Trying out a new grain for dinner: Bulgur

I decided to be brave tonight and try something new. That something is: a salad with the whole grain bulgur as the main ingredient. I found the bulgur salad recipe in the June issue of the Cooking Light magazine. It was the first time I had ever looked through this magazine and I have to say I loved it! Almost every single recipe in the magazine sounds delicious.

I have made a few of the recipes in the magazine already and they are all very tasty. The best part is that all of the recipes were easy to make, even for a new cook like me. Recipes that require me to have two or three pots on the stove all cooking at once really stress me out! Thankfully, the bulgur salad recipe doesn’t really require any cooking at all! Another plus, I didn’t end with a kitchen full of dirty dishes because this recipe doesn’t require a ton of different kitchen tools to make it. This is a big deal to me because we don’t have a dishwasher (we are working on this – we are planning on remodeling the kitchen soon so there is room for a dishwasher).

Here’s the recipe from the Cooking Light Recipe site:

Cracked Wheat Salad with Nectarines, Parsley, and Pistachios

Ingredients

• 1  cup uncooked bulgur
• 1  cup boiling water
• 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced nectarines (about 3)
• 1/2  cup thinly sliced green onions
• 1/4  cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (I used dried parsley instead)
• 1  tablespoon chopped fresh dill
• 3  tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3  tablespoons white balsamic vinegar (I used red balsamic vinegar instead)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons chopped pistachios (I did not bother chopping the pistachios and I thought it tasted fine)

Preparation

Combine bulgur and 1 cup boiling water in a large bowl. Cover and let stand 1 hour. Stir in nectarines and remaining ingredients except nuts; toss well. Sprinkle with nuts.

One of the changes I made to the recipe was I used red balsamic vinegar because I did not have any white balsamic vinegar. I thought the salad tasted great (and my husband really enjoyed it too!) but I plan on making the salad again with the white balsamic vinegar to find out how much of a difference there is in taste between the two vinegars. Also, there is a note in the magazine that states the salad can also be made with apricots, peaches or figs if you don’t have nectarines available. My husband loves apricots so I’m sure we will be making this variation on the recipe soon.

All in all, this recipe is definitely a keeper. I plan on cooking with the bulgur more often because it is just so easy to prepare.  I also like the fact the salad is only 188 calories per serving, which is about ¾ of a cup.

Hopefully, if you make this recipe you enjoy it as much as my husband & I did!