Bulgur is not some kind of unusual cereal, but wheat familiar to everyone, only stripped of a shell, steamed, then dried and crushed. Bulgur is crushed in different ways, and depending on the degree of grinding, its types are distinguished: bulgur-pilavik, medium bulgur and small bulgur. This way of handling wheat was invented in Asia, where bulgur is as popular as other cereals. In Turkey, bulgur is especially loved and used as a full-fledged substitute for rice, they cook pilaf with it, bake flat cakes, boil thick tomato soups, make fillings for pies and salads.
The taste of bulgur is quite pleasant, it has a delicate aftertaste of nuts. The nutritional value of bulgur is the same as that of pasta made from durum wheat and semolina. It contains iron, magnesium and phosphorus, but its main advantage is its high carbohydrate content with a low glycemic index. Bulgur should not be eaten only by those who are gluten intolerant.
The cooking time depends on what kind of bulgur you have, large or finely crushed. But in any case, bulgur, as a semi-finished product, does not take too long to cook – after all, it has already been steamed beforehand. The proportions of water and bulgur when cooking are exactly the same as for cooking rice: twice as much water is taken. You don’t even need to cook very small bulgur: it is simply poured with boiling water and allowed to brew for a while.
What to cooked from bulgur
Bulgur can be used to make a lot of tasty things. For example, Lebanese tabouli salad, which requires only three tablespoons of bulgur, the same amount of olive oil, half a pepper, half an onion, half a cucumber, two small tomatoes, a handful of pitted olives (green), salt, lemon and parsley. Bulgur is poured with water, insisted, and when it swells, boiled until soft in salt water. The ready-made bulgur is filtered and cooled, the vegetables are cut into small pieces, mixed with bulgur, herbs and lemon juice. The result is a great salad that both vegetarians and fasting people will appreciate.
Bulgur is good to add to minced meat and stuff peppers, tomatoes, zucchini and eggplants with this mixture. Stewed vegetables with such a filling are very tasty. Bulgur and chicken, fatty lamb and lean beef go well together. But it is better not to cook soups with bulgur for the future: they are too thick, and on the second day they turn into porridge. In general, bulgur is a good alternative to boring pasta or potatoes. Moreover, bulgur is stored for a long time, and it is easy to prepare.