“Something with cherry tomato” was this week’s recipe brief. Usually, if cherry toms are ripe and sweet, there’s no call to mess with them, but this Turkish dish (adapting a Diana Henry version here) complements the tomato-ness with whole-grain heft and herby freshness. Kisir is similar to tabbouleh, but a bit more spicy and earthy thanks to the cumin, chilli, tomato paste and pomegranate molasses.
Cherry tomato Kisir
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small/medium red onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
- 1½ tbsp tomato puree
- 200g bulgar wheat
- 250g cherry tomatoes, quartered (or larger well-flavoured tomatoes, chopped)
- Chopped flat-leaf parsley, about 4-5 tbsp
- Handful of mint leaves, torn.
Method
- Heat the ordinary olive oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 mins. Add the cumin and chilli and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomato puree, add 150ml of boiling water.
- Mix in the bulgar wheat, remove the pan from the heat, cover and leave for 15 minutes.
- Fork through the grains to separate them. Don’t worry if it seems too dry – the wet ingredients will sort it.
- Add the tomatoes and herbs to the wheat, mix gently.
- Dressing: Mix the juice of 1 lemon, 75ml extra virgin olive oil and 1 ½ tbsp. pomegranate molasses in a cup. Add three-quarters of the dressing to the bulgar-tomato mixture, mix gently then judge if you need more dressing. Not too dry, not too soggy. Add salt at this stage, to your taste.