Hello everyone!
My name is Mers and this is my first post here at Natural Medicine Community...and today I am sharing about a healthy food called Bulgur. I came to know about it during our expat days in Africa from a lebanese lady who had a bakery. From her, I also learned how to make Hummus from chick peas.
Bulgur And Its Nutrients
It is apparent that Bulgur is a popular ingredient in the Middle East to make taboulé and other dishes. Below is a description and what nutrients it contributes to our health.
Bulgur is an edible cereal grain made from parboiled, cracked wheat. Its texture is similar to quinoa or couscous. It’s a minimally processed grain that maintains more nutritional value than more refined wheat products. Bulgur contains a variety of vitamins and minerals, as well as a substantial amount of fiber and also provides various nutrients and is an especially good source of manganese, magnesium, iron and fiber. Source
Varieties
In Turkey, they are classfied into two categories which is the finer grain called köftelik, the coarse type is named pilavlik bulgur. Here as you can see in the images, when cooked, it could be mistaken as rice. The appearance looks like rice...though asians who are used to eating rice would immediately know the difference.
Did you know that Bulgur can be prepared whithout cooking it...?
Since its grains are pre-cooked, it only needs to be soaked in water for about 20-30 minutes and you can make a salad out of it. But here, I cooked it and serve it as main dish without the meat.
Today, I served this stir-fried Bulgur for lunch. This is meatless and is so good for those making diet. This could also be eaten as main dish which is a bit heavier, so this will surely make one full.
STIR-FRIED BULGUR
Ingredients (Serves 4)
2 cups bulgur, coarse grain, boiled til soft ( about 20 minutes)
a handful of fresh parsley, leaves picked, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
green asparagus (lowest hard part, cut) and soft boiled
1 onion diced,
cabbage, a handful cut into strips
1 red bell pepper, diced
olive oil
salt and pepper
soy sauce
Preparations
Prepare the ingredients according to the above list and instructions. The preparation is similar to Stir-fried Rice and which is very easy even if you do not have cooking experience.
1... In a large pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the crushed garlic til golden brown in color, add the onions and stir fry for about 3-4 minutes or til the onions become soft and glassy in appearance. Add the coarsely cut parsley , stir-fry til parsley become soft. Transfer to a huge wok and set aside.
2... In the meantime, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the same pan and fry the boiled asparagus, when done add this to the wok with the onions. Then stir-fry the cabbage and the cut bell pepper til soft , again add to the wok with onions.
When all the ingredients are all together in the wok , add the cooked Bulgur and mix carefully so that the vegetables evenly blend with it. Return the wok to the fire and sprinkle the mixture with 2 tablespoons soy sauce, then add salt and pepper according to your preferrable taste. Can be eaten as by-dish or main dish. Serve hot.
If there are remainders of this dish, simply put it in an airtight glass jar and place it in the fridge, it can last up to 3 days.
We are still under lockdown, so I have all the time to make this easy peasy recipe which is really healthy for the whole family. I hope you will try this too... especially for those wo want to lose weight.
Stay safe everyone!
