Cook Share and Feast

Ingredients:

For the Bulgar:

• ½ cup Bulgar
• 1½ cups water
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 3 cardamom pods
• 3 cloves
• 1 inch piece of cinnamon
• salt to taste

Vegetable mix:

• 5-6 oz mushroom (portabella or button)
• 4 oz broccoli florets
• 1 small red bell pepper cut into thin strips
• Cooking spray
• ¼ cup dried kidney beans soaked overnight

For Tempering:

• ¼ teaspoon cooking oil
• ¼ teaspoon mustard seed
• 1 strand of curry leaves
• 2 dried whole red chilies broken into 2-3 small pieces

Method:

Cook Bulgar:

• Bring water to boil in a covered saucepan
• Wash Bulgar thoroguhly
• Add Bulgar, cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon, oil, and salt and bring to a rolling boil
• Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes or until all water is absorbed.  Set aside covered until room temperature for about 20 minutes
• Remove cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon (they don’t need to be in the bulgar dish since the fragrance would be incorporated while cooking the bulgar.)

Cook Vegetables:

• Preheat oven to 400F
• Thinly slice mushrooms and separate broccoli into florets
• Spray oil to a cookie sheet evenly.  Evenly spread the vegetables in one layer and roast for about 30 minutes.
• To cook the kidney beans, add enough water to a saucepan and cook beans until tender.  Drain excess water.  Alternatively as I did you can cook kidney beans in a pressure cooker.  I cooked for about 7-8 whistles.  (When cooking in a pressure cooker, after done make sure to let stand until cooled down before opening the lid)

To make the bulgur pulav:

• To a skillet add oil and once hot add mustard seed, dried red chilies, and curry leaves
• Once dried red chilies are lightly browned and curry leaves are crisp add roasted vegetables, kidney beans, and cooked bulgar and mix well
• Season with salt.
• Yields: 2 servings