Skip to footer

Greek bulgur salad

The hearty whole grain wheat bulgur will add a nutty flavor to any salad. Combine it with feta, cucumber, red onions, and kalamata olives for a Greek style salad.

|
Whipped, The Blog
Feta, kalamata olives, red onion and cucumber can be added to almost anything to make a delicious meal. Mix the combo with pasta, salad greens, chopped chicken, or a whole grain like bulgur or quinoa.

It is so odd how we are born with unique palates and preferences. Our oldest daughter is much more like a normal carb-loving kid. She is somewhat picky about meat, adores pasta and pancakes and is always bargaining for sweets. We knew something was different about Baby Whipped (who is now Toddler Whipped) when she turned away from her cupcake on her first birthday. Gasp!

Over the past year, we have discovered that the little one has an affinity for kalamata olives, broccoli, cucumbers and feta cheese. She likes to torture herself by repeatedly trying spicy things. She shudders, her eyes water, she guzzles milk and giggles as she goes at it again. 

Our little rascal has been known to sneak sips of coffee when she finds unattended mugs. Don’t call the authorities. We don’t let her drink caffeine. I just find it interesting that she even expresses an interest in them.

My food hasn’t exemplified the utmost creativity of late. I’m starting to weave new recipes back into the fold. But, there have been a lot of standbys, or variations on a theme. We almost always keep good quality feta cheese in our refrigerator from a local ethnic grocer. I have found that feta, kalamata olives, red onion and cucumber can be added to almost anything to make a delicious meal. Mix the combo with pasta, salad greens, chopped chicken or quinoa. Drizzle with a little olive oil and red wine vinegar and you’ve got a meal.

Recently I bought my first bag of bulgur to make some vegetarian bean burgers. The hearty whole grain wheat is a bit like couscous but tastes nuttier. I toasted my bulgur before cooking it to bring out the flavor. We ate the cold salad on top of a bed of arugula (also a bit of a nutty flavor) for dinner and a few time the following days for lunch. It holds up well and gets even tastier over time.

If you don’t have bulgur or don’t like it, you can follow this recipe with your favorite grain or pasta. Be sure to use the best quality feta and olives that you can find.

Bulgur Salad with Feta, Cucumber and Kalamata Olives
 

Serves 4-6

4 cups cooked and cooled Bulgur (follow package directions)

1/2 cup sliced kalamata olives

3/4 cup feta cut in 1/2-inch cubes

1 cup cucumber cut in 1/2-inch cubes

1/4 cup red onion, diced

Olive oil & red wine vinegar

Salt & pepper

Arugula or other salad greens for serving (optional)

1. If you like a nuttier flavor, toast the dry bulgur in the pan with a tablespoon of olive oil before following package directions to cook. Let cool before mixing with other ingredients.

2. Toss the bulgur, cucumber, feta, onions and olives together with a fork to combine. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar and toss. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over a bed of salad greens if desired.

Keeps in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Greek bulgur salad
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Food/Stir-It-Up/2013/0717/Greek-bulgur-salad
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe