In last week’s “Tasty Tuesdays” post, I mentioned that there would be TWO featured recipes in honor of “National Pear and Pineapple Month”. In that post, I presented a recipe which featured the first of these tasty fruits: PEARS. So… This means that today’s “Tasty Tuesdays” post will feature the other one: PINEAPPLE! Here goes…
Pineapple-Bulgur Wheat Salad
“This fresh and sweetly satisfying salad makes a friendly lunch all by itself. If you need to prepare it ahead, try to leave at least the avocado and the pineapple till the last moment; this one doesn’t keep.”
Ingredients
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raw bulgur wheat
1 medium avocado
1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepperr
2 inside stalks celery, chopped, OR 1/2 cup cucumber, chopped
3-4 scallions, thinly sliced
chopped chives
1 Tablespoon oil
3 Tablespoons lemon juice OR 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
Directions
Bring water to boil with salt. Add bulgur and return to a boil. Remove from heat, cover pot tightly, and set aside for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Cool to room temperature.
Peel and cube avocado and stir into pineapple chunks so that the juice from the pineapple will keep the avocado from discoloring. Combine with bell pepper, celery, scallions, oil and lemon juice or vinegar. Stir in bulgur wheat and serve.
Makes 6 generous servings.
So, there you have it: Pineapple-Bulgur Wheat Salas — a vegetarian recipe in honor of both “Vegetarian Month” AND “National Pear and Pineapple Month”!
I don’t know about you, but I don’t happen to have any “bulgur wheat” in my pantry. Consequently, I did a quick online search: “substitutions for bulgur wheat”, and I got quite a number of search results, including an article (from alsothecrumbsplease.com) entitled “10 Best Bulgur Substitutes for Making Tasty Dishes”. So… I’m going to try this dish using one of the following 10 substitutes for bulgur wheat:
- Cracked wheat
- Wheat berries
- Farro
- Whole wheat couscous
- Barley
- Quinoa
- Buckwheat
- Shelled hemp seeds
- Millet
- Amaranth
At this point, I think I’ll be trying either barley or quinoa since I happen to have both of them in the pantry. One important thing to note is that the last five options (6-10) are the “5 best gluten-free bulgur substitues”, according to the article’s author. So… If you have a sensitivity to gluten (which, thankfully, I don’t), please use one of the last five options. In any case, I hope you give this recipe a try — either as originally written OR using one of the ten substitutes for the the bulgur wheat.
As always, I’d love to hear what you think about this week’s featured recipe and/or about your favorite recipes that feature PINEAPPLE, so please take a moment to leave a comment below. In the meantime…
Take care.