Like literally anything else in the food world – from milks to leafy green vegetables (looking at you, kale) – there is a grain hierarchy and a grain du jour. In case you didn’t know, white rice is out (jasmine, basmati, American long grain- doesn’t matter). I think this fixation on “alternative grains” all started with quinoa a few years ago, when people everywhere started pretending they loved the weird, nutty grain in an effort to fit in (can you tell I’m not really a fan?) Pearled barley and farro were having a real moment last year and incorporated into just about every soup and grain salad I came across. Right now, freekeh (young cracked wheat) is in the spotlight. But the real underdog of grains, one that hasn’t seen its 15 minutes of fame, is bulgur.
It’s frankly kind of easy to see why. Bulgur isn’t very elegant- it’s cracked wheat that is kind of coarse and lumpy. Most of the recipes it’s most popularly called for in are Middle Eastern-inspired grain salads. Cooked for salads, it always seems a little dry and tough and just a tad too chewy. Until now, I’ve been a fairly unenthusiastic eater of bulgur.
Things changed when I was looking for a grain side dish to include in a Turkish-inspired meal I was making. Cracking open the book “Essential Turkish Cuisine”, I perused an entire chapter featuring pilafs, most of them, to my surprise, featuring bulgur. I’d never thought to cook it any other way besides boiling until tender, but this was a intriguing thought.
Turns out, bulgur pilaf is a really excellent and interesting way to increase your alternative grain consumption. Which is great, because I bought an unnaturally large bag of it at Kalustyan’s that I need to get through (it was just a feeling, I guess, that made me reach for the large when there was also a small AND a medium). The secret to delicious bulgur pilaf is, lo and behold, a ton of olive oil. When bulgur is boiled with water, onions and olive oil it becomes downright silky and fluffy, and doesn’t at all resemble the coarse, tough stuff I knew before. And then, when mixed with more oil, caramelized onions, black-eyed peas, mellow purple basil and Turkish crushed chiles, it becomes a bowl of something you can’t keep your hands out of. Make this for a great side dish to meat (and one that works in all seasons) and check back with me next year when bulgur is the next. big. thing.
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, diced, plus 3 medium onions sliced into rings
- 1/2 cup / 120ml plus 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups / 600ml hot water
- 1 cup / 140g coarse bulgur
- 1 cup / 75g cooked black-eyed peas
- 1 tablespoon hot red pepper flakes, preferably from Antep or Maraş
- 1 cup / 9g minced fresh purple basil or fresh tarragon (green basil is not a Turkish aromatic)
Instructions
- Saute the diced onion in 1/2 cup of the oil in a pot until translucent. Add the hot water, bulgur, black-eyed peas and red pepper flakes and cook until the bulgur has absorbed all the liquid, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a skillet, caramelize the onion rings in the remaining 2 to 3 tablespoons oil over very low heat, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with the basil or tarragon over the pilaf and stir with a spoon to fluff. Spoon the pilaf onto a serving dish, top with the caramelized onions and serve.
Notes
Adapted from Essential Turkish Cuisine
