Pumpkin & cauliflower bulgur with parsley pesto
July 18, 2011
Ever since I discovered kisir, I’ve experimented with various forms of bulgur-based dinners. I upgraded to medium-coarse bulgur and am not looking back – I love that the grains are slightly chewy and more substantial. This was a winning combo taste wise and I know I’ll be making it again considering how simple and versatile the ingredients are. Cauli with a bit of bite (wish I’d used Grown’s amazing purple stuff!), soft and lightly sweet pumpkin, and refreshing parsley pesto with a nutty richness.
All you need are some veges, your favourite nuts (or some feta), and some pesto. Preferably not nuts that you burnt (like I did…although they still tasted great in the bulgur!). Eep.
Pumpkin & cauliflower bulgur with parsley pesto
makes enough for 2-3 on its own for dinner
- two handfuls cauliflower florets
- two handfuls pumpkin, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes/chunks
- an onion, cubed
- 3-5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- about 100g parsley pesto (or whatever pesto you like) – use dairy-free for vegans
- 200g medium bulgur
- 200ml water
- juice of half a lemon
- optional: handful of toasted nuts, or cubed feta. I used Pinoli pine nuts
- cooking oil, salt and pepper
- optional: 1 tsp home made vegetable bouillon
Heat oil in a medium large saucepan on medium heat, add pumpkin and a splash of water, and cover. Once the steam starts building up and the pumpkin softens a little (it might be browned a little, which is good), stir in the cauliflower. Add another splash of water, stir in the vegetable bouillon, and cover again. Let the steam build up and rattle your cover a little, then uncover and stir in the onion. Re-cover, let cook another minute. Taste the cauli – it’ll be quite crunchy still hopefully, which is important as it will continue to cook while the bulgur soaks up the liquids. Add about a third of the parsley pesto, in addition to the water, bulgur, lemon juice, garlic, some salt and pepper.
Turn off the heat, then cover and let the bulgur soak up the liquids until the pot feels warm to the touch. Uncover, fluff everything up, and add the rest of the parsley pesto. Stir through a bit, taste, and season further with salt & pepper to taste. Sprinkle toasted nuts over and serve.
Currently Clickalicious
6 Comments
leave one →
Two Spoons 
So delicious! And vegetarian too :-), I love these kinds of meals, and to see all those toasted pinoli made me really hungry!
ciao
A.
This looks like a dish I could make on a weeknight when all you DON’T want is to be slave to the kitchen but a yummy quick dinner! Oh – and I have a habit of burning my nuts all the time. For some strange reason, I can never just get them ‘nicely’ toasted! :)
Looks like a very tasty vegetarian dish! I am not a vegetarian but I would be happy to have this, it looks so good
Cauliflower is so good. Burnt nuts, not so much…although up to a certain point, they’re still very edible. This sounds lovely :)
A: Haha, even slightly overdone ones?!
S: That was the idea! Sometimes doing them in the oven helps, on a lowish heat for a long time so you have a larger window in which they can burn. I’m too impatient sometimes though!
R: Glad to hear it :)
H: Thanks. I don’t forsee getting out of my cauliflower streak anytime soon…currently have two in the fridge!
This even makes me want to eat cauliflower! Beautiful dish :)