A delicious and velvety bulgur pilaf recipe, perfect alongside any meal, whatever the occasion. Here’s all you need to know…
The Simple Ingredients:
I use bulgur wheat as the base of the pilaf, but I always add some vermicelli. It gives the pilaf a completely different taste and texture – a beautiful addition.
You can also add tomatoes to make it an ever richer pilaf – check out my Tomato Bulgur Pilaf recipe here!
The Key Techniques:
1. Fry the vermicelli.
This gives the vermicelli a whole new taste. Fry it up in a tiny bit of oil in the pot (I use 4 tablespoons) until it turns a dark golden brown colour, see below. It darkens very quickly, and can burn if you don’t pay attention to it. Be careful!
2. More oil means more flavour.
My recipe has a pretty low level of oil, to stay on the healthy side, but you can of course add more. In fact this recipe tastes better with more – especially with butter. But I would not recommend using less oil than the 4 tablespoons in this recipe. I think this amount is a good balance between health and flavour.
Classic Bulgur Pilaf
Ingredients
- 237 g bulgur wheat
- 45 g vermicelli
- ¾ tsp salt
- 475 ml boiling water
- 4 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- In a medium sized pot, fry the vermicelli in the oil for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Add the bulgur, water and salt. Cook with lid on for 9 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Leave to rest for 5 minutes. Enjoy!