bulghur

Place the bulghur wheat in a bowl and pour over the boiling water.

The bulghur used in cooking is specific to Adana, made from dark colored hard wheat species.

Spicy, sour and fatty dishes made of meat (usually lamb) and bulghur are common.

If you have couscous in the cupboard then you can use this instead of the bulghur wheat or a mixture of the two.

Add them to the morning cereal, to grain dishes such as rice or bulghur or to a breading for fish or poultry.

Add all of this to the bulghur wheat, along with juice of one lemon and plenty of salt and pepper.

In Levantine cuisine, a variety of dishes made with bulghur (cracked wheat) and minced lamb are called kibbeh.

Bread, Rice, Freekeh, Bulgur (bulghur) all have a role in Jordanian cuisine.

Salmon with quinoa and kale or grilled chicken with bulghur wheat and broccoli salad get a thumbs-up.

It is also used for Levantine dishes such as tabbula, kishk, kibba, bitfun and the bulghur for pilafs.

Couscous is a Middle Eastern staple grain processed from wheat and is similar to Bulghur Wheat in its preparation.

One variety of kibbeh is a 7-to-15-cm oblong bulghur shell shaped like an American football, stuffed with a filling of spiced, minced beef or lamb and fried until brown.

Mujaddara, another food of the West Bank, as well as in the Levant in general, consists of cooked green lentils, with bulghur sauteed in olive oil.

It suggests "eschewing a main dish and opting for a mezze of mixed delicacies" with vegan dhals, hummus and safe foods involving bulghur, brown rice and soy sauce.

It suggests you allow guests "to name their cuisine of choice" - if they demand a KFC Family Feast, it serves you right for not having any bulghur and brown rice in.

The bulghur wheat-based tabouli with mint, parsley and lemon juice was especially sprightly, served over a mix of crisp Romaine lettuce, tomatoes and alfalfa sprouts and laced with a creamy Romano-dill dressing.

Substituting quinoa for the traditional bulghur wheat gives this tabouli a lighter, fluffier, and slightly nutty taste and enables people allergic to wheat to experience the flavourful joys of this Middle Eastern dish.

Two beef dishes, baked kibbee (cakes of ground beef mixed with bulghur wheat, onions and spices) and broiled kafta (spicy ground beef, onions and parsley) were both well seasoned and crunchily delicious.

Tavuk sis kebab (marinated chicken breast skewered in chunks and char-grilled) and yaprak doner kebab (cubes of tender lamb, skewered, broiled and served over pita bread) were both tasty choices, served with rice pilaf and spiced bulghur wheat.

Knowing Ms. Lahoud’s expertise in Middle Eastern cooking, I chose the beef kibbé starter — minced beef (instead of the usual lamb) mixed with bulghur wheat, stuffed with beef tips and onions, deep fried and served with a pleasingly acerbic tzatziki dip.