Grains, rice & flours · Whole grains

Bulgur wheat

Wheat that is parboiled, dried and cracked, so it only needs soaking or brief simmering; the grain of tabbouleh.

Also called: bulgur, burghul, bulghur, cracked wheat, dalia

Photo: Myself, via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-SA-3.0)

What it is

Bulgur is whole wheat that has been boiled, dried and cracked into fine, medium or coarse pieces. Because it is precooked, fine bulgur softens just by soaking, and coarse bulgur cooks in about 15 minutes. It is often confused with cracked wheat, which is raw and takes much longer, and with couscous, which is a pasta made from semolina. Indian dalia is a similar broken wheat.

How it’s used

Tabbouleh and kısır salads (fine)
Pilavs and stuffings (coarse)
Kibbeh and içli köfte shells
Porridge and dalia
Bulking out meatballs and soups

Characteristics

Taste: Nutty and wheaty.
Texture: Chewy, separate grains.
When cooked: Fine bulgur: soak in hot or cold water or tomato juice. Coarse: simmer about 1:2 with liquid, then rest covered.
Sold as: whole
Cooking uses: Commonly cooked, Suitable for boiling
Common in: Turkish, Lebanese, Syrian, Armenian, Levantine, Iraqi, Cypriot, Indian