Kısır is the salad Turkish home cooks make when people are coming over. Fine bulgur, the cracked wheat ground almost to sand, is soaked rather than cooked in a hot mixture of tomato paste and red pepper paste, so it swells into soft, rust red grains. Then it is tossed with plenty of chopped spring onion, parsley and mint, diced tomato, olive oil, lemon juice and pomegranate molasses, which gives it a dark, fruity sourness that lemon alone cannot reach. The result is served at room temperature with crisp lettuce leaves for scooping.

It is eaten all over the country, but the bolder versions with hot pepper paste and generous pomegranate molasses are associated with the southeast, while western cooks often keep it milder and lemony. Kısır is a fixture of afternoon tea spreads, picnics and family get togethers, partly because it needs no stove at all and partly because it tastes even better after an hour. That second quality also makes it a perfect thing to make in the morning and forget about until the grid is lining up.

The kısır

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (250 g) fine bulgur
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon Turkish red pepper paste
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) boiling water
• 6 spring onions
• 1 large bunch (about 2 cups, 60 g) flat leaf parsley
• 1 small handful (about 1/4 cup, 10 g) fresh mint leaves
• 2 medium ripe tomatoes
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1 teaspoon dried mint
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 to 2 teaspoons pul biber or Aleppo pepper
• 5 tablespoons (75 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) pomegranate molasses
• 1 lemon

To serve

Ingredients

• 1 head romaine or little gem lettuce
• 2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
• 1 lemon

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