Turkish Peppery Bulgur Salad (Kisir)

Submitted by Flowerfairy

"Another recipe from Claudia Roden. Kisir is a salad from Gaziantep. You need the fine-ground (not medium) bulgur, which you can find in Middle Eastern stores. Chilli peppers give it a thrilling zing, but you can leave them out. Serve it with little lettuce leaves that can be used as scoops."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 200 g fine-ground bulgur
• 125 ml boiling water
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 1⁄2 lemons, juice of
• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 green chili pepper, chopped finely
• 6 spring onions
• 300 g tomatoes, diced
• 1 bunch fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped (about 50g)
• 1 bunch of fresh mint, chopped (about 25g)

• For serving

• 2 lettuce (little Gem or baby Cos)

directions

1. Put the bulgur into a bowl, pour the boiling water over it, stir and leave for 15-20 minutes until the grain is tender. Don't be tempted to add more water since the juice from the lemons and tomatoes will soften it further.
2. Add the tomato paste, lemon juice and oil, the chilli, and some salt, and mix thoroughly. Trim the green tops off the spring onions, then slice them finely. Add them and the diced tomatoes to the bulgur mixture, together with the parsley and mint, and mix well.
3. Serve with the small lettuce leaves stuck around the edges of the salad. Another way is to roll the bulgur mixture into balls the size of a small egg and to place each one in the hollow of a lettuce leaf.