Here’s the thing about bulgar salad.
It’s hard to write about at 6:37am.
Was it delicious? Yes.
Did almost all our friends who came over on Saturday night try it and like it? Yes.
Have I been sneaking leftover spoonfuls here and there out of the fridge. Maaaaybe.
I usually write these posts at night, cozied up with a mug of tea and whatever snack sounds good at the moment. I take my sweet time transferring and editing pictures, I click over to twitter to see what’s going on, I write a little, I have a gchat conversation here and there, I read other blogs and eventually I finish the post and get it scheduled, approximately 2.5-3 hours after I started. I’m not very efficient.
Yesterday we hiked, Ginger had the best day of her life between running through muddy streams, riding in a Jeep with no windows and visiting my parents’ house with their 2 dogs and when we got home I just wanted to collapse. I didn’t have the energy for 2.5-3 hours of dilly-dallying. So I did.
That being said, a bulgar wheat salad is hard to describe when you’re up almost 2 hours before you normally would be and you haven’t even had a cup of coffee yet, let alone breakfast.
I’ll try though. Just for you guys. Even though the thought of those onions right now could make me gag.
I’ve actually never cooked with bulgar wheat before this. I went into the grocery store looking for black rice. I had visions of it studded with edamame in my head, the colors making a cool contrast between the black and green. Because picking your meals based on their color combinations is obviously normal. I was apparently under some major delusions thinking my craphole of a store would actually have black rice. Ha. Bulgar wheat with soy chips is about as exotic as the Stop & Shop gets around here. So that’s what I left with.
It’s kind of a fun grain. Chewy, but not as much as wheatberries or barley would be. Cooks fast and has a great protein to carb ratio.
I kept the salad simple with just edamame (every damn pod shelled by hand because the Stop & Shop also doesn’t believe in pre-shelled stuff), corn and a little bit of red onion. Honestly, this whole dish is made by the dressing.
Sweet fresh orange juice + dijon mustard = heaven in your mouth.
Just maybe not at 6am.
- 2 cups cooked bulgar wheat
- 1 cup shelled edamame
- 1 cup frozen corn, defrosted
- ½ small red onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- ½ lemon, juiced
- ½ orange, juiced
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- salt & pepper, to taste
- Combine cooked bulgar wheat, edamame, corn and onion in a large bowl. Season with salt & pepper to taste
- In a smaller bowl combine remaining ingredients for the dressing and whisk together.
- Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine.
- Best if refrigerated and left to sit for at least an hour but can be served immediately.
{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh how I wish I could eat bulgar wheat! Could totally sub some buckwheat though or millet maybe. Sounds delicious. Also really wish could get edamame beans here….the only way I’ve found them is as “nuts”.
On my new “grains to try” list – I loved farro and wheatberries.
I can’t wait to try this. Buglar wheat has been on my ‘to try’ list for a while now.
That dressing sounds really delicious. I love using bulgar wheat and this sounds such a great way to eat it!
this looks really good! it reminds me of fried rice but with bulgar wheat. i need to go to whole foods or something and seek out this bulgar wheat..seems much healthier than regular rice! i like the simplicity of the dressing..dijon mustard in any dressing is always a winner!
It’s funny you said that b/c one of the guys eating it on Saturday compared it to fried rice too. He was like “it just needs some bacon or meat!” haha
Its current 6 am in CA, I’m eating pancakes, and I don’t want to describe them or even think about them. Mainly because then I have to think about the fact that I’ve been awake since 4 and out of bed since 5. I feel terrible for everyone who has to deal with me for the rest of today.
Citrus and dijon really is the best dressing. But I don’t want to think about it either.
Now this is my kinda dish (okay, I know I say that about everything you make, but this really does look so delicious!).
And I hear you on being an inefficient blogger. It blows my mind to think about how I managed to post 3 times a day, work full time, exercise, have a social life and also get some down time. Where oh where has that productivity gone!?
You know…I seriously wondered how you used to do it too! haha Glad you’re more inefficient now, makes me feel better about myself
Oh I am SO overdue to hop on the bulgar bandwagon! I still have a half pound of millet I need to experiment with too! and some buckwheat. Crap what am I going to do with all these grains!?
obvi make this =)
Ahh, I love millet. You have to try that stuff! Toast it first with coconut oil, it’s so nutty and delicious
Display them in blue old timey glass ball jars. I love my noodle, nut, spice, and grain display, where I see them all each day and use them often from there.
hahah I totes have them on display! [http://www.peasandcrayons.com/2011/10/project-pantry-over-organization.html] I just need to stop stairing and start eating! =)
I’ve never had bulgar wheat, and probably never will be able to… ha but it looks like a fun grain to experiment with! Fun fun. I was so low on food yesterday I had to resort to a pretty sad looking breakfast that you never could have stomached at 6am either… but desperate times.
bulghur is soooo good as breakfast, too. I promise.
I had it for breakfast this morning! Not this salad, that would be gross. The leftover plain cooked stuff
I never had bulgar. This is a new grain for me to try. Not abig fan of wheat berries, so I’m glad it’s not as chewy. Next time I’m at the store I’m going to look for it. Your dressing sounds wonderful!
You don’t see a lot of recipes out there using bulgar wheat, I love to see a new use for it. By the way I love your blog, you are very creative with your cooking and consistently wow me with your new recipes. Cheers!
Thanks Crystal!
Yup, I’m definitely printing this recipe. I’d love to try it. I haven’t cooked with bulgar wheat yet, but I am a huge wheat berry fan.
This looks really good and I know what you mean about blogging at 0600. Are we crazy?
Perhaps.
I have never had bulgur wheat. Is it more like rice or couscous? It looks heartier and grainier than couscous. Also, I love the fresh citrus fruit dressings, sometimes I just squeeze fresh orange juice in my salads and call it good!
I’d say more like rice. Chopped up rice. It definitely is heartier and grainier than couscous (which I’m not a huge fan of). The squeeze of orange juice is a great idea for a quick simple dressing. Sometimes I’m just to lazy to dirty another bowl to whisk a dressing up. stealing that idea
I’ve been wanting to try bulgar for a while–but in the meantime, I think I’ll just slather this dressing all over my quinoa
The red onion in this recipe seems like it would add the perfect texture. Your recipes are refreshing and creative, Gina. Mostly, though, they inspire me to create fun and new dishes of my own!
Thanks, that’s a great compliment to hear
I love getting a scoop of bulgar salad when I’m at Whole Foods but always dread the way it tips the (food) scales since it gets pricy. Thanks for the recipe!! Can’t wait to try.
I’m a huge fan of using oranges as a quick flavor booster to homemade dressings. Good job on this one and with the salad and the flavors…and pics. Gorgeous!
Congrats on the Top 9 Orange recipes feature (ironically) today, too!
haha yeah, that was quite ironic timing. Congrats on your feature too!
Yuuumm! I love bulgar! I’ve never cooked it, but I’ve had it similar to this. Yours sounds light and refreshing though
Delicious.
I agree with Julie – I was thinking that this reminded me of fried rice. Looks stunning and this dressing is making my mouth water!
This looks so delicious–I love it!
thanks for this wonderful recipe that you provide this is really good.
mmmm…the texture of the bulgar and edamame with the sweet pop of the corn coupled with a zesty dijon dressing sounds like an absolutely perfect side dish or snack. So creative with your grains and veggies!
Your recipe for today was perfect…mostly because my husband went out of town this afternoon and a grain-based vegetarian meal is like the one thing that I CRAVE that he doesn’t ever want to eat. Also, it was perfect because I had ALL the ingredients on hand. When does that happen? ! The dressing is so yummy! Since I was making it into a dinner, I increased the variety of veggies with whatever I had in the fridge (in addition to the corn, edamame, and onions – red bell pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh spinach, basil, and match-stick radishes). This was soo good and totally hit the spot.
awesome! I love that you made it the day I posted it
All those additions sound delicious!
This dish looks lovely Gina. I really like bulgar wheat but rarely buy it for some reason. Maybe this recipe will inspire me to get some next time I’m grocery shopping.
I’m the exact same way when it comes to blogging. It takes me forever to get a post completed because I’m doing a million other things online. The internet is just so darn distracting.
Seriously. I wish there was a way to lock myself out of doing anything but focusing on my post! I used to be so focused as a student, somehow it’s like I grew into ADD or something!
YES! I was awesome at studying in school BUT I didn’t study at the computer, nor did I have a blog, twitter or an iphone… all of which are big distractions.
Oh and there are definitely browser extensions you can use to lock yourself out of certain webpages to keep yourself focused. I’ve looked into them, but haven’t tried any.
True! And the fact that all those things didn’t exist when we were in college just made me feel very old. Ha!
Have you been spying on me? Because that is exactly how I write my posts
This looks delicious and I love your serving bowl. Does food fall out of those holes on the sides?
Haha, it does if you’re not careful!
This salad was great! Here in Greece, I have not found edamame, but substituted cooked garbanzos. It was excellent – my husband loved it too. We increased the amount of dressing to our taste.
Great recipe! I didn’t have dijon so I skipped it and replaced the corn with orange slices (then used the juice for the rest of the recipe). It was my first time using bulgar wheat but I know I will be using it a lot more going forward! (I boiled a cup of vegetable broth and poured it over 1/2 cup bulgar). Thanks for your recipes!
Totally enjoyed this recipe. Looking forward to following you on my path to a more healthy lifestyle!
Oh wow! I’m totally addicted to mustard so you had me at Dijon! I just have to wait for the icy cold wintery weather to ease up a little and I’ll definitely be putting this on my next salad (although drizzling it over a baked tatie sounds pretty awesome too!)
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