57-59 Club Garden Rd, Sheffield, S11 8BU

“Something with cherry tomato” was this week’s recipe brief. Usually, if cherry toms are ripe and sweet, there’s no call to mess with them, but this Turkish dish (adapting a Diana Henry version here) complements the tomato-ness with whole-grain heft and herby freshness. Kisir is similar to tabbouleh, but a bit more spicy and earthy thanks to the cumin, chilli, tomato paste and pomegranate molasses.

Cherry tomato Kisir

Season: AutumnSummer

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small/medium red onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2½ tsp ground cumin

1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped

1½ tbsp tomato puree

200g bulgar wheat

250g cherry tomatoes, quartered (or larger well-flavoured tomatoes, chopped)

Chopped flat-leaf parsley, about 4-5 tbsp

Handful of mint leaves, torn.

Method

Heat the ordinary olive oil in a saucepan, add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 mins. Add the cumin and chilli and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomato puree, add 150ml of boiling water.

Mix in the bulgar wheat, remove the pan from the heat, cover and leave for 15 minutes.

Fork through the grains to separate them. Don’t worry if it seems too dry – the wet ingredients will sort it.

Add the tomatoes and herbs to the wheat, mix gently.

Dressing: Mix the juice of 1 lemon, 75ml extra virgin olive oil and 1 ½ tbsp. pomegranate molasses in a cup. Add three-quarters of the dressing to the bulgar-tomato mixture, mix gently then judge if you need more dressing. Not too dry, not too soggy. Add salt at this stage, to your taste.

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