Whenever I have been over served on alcoholic beverages (usually self-served…) I always crave fruity or juicy things the next day. I also usually have intense urges to be in a lake or similar body of water. I assume this is because I’m dehydrated and my body just wants to suck up all the moisture it can. Anyway, I saw this recipe for a wheat bulgur grain salad with blueberries in the June 2015 edition of Cooking Light magazine, and on one of these moisture-craving days thought it would be a good lunch.
This recipe also incorporates some of my other salad favorites- cucumbers, red onion, and basil. The fruity blueberries, cool cucumbers, and the light basil and lemon vinaigrette brighten up the nuttiness of the bulgur. I was actually really surprised how much I liked this salad.
Here’s what you need:
The bulgur is really easy to prepare, easier even than other easy grains like quinoa and rice. All you have to do is pour 1/2 cup of boiling water into a bowl with the bulgur and let it sit for about 20-25 minutes. I put a kitchen towel over the top of the bowl before setting the lid on, to make a better seal. After about 25 minutes all the water should be absorbed, then just fluff it with a fork.
The hardest part of this salad is making the vinaigrette, and even this part is easy. Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, basil, salt and pepper in a small container, use an immersion blender to blend everything together.
While the bulgur is sitting, cut up the cucumber and onions. For this salad I like the onions slivered more instead of chopped. To make slivers, cut an onion in half, so that the root is on one half, put the cut side down, cut it in half again, then just cut little slivers off the short end. The magazine recipe had a nice little trick of soaking the onions in cold water for 10 minutes to take some of the edge off so they don’t overpower the other flavors.
Combine everything in a bowl, drizzle on the dressing, sprinkle on the feta, and enjoy. This is a great summer side salad, and also keeps well for lunch the next day if you put the dressing on the side.
I’ve made this salad a couple times now and am now running out of the blueberries I stole from Dana last year… good thing blueberry picking season is just around the corner. Hopefully she is feeling as generous as last year!
- ½ cup cracked wheat bulgur
- ½ cup blueberries
- ¼ english cucumber, chopped
- ¼ red onion, sliced
- feta cheese
- olive oil
- 2T lemon juice
- ¼ cup basil
- salt
- Prepare the wheat bulgur according to package directions
- Chop the cucumber and slice the red onions
- Combine olive oil, lemon juice, basil, and salt with an immersion blender until well blended
- Add cucumbers, onion, and blueberries to bulgur, drizzle on dressing and sprinkle with feta cheese
Leave a Reply