Whilst pasta and rice are probably firm favourites in student cooking, I actually much prefer bulgur! So, in this fourth student cooking basics post, I will tell you more about what bulgur is, how to cook bulgur and what kind of recipes you could use it in!
Check out the other Student Cooking Basics
- Béchamel Sauce (White Sauce) | Student Cooking Basics #1
- How to Cook Pasta (properly) | Student Cooking Basics #2
- How to Cook Rice | Student Cooking Basics #3
What is Bulgur?
If you haven´t heard of it before, bulgur wheat is a type of grain that is slightly larger than couscous, but smaller than rice.
Bulgur is very often used in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking and is a lot less common in other parts of Europe. That´s good though, because it means that it is still available extremely cheaply! Unlike quinoa, which has gone up in price significantly since influencers have “discovered” it and it has been promoted all over social media. I´m sure Bulgur´s time will come, haha, so let´s enjoy it whilst it is still our little secret!
How much Bulgur should you make?
In terms of portion sizes, as a side dish, 50g of uncooked bulgur is the perfect serving size. It may not look much at first, but it absorbs a lot of water during cooking! If you are making bulgur as the main component of your dinner, you might want to weigh out about 60-70g. And obviously, this recipe can be easily doubled, tripled, etc. if you are cooking for multiple people or for meal prep.
Only needing about 50g of bulgur to make a decent portion is another reason why bulgur is such a good student staple! A 500g bag of bulgur costs about £1.50, so that means it only comes to about 15p per portion! Fantastic!
How to Cook Bulgur
I am a huge fan of onions, so I always cook some onion first to which I then add the bulgur. If you´re not a fan, by all means leave it out, but I´d highly recommend it!
In terms of how I cook bulgur, I treat it a bit like a risotto. Adding the stock bit by bit until the bulgur is fully cooked. This makes it absorb the water slowly and leaves you with an extremely creamy result! Plus, it takes half the time to make bulgur than it does risotto – less than 10 minutes and you are good to go!
This may be a bit unusual, but I don´t dissolve my stock cube in the boiling water when making bulgur, but instead crumble it in before I start adding the water. This makes sure I´m still getting all the flavour from the stock cube, even if I don´t use all of the water. I use chicken stock cubes when making bulgur as I absolutely love the flavour of it. But you could also use a vegetable stock cube for a vegetarian or vegan option.
In terms of seasoning, I like to finish my bulgur with a little turmeric to intensify that yellow colour (plus turmeric has a few health benefits), before seasoning with some lemon juice, salt and pepper. Make sure you taste your bulgur and go easy on the salt, as there may already be enough from the stock cube.
What can you serve Bulgur with?
I love just making this creamy bulgur as a side dish instead of rice or pasta. So, for example, with some vegetables and a piece of meat or fish like in this recipe here. My favourite thing to serve with bulgur is this Lemon Chicken, Chickpea and Spinach sauce. It´s really easy to make, great for meal prep and tastes amazing!
Sometimes, I even make bulgur the star of the show in a healthy stir-fry (e.g. in this Creamy Bulgur with Peas and Steak Stir-fry). Instead of adding my cooked vegetables to rice or pasta, I just mix them in with a big portion of bulgur!
You could also use bulgur to make a salad (you can find some inspiration on the BBC Good Food website) and store it in the fridge for a few days, but I personally prefer to use couscous or quinoa (check out my colourful quinoa salad) for that. In my opinion, bulgur tastes best when eaten warm!
Meal Prep with Bulgur
As I said above, you could use bulgur to make a healthy salad for lunch. It will easily keep in the fridge for a few days.
However, cooked bulgur is also suitable heating up in the microwave the next day. If I make a nice dish that I serve with bulgur, I might make a bigger portion and keep the leftovers in the fridge to enjoy the next day. Unlike pasta, bulgur doesn´t go dry or become really over-cooked when you microwave it, so it´s great for meal prep!
How to Cook Bulgur
The Basic Recipe
Ingredients (serves 1):
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- ½ chicken (or vegetable) stock cube
- 50g bulgur
- ~200ml boiling water
- Turmeric, black pepper, salt, lemon juice, to season
Method:
- Start by heating the olive oil in a small pot or frying pan. Add the onion and cook over a low heat for a few minutes until the start to soften and become translucent.
- Next, add in the bulgur wheat and crumble in half a stock cube. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine with the onions.
- Carefully add about 50ml of boiling water to the pot and bring it to a gently simmer. As the water is absorbed by the bulgur, gradually add more in about 50ml increments, stirring occasionally.
- Once all the water has been absorbed, taste and see if the bulgur is cooked (soft, with a little bit of bite left to it, i.e. al dente). If not, add a little bit more water and wait for it to be absorbed.
- Season the cooked bulgur with some turmeric, black pepper, and a little salt.
