Binnur's Turkish Cookbook

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Saturday, March 26, 2005

Kisir

Kisir
1 cup bulgur wheat, large grain
60 ml olive oil
1 onion, diced
1-2 tbsp tomato paste
1 lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cumin

First put the bulgur in a large bowl and pour two cups of hot water on it (it should stay like this for 5 minutes). Meanwhile in a medium sized pot, place the onion and olive oil. Cook until the onions turn light brown. Add the salt, tomato paste, lemon juice and cumin.

Then wash and drain the bulgur, and mix it into the pot with a wooden spoon. Cook for about 10 minutes on medium-low heat. Afterwards, cover and set aside for it to cool down.

When it's cold, add in the following:

3-4 tomatoes, diced
4-5 fresh green onions, diced
1 cup chopped parsley

Toss and serve. This recipe goes well with Ayran. Keep refrigerated as Kisir is best served cold.

* This is a vegetarian dish.

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30 Comments:

At 8:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Chopped fresh mint is a very good addition too, and pepper paste, if you can get it, adds an interesting flavor. Also as an alternative to lemon, pomegranate molasses (nar ekşisi) is very good but if you live outside Turkey make sure you get one that is really sour. Otherwise you can combine with lemon juice.

 
At 8:34 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would prefer small (köftelik) bulgur for this.

 
At 5:59 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very, very delicious! Thanks for the recipe!

 
At 8:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dear Binnur, thank you for your sharing with us all the recipes. My husband is Turkish and thanks to you ... he can have a little Turkey in UK. We love kasir, red lentil soup and revani :) Thank you again, Anna

 
At 10:34 AM, Blogger Binnur said...

Hi Anna,
You're very welcome. I am glad you and your husband like my recipes:)
Hope you'll try more soon.

 
At 8:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you so much this recipe is really really good and like I tell everyone you are one of the best cook I know.I have made about 30 dishes so far and everyone of them are wonderful Thanks Lori

 
At 5:18 PM, Blogger Binnur said...

Thank you Lori, for the the lovely comment:)
Take care,

 
At 3:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for this!

Kisir tastes SO good I love it.

My turkish friends mom makes it.

This could make being a Vegan easy.

LOL, not that I'm one but would like to be.

 
At 7:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi there very delisicous I ate all
do youknow how cous cous is different from this ?

 
At 11:12 AM, Blogger Binnur said...

Hi,
Kuskus (Couscous) is a small tiny ball shape pasta, Bulgur is grain that come in different sizes.

 
At 8:33 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

how many will this dish serve? can red onions be used instead of green onions? thankyou

 
At 12:23 PM, Blogger Binnur said...

It is not a main dish, it is a appetizer so it depends how many spoon you want to serve:) Traditionally it should be green onion but if you like to use red onion you can use:)
Take care,

 
At 3:22 AM, Anonymous turkish chick said...

Just to clarify, couscous, in turkey, is the given name to a small pasta shape. For the rest of the world its the same thing as cracked wheat bulgur. The difference between the prepared meals (or salad)from cracked wheat, kisir and toubuleh/couscous is that kisir is a bit more spicier :)very similar dishes.

 
At 2:13 PM, Anonymous Christina said...

@Turkish chick - Couscous is not bulgur, no matter where you are. Bulgur is a grain. Couscous is a pasta. They look very similar, but whereas bulgur is a whole grain, couscous is made by rolling together tiny bits of moistened semolina flour.

I love kisir and have made it several times, but I also have always used köftelik bulgur. It definitely tastes better with red pepper paste but I haven't been able to find it in the U.S. :(

 
At 12:13 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

try adding nar sos (pomegranate sauce) its great

 
At 12:13 AM, Anonymous Ahmet Saner said...

Binnur Hanim you would have been proud of me, followed the recepi and succeded. Next batch I will charge per serve lol......

 
At 9:04 PM, Blogger Binnur said...

I am so proud of you Ahmet...I hope you will try more recipes that I've been posting:)

 
At 5:53 PM, Anonymous carla said...

hello, the recipe i have from another cookbook instructs to just thoroughly rinse small bulgur and to not actually cook it at all. once everything is combined and it sits for a small bit of time, it has the perfect texture. when i was pregnant i craved this dish constantly!

 
At 11:02 PM, Blogger Binnur said...

Hi Carla,
I've posted the Bulgur Salad (Ic) recipe under the Salad section. It is made with the small grain bulgur.

 
At 2:13 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you so much! Several of my colleagues at my school here in Arizona are Turkish and they often bring this, but I never had a chance to get the recipe. I appreciate that you use U.S. measurements.

 
At 4:15 AM, Anonymous Yamina said...

Great recipe, we loved it :)

 
At 1:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I made this dish following the recipe in your book and I thought it was strange that it called for 1/2 cup of lemon juice. I only put about 2 and half lemons because I didn't have any more but thank goodness I didn't put the 1/2 cup because it would have come out way too lemony! I looked online and sure enough it says 1 lemon instead of 1/2 cup of lemon and 1 tbsp cumin instead of 2 tbsp. I made another cup of bulgur wheat and added it to the dish and that reduced the lemon and cumin taste. It is a very delicious dish but just be sure to follow the recipe on the website not the one in the book.

 
At 9:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

When you say " Meanwhile in a medium sized pot, place the onion and olive oil. Cook until the onions turn light brown." Is this the 4-5 fresh green onions in the bottom or is it different onions? Thanks!

 
At 10:51 AM, Blogger Binnur said...

Hi,
No, it is not the 4-5 fresh green onions.
It is the ‘1 onion, diced’ as listed in the first part, at the top.

 
At 2:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought red pepper paste is used for KISIR, not the tomato paste.

 
At 6:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi,Do I need to cook bulgur with onion and tomatoes first? Thus why isnt it called bulgurlu pilaf ?☺ Where's the name taken from? ☺Why Kisir ? Love your blog! Greetings!

 
At 10:37 AM, Blogger Binnur said...

Thank you!
After washing the bulgur; 'mix it into the pot with a wooden spoon.
Cook for about 10 minutes on medium-low heat.'
Some of the dish names have stories, some don't, like Kısır :)
Sevgilerimle,

 
At 6:16 AM, Blogger Irene said...

I used the ingredients, but did not follow the instructions, and the it is still amazing. The only I cooked was the one bulgur, and I used the pepper paste. Thank you.

 
At 9:53 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello! So it is 1 cup of bulgur and 2 cups of water, so I just always double the water per cup of bulgur, correct? (I'll be making a huge tray of this tomorrow for a party. I want to make sure the measurements are correct).

 
At 10:44 AM, Blogger Binnur said...

Correct, Rosanna :)

 

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