This recipe is another attempt to brighten up my daily lunch box at work with something I could make in a big batch that would keep well. It turned out better than I hoped and was pretty easy (except for the pomegranate faff) that I thought I’d share with you all! This makes five portions which is enough for a week’s worth of lunches.
Ingredients: 200g (one cup) brown bulgar wheat//one pomegranate//one vegetable stock cube//one medium butternut squash//15 cherry tomatoes//one red pepper//tumeric//cumin//paprika//one red onion//spray olive oil//
First up pre heat your oven to 200oC and peel and chop your butternut squash into cubes. Put in an oven dish, spray with olive oil and sprinkle with the spices. Give it a good mix around and pop in the oven for 25 mins.
Whilst the butternut squash is roasting, put the kettle onto boil. Put the stock cube into a saucepan with two cups of boiling water and put onto boil. Once the water and stock is boiling away take off the heat and add in the bulgar wheat. Give it a little swirl, put a lid on it and leave to one side.
Now start prepping your veggies. Halve your cherry tomatoes, chop up your pepper and slice and dice your onion. Add it all to a big mixing bowl, awaiting the remaining ingredients.
After the squash has been in for 25 minutes take it out, give it a shake and put back in the oven for another 15 mins. Now’s the time for the faffy bit, getting all the seeds out of the pomegranate! Oh my this is a bit of a messy, fiddly job, but those little dark plum seeds of juicy goodness are worth it, and cheaper than just buying in a tub from Waitrose. If you didn’t want to use pomegranate I think this would work well with raisins and flaked almonds, or you could even add in some feta cheese or mozzarella at this point too.
Butternut squash out of the oven, add the cubes to your onion, pepper and tomato, and then add in your pomegranate jewels. Fluff up your bulgar wheat (it’s very similar to couscous if you haven’t cooked with it before, and a bit easier than quinoa to cook with), make sure all the liquid is absorbed, and then add to your other veggies. Give it all a good mix together, have a little taste to ensure it’s up to scratch, and then try to stop yourself eating any more by portioning it up and putting in the fridge for your lunches.
I served mine with plenty of lettuce leaves and some carrot sticks on the side and it made a nice change to my usual salad mixtures. It was a really easy lunch to prepare on a Sunday evening and probably took 40 mins in total as you have to wait for the butternut squash to cook. Plus it’s really, really healthy and good for you, which has to be a good thing, right?
If you have any other recipes for bulgar wheat please let me know!