The other week I put up my student cooking basics post about How to Cook Bulgur. Make sure to check it out if you haven´t seen it yet. As I mentioned in that post, bulgur is one of my favourite things to make. It tastes great, is really quick to cook and features in many of my go-to dinners I make on a regular basis. So today I´m sharing with you this “recipe” for an easy dinner made with bulgur, chicken and veggies!
Other student cooking basics
#1 How to make a Béchamel (White) Sauce
#2 How to cook Pasta (Properly)
Add the chicken or go meat-free!
I really like to add some fried chicken to this bulgur dinner to get some protein into this dinner. You could also use any other kind of meat, such as pork fillets, beef or sausages. But often I don´t have any meat left at the end of the week, so I just keep this dish vegetarian/vegan.
If I don´t add chicken, I often cook a bit more of the vegetables than listed below. For a veggie version of the bulgur, just replace the chicken stock cube with a vegetable one.
Mediterranean-style vegetables are my absolute favourite and when cooking this dish I like to use red onions, peppers (any colour), courgette and/or aubergine. Sometimes I also add some mushrooms, leeks or frozen peas – you can literally throw in whatever veggies you have left in the fridge or freezer! This makes this dinner great for using up leftovers in the fridge at the end of the week!
Add some spices to the dish!
This dinner is extremely cheap to make, hence why it is great for students! One way of making even the cheapest and most simple of dishes taste amazing is by adding spices!
Spices are a fairly cheap one-off purchase which you can then use to jazz up all of your dishes for quite a long time. My recommendations for this meal are:
FOR THE BULGUR: ground turmeric (gives it that vibrant colour, plus turmeric also has some health benefits), black pepper, chicken stock cube (I know, not technically a spice but adds great flavour!)
FOR THE CHICKEN: salt and pepper (a must), or use some dried mixed herbs (for more a Mediterranean twist) or add some Cajun spice, paprika, chilli powder (for a spicier, smokier flavour)
FOR THE VEGETABLES: all purpose spice mix by Schwarz (see photos), known as Aromat (Knorr) or Fondor in other places, is the BEST thing ever. It´s a salty spice, but there is so much more flavour to it than just saltiness. I LOVE it, always put it over any vegetables I cook. Finally, some black pepper and dried mixed herbs, dried thyme or dried rosemary also works really well for seasoning the vegetables below.
More student-friendly recipes
- Lemon Chicken, Chickpeas and Spinach with Bulgur
- Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagne
- Chicken, Sweet Potato and Spinach Curry
- Spaghetti with Sundried Tomato Pesto and Feta Cheese
- Healthy Wrap Pizza
- Short-cut Baked Potatoes
- Creamy Hummus Linguine
- Chicken, Red Pepper and Avocado Wraps
- Vegan Mixed Bean Chilli
- Pesto, Tomato and Mozzarella Baguettes
Creamy Bulgur, Chicken and Veggies
Recipe
Ingredients (serves 1):
FOR THE BULGUR:
- 50g bulgur wheat
- ½ white onion, finely chopped
- ½ chicken stock cube
- ~200ml boiling water
- Ground turmeric, pepper
FOR THE CHICKEN AND VEG (OR JUST VEG):
- A little olive oil
- small chicken breast fillet (150g-200g)
- ½ red onion, sliced
- 1 red pepper, diced
- ½ courgette, sliced
- Any/or other (leftover) vegetables of your choosing (aubergine, peas, broccoli, leek, etc.)
- Seasoning: all-purpose seasoning, salt, pepper, dried herbs, etc.
Method:
- Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan until hot. Turn down to a medium heat and place in your chicken breast (cooking it whole will keep it juicy, but for speed you could cut it into strips and cook it in the same time as the vegetables). Fry for about 5 minutes on one side, until the bottom is crispy, and the breast looks about half-way cooked. Then turn onto the other side and season with salt, pepper and herbs.
- In the meantime, start cooking the bulgur. Heat a little more olive oil in a pot, then add in the onions and fry gently for a few minutes. Crumble in the stock cube, add in the bulgur and pour in about 50ml of the boiling water. Stir well between each addition, waiting for most of the water to be absorbed before gradually adding the remaining 150ml bit by bit. Check out this post here for more information on how to cook bulgur.
- Whilst the bulgur is cooking, add the red onions to the same frying pan as the chicken. Fry until starting to soften, then add in the red pepper and courgette. Season generously (see tips above) and cook for 4-5 minutes until soft and the chicken is cooked through.
- Cut the chicken into slices, then serve with the vegetables and the bulgur!
