Healthy Recipes from Nursen Dogan's Turkish Kitchen

Nursen Dogan is an award-winning chef living in Istanbul, Turkey. Her recipes have been featured in many Turkish magazines and on several cooking shows, and she is regularly selected to judge cooking competitions. Like all Turkish cuisine, her cooking combines Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences, and makes use of many kinds of whole grains—especially bulgur wheat. Also, her recipes are tailored for a modern healthy diet, and the four bulgur recipes below are all healthy and simple to prepare. She can be reached at ndogan@gediknet.com.

Ingredients:

2 cups coarse bulgur
4 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons butter
10 cups baby spinach, trimmed
2 onions, chopped
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup white wine
Salt and black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a pan. Add spinach over high heat and cook for 2-3 minutes. Let sit.

Cook onion in the butter in a saucepan until softened. Add bulgur, saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the wine and stir. Add broth cup by cup and continue stirring. Cook until bulgur is tender and creamy, about 20 minutes. Stir in spinach and Parmesan cheese, add salt, sugar, pepper, and olive oil. Serve risotto warm, sprinkled with grated Parmesan on top.


Ingredients:

2 beefsteaks or roast
1/2 cup of milk
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chickpeas, drained
1 cup bulgur
2 cups water
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup of red wine
Salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

Trim the beef of all visible fat and cut in strips 1/3-inch thick and let rest in the milk for at least an hour. Drain well. Heat butter in a saucepan and saute onions 3-4 minutes. Add beef and cook until browned. Pour wine and hot water and cook on low heat for 3-4 hours. Keep the beef in middle of the pot, add the bulgur and chickpea around the beef and cook on medium heat until bulgur is tender. If needed, add a little more water. Remove from heat and let sit 15 minutes. Cover the pan with a big plate and turn the pan upside down. Serve pilaf hot with yogurt or pickles.

Ingredients:

1 cup bulgur
3 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups plain yogurt

Directions:

Cook 1 cup bulgur in 3 cups of salted water for 20 minutes. Let cool. Add 3 cups of plain yogurt and whisk gently. If the soup is thick, add some water and ice. Serve the soup with 2-3 fresh leaves of mint on top of the bowls, onion slices and toast or flat bread wedges on the side.

 

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

3 medium potatoes, peeled
2 cups fine bulgur
1/2 cup flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

For the Filling:

1 cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon flour
3 cups chopped spinach
1 cup hazelnuts or walnuts, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar

 

Directions:

For the Crust:

Cut the potatoes into thirds and drop into 2 cups of water. Boil for 20-25 minutes. Drain, let 3-4 tablespoons of water and mash the potatoes with a potato masher. Add bulgur mix gently; let sit 10 minutes. Add flour, 1 egg and knead like dough. Let sit until the filling is ready.

For the Filling:

Put spinach in a pot, add a little salt, cover and cook for 3-4 minutes, drain well. Saute onion with butter and sugar for 5 minutes over medium heat; add flour and spinach and saute 1-2 minutes over medium heat. After 10 minutes add 1 egg and 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan, salt and pepper and combine well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 6 small crust pans or 1 medium size pan. Arrange bulgur mixture at the bottom and sides of the pan 1/2 inch thick like a crust. Spoon the spinach mixture into the crusts and add remaining Parmesan cheese on top. Bake 15-20 minutes. Serve on sauce with wedges of lemon.

Sauce

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 cloves of chopped garlic for 1 minute; add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, salt, sugar, black pepper to taste and 1 cup of water, cook 5 minutes over medium heat. Serve warm.

 


 

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