Bulgur with Mushroom
Bulgur is a precooked, easy to prepare, and a very nutritious food, which is one of the oldest processed food in the human history. References indicate that, the process is known by humans almost for 6,000 years. For the Babylonians, Hittites and Hebrews, bulghur has been a staple since at least 4,000 BC. Romans, Arabs and Egyptians have recorded its use as early as 1,000 BC.
Common in the more easternly Mediterranean regions, it also has a long history in the Ukarainian and Central Asian cuisines. In China it was decleared one of the five sacred crops around 2800BC. (Others are rice, barley, millet and soybean.)
It has different names and different spellings at different regions, through out the centuries. The Romans called it "cerealis", in the Middle East it was called as "dagan", or "arisah", currently it is called as burghul, burghoul, balgour, boulgur, or bulgur.
Bulgur can have a long shelf life. It can resist mold contamination and attack by insects.
Most of the time people call it cracked wheat. Cracked wheat is raw, and needs cooking, on the other hand, bulgur is cleaned, parboiled, dried, and grounded, so it will be ready to eat even after soaking in hot water for some time. Durum wheat is the most common wheat type for making bulgur.
Bulgur is a good nutritional source, and it is an ideal food for vegetarian diet. Even though it was known for thousands of years, it is becoming more popular in health food and vegetarian diets. It is rich in vitamin B and manganes. It has less calories and fat, and more fiber than brown rice according to the article published in Cooking Light magazine (June 2004)
Bulgur can be found in three different grinds; fine (#1), medium (#2) and coarse (#3). Even though traditionally it is de-branned, you can find whole grain bulgur in natural food stores. You can buy bulgur also from Middle Eastern, Indian, or Mediterranian markets.
It can be used in pilafs, soups, sallads, and as stuffings. In Indian cuisine, it is also used as a cereal with milk and sugar.
100 gr of unprepared bulgur consists of approximately 360kcal, 8g of dietary fiber, 12.5g of protein, 69g of carbohydrate (0.8g sugars), 1.75g of fat (0.2g saturated).
Bulgur with mushroom is healthy, delicious, yet very easy to prepare.
Ingredients:
2 cups of bulgur (#2, or #3)
1 medium size onion (chopped)
8 oz of mushrooms
1 tbsp tomato paste
0.5 tbsp red pepper paste
1.5 cups of hot water
1 tbsp cooking oil
salt, pepper
1. Clean and slice the mushrooms. Wash the bulgur.
2. Cook the onion in the cooking oil in a shallow pan for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown at medium heat.
3. Add sliced mushrooms, tomato and pepper paste, and reduce the heat.
4. When the mushrooms are tender add hot water.
5. Bring the water to boil, and add the bulgur.
6. Cook it until the bulgur become tender, (if necessary add some hot water) or the excess water evaporates.
sources: sunnylandmills.com, wikipedia.org, cookinglight.com
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