Bonkers for Bulgur

Yup, that’s the nerdiest food headline I’ve ever written. Way to go, Me.

If you live in New York City, or on most of the East coast, you know it’s hot this summer. So, so hot. So hot, in fact, that it’s making me rethink that whole moving to New Orleans someday thing. And that makes cooking a challenge.

Bulgur is something that I’ve eaten many times in restaurants, but never really made at home. It’s not a particularly sexy grain. When I need to make a grain, I tend to either go with something fun like millet, quinoa or polenta, or stick with my old stand-by, brown rice. But a few weeks ago, I had a ton of leftover parsley and mint and immediately thought of making tabbouleh. So I went out and got some bulgur.

Here’s the thing I discovered about bulgur. You don’t have to cook it. At all. You can cook it, but a good soak will make it perfectly edible. The water doesn’t even have to be hot. With constant 95 degree, humid weather, bulgur just got a whole lot sexier.

There’s my aforementioned tabbouleh. It’s not as herby as the traditional version because 1) I made it to use up leftover herbs, and buying additional herbs would have left me where I started — with leftover herbs and 2) I find the classic tabbouleh recipe a little overwhelming, herb-wise. I mean, I like herbs, I even love them, but sometimes when I order tabbouleh out in a restaurant, I feel like I’m just eating a plate of fresh herbs. And the mint is often aggressive, which makes me sad.

The thing I’m really liking about bulgur is that it’s a great vehicle for using up any kind of fresh produce. I can just chop up whatever I have in the fridge, toss it in with a little lemon and olive oil, or a vinaigrette, and I have a healthy meal. And I don’t even have to light a burner on the stove.

We can survive global warming if we have bulgur, people. Remember that.

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