Wheat Salad, Kısır

Kısır is one of those classic dishes in Turkish Cuisine.  I have been to a few different areas in Turkey and have seen this made differently in most. As my husband is from the Adana region this is how I usually make it.  


I found in Adana they use large amounts of chilli powder, either lemon juice or sour pomegrante syrup and more salad vegetables.  Istanbul uses less salad and less chilli and dosnt seem to use lemon juice.  In Konya they use no chilli, no salad and use cooked grated potato instead.  In Gaziantep they use less salad, less chilli, lots of dried mint and garlic.  Other areas are a mix but my favourite really is the Adana style Kısır.


The photos have my husband in them as I had badly cut my finger so I could do the required kneading needed.

Chopped salad veggies ready

500gr  bulgar
3 medium size cucumbers, diced
4 tomatoes, diced
2 onions, diced
1 large bunch parsley, finely chopped
half head lettuce, finely chopped
lemon juice or sour pomegrante syrup
2 tbsp sweet pepper paste/tomato
1/4 cup oil
salt
chilli powder to taste
garlic, minced if liked

Ready to be mixed

Take the bulgar and take about 1/4 cup of water and pour ontop so that it can absorb.  Mix well and let sit.  It will still be hard after 10 minutes. This has the sweet pepper paste, salt and pomegrante syrup ready to be mixed in.

This all has to be kneaded together for about 5 minutes

This is the only Kısır recipe I have seen that people knead the ingredients together.  Other areas seem to let the bulgar fully absorb as to be soft and skip the kneading.

End stage kneading 

As you can see the pepper paste has been mixed through. This would be a good time to add the oil.  I dont like using alot of oil in my cooking but for this dish a little is really needed.  It keeps it from drying out. Kısır is not that nice when its dry.

Chopped veggies added

Salad veggies added and ready to be kneading through.

Final product

This is what it looks like.  If it has been kneaded correctly the bulgar should be nice and soft with most of the salad been kneaded into the bulgar. This has to be kneaded for about 20 minutes. This is very filling and very light.  Nice served iwith pickles and ayran.
















If anyone can help with the spacing on this post I would be grateful.  Thanks.