Recipe | Turkish grain salad

A lot of Greek cooking makes its way through Turkey. As you might know, the Turkish occupied a large part of Greece for many years, and so, a lot of Greek cuisine crosses over with Turkish food.

My yiayia loved to use coarse bulgur; it’s a cracked wheat, quickly simmered in water which, when added to a salad, brings all the punchy flavours together.

My grain salad is super nutty from the toasted seeds, with pops of sweetness from the currants, and a vinaigrette to bring it all together. It’s a wonderful all-rounder.

This recipe is designed to make the salad in 35 minutes, so there is a bit of multi-tasking involved. If you feel more comfortable focusing on one thing at a time, feel free to – it just might take a bit longer.

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Time: 35 minutes

Serves 6 (as a side)

Ingredients

1 cup (200 g) coarse bulgur (cracked wheat)

1 cup (155 g) pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

½ cup (75 g) sunflower seeds

1 red onion

1 green capsicum (pepper)

1 cup (140 g) currants

400 g (14 oz) tin lentils, rinsed and drained

1 bunch fresh mint

1 bunch fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley

1 pomegranate

Salt, to taste

Dressing

1 garlic clove

½ lemon

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

¼ cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

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Method

Bring 1½ cups (375 ml) water and a pinch of salt to the boil in a small saucepan over high heat. While the water heats up, wash the bulgur in a bowl, then drain. Once the water is boiling, add the bulgur and bring back to the boil. Reduce heat to medium–low, cover and cook for 12 minutes, or until you can easily bite into one grain. Take off the heat. Set aside for 10 minutes, then fluff up the grains with a fork.

Place the seeds in a small non-stick frying pan over medium–high heat. Cook, tossing every minute, for 10 minutes, or until evenly toasted. 

While the bulgur is cooking and the seeds are toasting, prep the rest of the salad next to the stove so you can keep an eye on the seeds at the same time. Finely chop the onion, cut the capsicum into small cubes, and transfer both to a large salad bowl. Add the currants and lentils. Pick the mint leaves and just tear the top of the parleys stems off so you grab most of the leaves, then roughly chop them all together and add to the salad bowl. Halve the pomegranate, then smack it with the back of a heavy knife on the skin side to make the seeds fall out into a separate bowl. Once all the seeds are smacked out, collect and discard any white pith from the bowl. Add the pomegranate seeds to the salad bowl.

To make the dressing, mince the garlic and place in a jar. Squeeze in the juice of the lemon half. Add the mustard, oil, vinegar and a pinch of salt. Seal and shake until well combined. Season with more salt. Add the bulgur, toasted seeds and dressing to the salad bowl. Using a large spoon, give everything a mix through and season with salt if it needs it.

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Another recipe from Eat More Greek — 

Layered spanakopita