Funky Spring Bulghur Salad

Why should Winter mean no salads? Exactly! So I decided on making this warm salad that was definitely a welcomed comfort meal! Originally, it ws made with couscous, but I only had bulghur wheat, and so I used this instead. This isn't perhaps a low-carb *shudders* (I can't stand that word!) dish, but it's a WHOLE-carb dish, containing a lot of good stuff! You can top the dish with nuts for a bit of a protein boost, serve it with an egg on the side, with different sauces (dare I even meeeentioning sweet chilli sauce?) or just as it is! I decided to have half of mine topped with salsa, which went great with the zest in the bulghur, and half plain, which was equally as good! I also had a hardboiled egg on the side, delicious!

In the recipe I found, they used chicken stock, but I decided to make the bulghur mixture itself vegetarian, so I used a good vegetable stock instead, delicious! Use vegan butter if you want the salad to be vegan, I am sure you can also substitute with a little oil.

Funky Spring Bulghur Salad
(Serves 2, about 310 calories each - without salsa or egg, but plenty of room for that!)

150-200ml vegetable stock (almost 1 cube or 1tbsp powder, start with 150ml water to mix)
100g dry bulghur wheat (or couscous)
Knob of butter (about 15g)
Zest of 1/2 lime or 1/3 lemon (I used lime)
1 tbsp soy sauce
Good pinch of salt
Ground black pepper
80g peas
90g chickpeas
1/2 tsp dried mint (or a few fresh leaves, torn)
1/2 tsp dried coriander or parsley (or as above)
8 whole gem lettuce leaves to serve

(You can also top with salsa, serve with meat, eggs, it's up to you! I am sure that even leftovers would be great with some kind of sauce and served in a roll, mmm!)

- Start by boiling up the water and have it in a medium pan along with the bulghur wheat, followed by all the other ingredients - apart from your gem lettuce leaves .

- Keep on a medium low heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring every five minutes or so to make sure it doesn't catch at the bottom, add a little bit of water if necessary, but not much, as you don't want the bulghur wheat to be soggy! I cooked my egg in the meantime, perfect timing!

- Once the bulghur is done (it should have a bit of a bite, but still be tender), spoon a tablespoon and a little bit more in each gem lettuce leaf, and serve as it is or with whatever goodies you can find!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, I think I'll be making this to bring with me for lunch in the future, yum!

And I thought I would finish the post with something that reminded me about my childhood, from Jenny K. Blake's book... I never went to a kindergarden, but the first couple of years at primary school was pretty much the same!

(Picture form Jenny K. Blake's book "Brown Cheese, Please") Not easy to tell the difference!


Original source:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1128633/spring-couscous

- Jules