This revelation has made me very sad. For years I assumed that bulgur wheat and couscous were one and the same. Well you know what they say about people that assume… it makes an ASS of U and ME! In this case it was me that was braying.
I tried couscous many times starting with plain, follow the instructions – no taste whatsoever – couscous …🤢. My attempts evolved and no matter how much flavour I shoehorned in, I still couldn’t bring myself to like couscous and after much thought I decided it was the texture, which to me was a strange mix of soft and granular.
With this in mind, if ever I happened upon anything to do with bulgur wheat I would dismiss it out of hand and move on, in my untested opinion there was nothing to see there! Fast forward to sometimes last year and whilst online grocery shopping I came across bulgar wheat and popped it into my basket. I was probably in a contrary mood!
I do like a culinary challenge and approached the impending delivery with optimism, even researching recipes as I waited for my delivery.
As usual, I didn’t want a complete recipe, just some ideas, and stumbled upon a ‘spiced bulgur wheat with roasted peppers’ salad recipe, and whilst not actually following (I will someday) it I used the cooking instructions for the bulgar wheat which was an excellent start as it is a foolproof meecrowarvay (thanks Nigella for that ear word/word!) version. I weighed out 200g of BW, then added 250ml of boiling water from the kettle and a sprinkling of all purpose seasoning. A quick stir and a lid and it was zapped for 4 minutes on high, then left for an extra 5 to absorb all of the liquid before fluffing with a fork.
The above is the base, and with that base it turns out the sky is the limit. The first time I cooked the BW I stirred through chermoula paste and added sautéed peppers and onions, serving with chermoula roasted chicken thighs. I knew the meal would taste good, because let’s face it, chermoula would make a tyre taste good — but I was nervous about the texture of the BW.
I sat with fork poised, making peace with the likelihood that the texture would not be to my liking, but that the taste would be fantastic. I scooped up a forkful and chewed with ever growing amazement, this stuff was delicious! The texture was nutty, robust, it had bite. Obviously the flavour was off the hook, because chermoula paste, but the texture was a revelation.
After dinner, I puzzled over this realisation and eventually decided to drill down and research couscous and bulgar wheat which was when it all became clear. In a nutshell… couscous is a semolina paste that is effectively pushed through a sieve and then dried whilst bulgur wheat is a milled kernel. This information implies that it wouldn’t take much to ruin the texture of couscous, like adding water perhaps…! Bulgur wheat however can withstand such indulgences as added water, cooking, you know the sort of thing.
I have regularly cooked bulgur wheat from that day on, always using the meecrowarvay method then adding whatever takes my fancy– rose harissa, the residue from whatever I’ve roasted, lemon juice and seasonings, the possibilities are endless. I also mix up the cooked BW with veggies and leftover meat (see pic) for a super speedy main course, which is sometimes what’s needed. Trusty bulgur wheat also saved me when we had two friends round for a socially distanced dinner, and a rice recipe I followed against my better judgement went horribly wrong. Within ten minutes I had rustled up bulgur wheat with a little chermoula paste and a a splash of sauce and some of the veggies from the chickpea tagine that was already on the dining table.
The other bonus is that every dish I have made with BW is fantastic cold. I am a cold food fan, I only eat most of it hot because that’s what grownups are supposed to do, but what was a warm side the night before makes a great lunch.
So, although I was sad that it took a while to find this amazing grain, I am certainly going to make up for lost time, and having a staple to add into the rice – pasta – potato – bread rotation will really help with my weekly meal plan.
The More You Think... 