lentil bulgur pilaf

bob loves barley, but never seems to work it into the menu. Big bulgur, which is size number four on the bulgur wheat grain scale (1 smallest, 4 biggest), looks remarkably like barley when cooked in pilaf or soup. So when this pilaf dish appeared on his plate at the in-law dinner table, he was sure it was barley and had to be convinced otherwise. Lack of certainty about identification, however, did not interfere with the enjoyment or prevent him from (over) stuffing his face with the stuff, a frequent occurrence when tempted by tasty middle eastern/armenian mom home cooking.

ingredients

phase 1

1 c dry lentils

2 c water

1 onion, chopped

1/4 t black pepper

2 t salt

1/2 t cumin

1/2 t red pepper (Middle Eastern!)

phase 2

1 c boiling water, from a tea kettle

1 c bulgur wheat, number 4

phase 3

1/4 c olive oil

1 onion, chopped

instructions

1. Boil together the phase 1 ingredients covered for about 10 minutes.
2. Add 1 c water and bring to a boil covered again (or add already boiling water to speed this up) and then add the bulgur and simmer on low heat until the water is absorbed (about 30 minutes).
3. Sauté the second onion in olive oil until crisp.
4. Then add the onion oil to the pilaf.
5. Serve with the crisp onion on top (garnish).

notes

1. bulgur is available in Armenian or middle eastern food specialty stores and now even in the national whole foods chain we often visit.
2. Variations of this recipe are easy. For weekday supper, we skipped the dry lentil part and started directly with the onion, seasonings, and bulgur, then dumped in a 15 oz can of cooked lentils, and a 7.75 oz can of cooked chick peas during the bulgur cooking phase. Terrific.
3. But before ani could stop him, bob, reading this recipe, started shaking in cayenne red pepper, but in fact in all of Isgouhi's recipes, when she says red pepper she really means Middle Eastern red pepper, alias Turkish pepper, sometimes called Aintab pepper after the formerly Armenian city Aintab, now Gaziantep, Turkey, as an article by famous cookbook writer Paula Wolfert describes at her website (adapted from a Saveur magazine article) turned up by a search on the keywords "Aintab pepper". Two new Armenian cookbook acquisitions from Alice Antreassian indicate that this can be reasonably substituted by 3 parts paprika to 1 part cayenne red pepper. And Isgouhi's teaspoon measure really means a heaping teaspoon from the silverware drawer and not a level measuring teaspoon. [This unit misunderstanding doesn't help in trying to reproduce a mother-in-law's cooking...]
4. It turned out so tasty that bob nearly ate the whole thing with some help from ani. With a cucumber mint yogurt sauce on the side, and a cucumber tomato salad. Yes!
5. Illustrations available.