I finally tried to make the bulgur salad I was obsessed with on my trip to Turkey.

This salad is the reason I bought the cookbook I bought. There were a few different cookbooks in the tourist shops, and I found that this one was the only one that had the bulgur salad in it.

One problem – I couldn’t find it in English.

How did I know it had the right recipe? I found a French one that I was able to understand, in general, but not enough to warrant buying a cookbook in French. I got pretty frustrated, as it seemed the book was in EVERY language except English. Finally, at the last gift shop of the trip, I found it in English. Huge sigh of relief, I bought it and happily packed it in my suitcase.

Bulgur is quite popular in Turkey – they use the finer one in salads, a coarser one for pilafs to accompany kebabs.

Kısır reminds me a bit of tabouleh salad, which isn’t surprising as it’s another Middle Eastern bulgur salad with a lot of fresh parsley. The difference here is the pepper paste that makes it a bit stickier and less, er, green.

This is a great salad to have if you are serving a mezze-style dinner made up of small plates and finger foods.

How was my attempt? Not bad… I think it’s still missing something. It was literally missing something when I first served it – forgot to add the vinegar! D’oh! Now I think it might just be a disconnect between the pepper paste actually used in Turkey, and the one I made at home. The recipe just called for ‘hot red pepper paste’. Okaaayyyy – what type of pepper, exactly? It’s not like they’re interchangeable!

Here are a few more (unfoodie) pics from our stormy day at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, in Ankara…