Bulgur

Hearing this word or meeting it in another interesting recipe, many hostesses will shrug their shoulders in bewilderment. Interestingly, such a seemingly overseas name is the most simple product - cereals made from hard wheat. It is most in demand in the Transcaucasus and the Mediterranean, as well as in the Middle East, although recently many Russian hostesses are more and more interested in this product, due to the notorious useful properties of bulgur.

To produce bulgur, wheat grains are first heat treated, after which they are thoroughly dried and then milled. In size, this cereal can be compared to small rice grains, while small bulgur resembles corn cereals in structure. By the way, it can be called a very economical dish, since when boiling bulgur it can increase in volume three times. The calorie content of bulgur is 342 kcal per hundred grams.

For second courses and some types of bulgur salads, it is customary to fry in butter, it will give the finished meal a pleasant nut aroma. This product combines wonderfully with meat as well as fish. The most common salad, which includes bulgur - tabule.

In general, bulgur can be a great alternative to side dishes such as potatoes or rice. The difference in grain size gives real room for culinary fantasies and various improvisations. So, bulgur can be boiled and then used in combination with a wide variety of products as a side dish or filling.

Among the dishes of Eastern cuisine, in the process of preparation of which bulgur plays an important role, one can call ishli-kuftu - collops from cereal dough, which are stuffed with chopped meat with onions and spices.

Quite often, in Armenian cuisine with bulgur, a lean version of cabbage rolls is prepared - dolma, only grape leaves are used instead of cabbage, and minced meat is replaced with a mixture of boiled wheat cereals, beans with onions, lentils and carrots. Stuffed peppers, which refer to Bulgarian cuisine, also add bulgur instead of rice.

The benefits of bulgur

The benefits of bulgur are the high content of B vitamins, due to which, with regular consumption of this wheat cereal, a calming effect on the nervous system is observed, skin softens and hair feeds.

This product is a good source of natural phosphorus, the content of which exceeds the amount of this macronutrient in other grains by 2 times. In addition, due to the presence of lysine in it, we can talk about the benefits of bulgur as a product with antibacterial properties.

It is perfectly digested and fully absorbed by the body, which is why people lead an active lifestyle, as well as athletes prefer bulgur to other cereal products.