiling water over it and leave it for 15-20 mins. Cracked wheat, by the way, goes into many soups, such as ezogelin.

Bulgur salad is a cold dish, a starter or a side. Kisir is quick and very simple to make. Just pour boiling water over the bulgur, prepare the vegetables and mix the soaked grain with tomato paste, olive oil and the vegetables. The bulgur salad is served on lettuce leaves or similar greens.

Sometimes we make a hot side dish, bulgur with vegetables, a pilaf-like dish in which the vegetables are fried and then cooked with the grain until you get a fluffy pilaf. Or another very tasty dish, couscous with vegetables, made the same way with a different kind of wheat grain. Bulgur salad can be made from the same ingredients, but it is served cooled. The important thing is that the bulgur salad stays fluffy and doesn't turn into porridge.

Ingredients

2 servings

Fine bulgur 1 cup
Bell peppers 2
Hot pepper 1-2
Young cucumbers 2
Cherry tomatoes 5-6
Spring onions 1-2
Parsley 0.5 bunch
Lettuce 0.5 bunch
Tomato paste 1 tbsp
Olive oil 3-4 tbsp
Salt, black pepper, grape vinegar to taste

Step-by-step recipe

Bulgur salad is made from cracked wheat meant for pilaf or salads. Turkish packs usually say what the bulgur is intended for. Don't take whole or coarse grains: they are harder to cook, and the salad may turn out too “wet”. You need medium or fine grind, Pilavlık Bulgur or İnce Pilavlık Bulgur.
How to cook bulgur
You can cook the bulgur following the instructions on the pack. But for a fluffy salad, it is better to “steam” it in boiling water. You'll need a ceramic saucepan or a clay pot, as these hold heat well for a long time. If you use a metal pan, you'll have to wrap it in a blanket or a warm scarf.
Pour 1 cup of water into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Take the pan off the heat and add 1 cup of bulgur to the water. Stir everything and cover with a lid. The bulgur will be ready in 10-15 mins. Stir it with a spoon a few times so it doesn't clump. In the end the grains should be loose and not stick together at all.
During production the wheat is treated with steam or hot water, so it is fully ready to eat. But it is also dried, which means it loses water. Steaming restores the moisture. After 15 mins in the warmth, the grains absorb all the liquid and become soft, with no more bite than properly cooked Italian pasta, al dente. Let the cooked bulgur cool.
Preparing the vegetables for the salad
How many fresh vegetables to use, and which ones, is up to you. Bell peppers and cucumbers are a must. Original recipes don't always include them, but they are delicious, so don't hold back. Add a hot pepper, tomatoes and a little spring onion to the bulgur salad. Fresh parsley is essential. We didn't use regular onion, garlic or pickled gherkins, which are often added to kisir.
Remove the seeds and inner membranes from the bell peppers and hot pepper. Dice the bell peppers slightly larger than you would for a chopped salad. Chop the hot pepper fairly finely with a knife. Put the chopped peppers in a bowl.
Peel the cucumbers, cut off the ends and halve them lengthwise. If the cucumbers have started to form seeds, scrape them out with a knife or spoon. The youngest cucumbers only need peeling. Dice the cucumbers the same size as the bell peppers. Slice the green part of the spring onions with a knife, without the white part. Cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters. If you use large tomatoes, it's better to take firm, not fully ripe ones; remove the seeds and, if possible, the skin. Then cut them into large cubes.
Put all the chopped vegetables in a bowl, add half the finely chopped parsley, season with a pinch of salt and mix. That's it for the vegetable part of the bulgur salad. All that's left is to wash the lettuce leaves and pat them dry. Then cut off the tough lower part of the leaves and lay the leaves on a plate, literally lining the plate with lettuce.
Making the dressing
In a small bowl, mix the olive oil with the tomato paste. Regular store-bought paste will do. Alternatively, you can make a tomato puree from ripe fresh tomatoes and salt it. Season the oil and tomato generously with ground black pepper. Add 1-2 tsp of wine vinegar. We deliberately didn't use lemon juice: it is too aromatic and has a strong flavour that overpowers the vegetables and herbs. Mix the dressing thoroughly with a fork until completely smooth.
How to mix the bulgur salad
Put the cooled steamed bulgur in a large bowl. Stir it so that all the grains separate from each other. In fact, the bulgur should be almost dry and loose, like the rice in a sweet Turkish pilaf. Add the second half of the parsley and pour the prepared olive oil and tomato dressing over the bulgur.
Mix the kisir thoroughly so that everything is evenly distributed and the bulgur takes on a pleasant red colour. If the bulgur is a little sticky, add just a drop more olive oil and mix. This trick helps.
Add all the prepared vegetables to the bulgur: peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs. If the vegetables have released juice, it's better to drain it. Gently mix the bulgur with the vegetables. If you like, season with a little more salt and pepper to taste. You can also add 1-2 garlic cloves, chopped very finely with a knife.
How to serve bulgur salad
Using a large spoon, place the bulgur salad on plates, right on top of the lettuce leaves: lettuce, romaine or similar. Pile the kisir in a mound in the centre, so the green leaves show around the edge of the plate. If you decide to serve the salad in bowls, arrange the leaves along the high sides of the bowl and spoon the salad into the middle.
You can serve the salad right away, while it is slightly warm or at room temperature, as a starter or a side dish. Or you can chill it. By the way, you can chill just the bulgur after adding the dressing, and mix it with the vegetables right before serving.