Prepare this Indianized version of tabouli using bulgur, which is simple and tasty.
Prep Time45 minutesmins
Cook Time30 minutesmins
Total Time1 hourhr15 minutesmins
Method: Cooking
Course: Food
Servings: 3-4 Adults
Ingredients
1cupDry Bulgur
1cupBoiling Water
2teaspoonsOil
¼teaspoonMustard Seeds
1teaspoonUrad Daal
1teaspoonChanna Daal
¼cupPeanuts(Optional)
1Finely Chopped Medium Size Onion
1bigGreen Chili
1Diced Medium Size Potato
1cupChopped Beans
1cupPeas
1cupDiced Carrots
AsNeededSalt
¼cupFinely Chopped Cilantro
Instructions
In a bowl add the bulgur wheat, boiling water and little salt. Stir it thoroughly and leave it until all the water is absorbed. It may take about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile in a big frying pan add the oil and heat it. Once it is hot enough add the mustard seeds. After it splutters add the peanuts (if using) and roast it. Then add the urad daal and channa daal and fry it until golden brown.
Add the chopped onions and slit green chili. Add little salt, so that the onion would cook faster.
Once the onions are cooked add the other vegetables, ½ cup (or more) water as required, salt and close the pan with a lid. Increase the heat and in about 10-15 minutes the vegetables would have cooked enough.
To the cooked vegetables mixture add the prepared bulgur and combine it well. Garnish it with cilantro and it's ready to dig in.
Notes
If adding peanuts, it's preferable to add it first after the mustard seeds splutter. Since it takes some time to roast, if it's added after the urad daal and channa daal, by the time it turns brown the other daals would get burnt.
This bulgur upma is good both hot or cold. I had some leftover which I kept it in the fridge. It tasted so good (or even better) the next day, even straight from the fridge.
Bulgur before soaking may look very less but after it absorbs the water and especially with so much vegetables it makes huge quantity. You can really feed an army. Try it when you are having a potluck or friends over. When I first measured 1 cup of bulgur, I thought it would not be enough for the 2 of us. Usually I use 1 and ¾th cups of vermicilli or cracked wheat for preparing upma. So I measured another ¾th cup of bulgur to prepare this upma. Gosh! that was so much for us. So I did not add the entire bulgur to the cooked vegetables. I reserved some for later. Luckily I got another idea to make use of the excess bulgur. That dish turned out very good too. Will post it later.
Next I want to cook pulav using bulgur. I'm sure it would taste equally good.