Eetch with Toasted Pine Nuts
Your taste buds will do flips over the flavors in this Eetch with toasted pine nuts, bulgur, sautéed onions, bell peppers and fresh herbs.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 large onion diced (1 ½ cups chopped)
- ½ cup pine nuts
- ½ large green bell pepper (¾ cup chopped)
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 medium fresh tomatoes (1 ¼ cup chopped drained in a mesh colander)
- 1 cup of fine ground bulgur #1 coarseness
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (or ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper)
- ¼ cup lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
- ½ cup fresh mint leaves (loosely packed) (finely chopped)
- ½ bunch flat leaf parsley (chopped)
- 1 bunch green onions chopped (for garnish)
Instructions
- Pour the olive oil in a deep skillet and heat over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and toast until very lightly golden. (They'll continue to brown.) Reserve a tablespoon of pine nuts for garnishing.
- Add the diced onion and green pepper and sauté until softened. Add the fine bulgur, tomato paste, sugar, salt and dry spices. Mix together until heated through.
- Add the water and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and then stir to cool off. Transfer Eetch to a large salad bowl. Cool off for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, wash and chop the fresh tomatoes, flat leaf parsley, mint leaves and green onion.
- Pour the lemon juice over the bulgur mixture and then take two forks and lightly toss in the fresh tomatoes, herbs and green onion. Sprinkle remaining pine nuts on top and serve at room temperature or chilled.
Notes
Let the Eetch with Toasted Pine Nuts rest for 10 minutes before serving, giving the bulgur a chance to soak in all the flavors. It goes great with a side of marinated grape leaves, lettuce leaves, lavash bread or a plate of shish kebab.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!