Despite how I categorized this recipe post I do not consider kısır as a salad but a whole meal for itself. A very common summer night meal for us as I can grab most of what is needed from our garden. It blends best flavored vegetable/herbs summer offers with bulgur.

This recipe is similar to a well known Middle Eastern tabouleh (or any other spelling?) I have encountered when I moved to the States. Some might argue they are the same dish, but the amount of parsley in kısır is no where close to that of in tabouleh, and I think there is no tomato or pepper paste in the non-Turkish version of this great mix.

As I mentioned many times before, bulgur is an essential ingredient in Turkish cooking. Comes in different sizes, but this recipe calls for the fine bulgur which is the smallest size. Yes, you can definitely make it from the coarse variety but it will not be the same. Similarly, use the freshest tomato and herbs you can find. Once I was craving for this when I was living in Milwaukee, in a winter day and I have used canned tomatos. No, it is not good at all! One should never use canned tomatos for this.

You will notice that lemon juice is used in this recipe, you can substitute it with pomegranate concentrate if you like. That’s how it is prepared in scarce of lemon or to give it a different flavor.

Without further ado, let me give you the recipe that I just put together. Never mind the exact measurements; just adjust to what you have at hand at that time, and to your taste. I can honestly tell you that this is not the exact recipe I use every time I make it. All I measure is the bulgur/water ratio.

• 1.5 cups fine bulgur
• 1 cup boiling water
• 5 Tbs lemon juice
• 1 medium onion (~ 200gr)
• 1/4 cup of olive oil (not extra virgin)
• 1 Tbs tomato paste
• 1 tsp red pepper paste
• 3 medium size sweet green peppers (anaheim or bell pepper)
• 250 gr tomato
• 100 – 150 gr cucumber (choose the smallest ones)
• half a bunch of fresh parsley
• half a bunch of fresh mint
• 3 – 4 stalks of green onions
• salt to taste

1. Put the bulgur in a big bowl, pour over the boiling cup of water and 2 Tbs of lemon juice. At this point, if you had any tomato juice, you could also use some of it instead of plain water. Cover with a pot cover or saran wrap, set aside
2. Cut the onion and peppers in small chunks. Heat the oil, add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the peppers, cook a bit more and lastly add the tomato and red pepper paste. Cook about 3 – 4 mins. Here, you can omit cooking the peppers and mix in later on, if you like. Let the mix cool
3. Cut the tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, mint and parsley in small pieces. Mix all together with the rest of the lemon juice
4. Add the onion mix into the bulgur which should be softer now. After giving a thorough mix, add the fresh ingredients’ mix and give it a good mix, too
5. Taste, if you think it can take more salt (pastes are salty) or lemon juice, don’t be shy
6. Chill until serving

It is actually served with grape or lettuce leaves, depending on the season. I didn’t have either of them (or the cucumbers) at home at this time.

Are you also `suffering` from the abundance of zucchinis that you are growing in your backyard? Running out of ideas on how to cook them? Everybody in your household, including you, says “no more zucchini, next year!” Well, if you answer at least one of these questions as “yes”, I invite you to try another recipe.

This one is kind of a cousin to; mücver, which I highly recommend, too. After all my husband asks for mücver even though he does not care for zucchini and does not even touch white sheep’s cheese. Here, I am purposely not calling it “feta cheese” as over the years I learned that either Turkish or Bulgarian “white sheep’s cheese” cannot be substituted by the feta cheese.

I learned this recipe from Tijen. She was kind enough to bake it for us when we visited her last year in Turkey. Once more, thank you Tijen for bringing us these regional recipes in your books!

And the last noite: I found this recipe very fault tolerant but I suggest you stick to these measurements until you feel comfortable with it.

• 500 gr (about 1lb) zucchini
• 1/4 cup of rice
• 2 – 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 150 – 200 gr white cheese
• 2 eggs
• a generous handful (or more) mix of green onions, parsley, mint and dill
• 2 cups milk — read the rest of the recipe to decide how much is needed
• salt, black pepper, red pepper to taste
• 1 tsp each sesame and nigella seeds
• a few tomatoes, green peppers to decorate the top

Start by grating the zucchini, crumbling the white cheese. Mix all of zucchini, cheese, eggs, garlic, greens, salt and peppers. Lay into a greased 13×9 inch baking pan. Slice tomato and green peppers, decorate. Pour as much milk as it takes to cover the zucchini mix. Sprinkle with sesame and nigella seeds. Bake in 375F degree oven for 40 – 50 mins, until the sides brown.