Domatesli Bulgur Pilavı – Turkish Bulgur Pilaf With Tomatoes

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In this post, we’re going to be giving you our staple bulgur pilaf recipe – and a staple of the Turkish kitchen; domatesli bulgur pilavı.

In Turkey, there is a type of restaurant called Ocakbaşı.

You go to these Turkish restaurants when you want to eat grilled meat, cooked on an open barbecue within the restaurant.

Our favourite meals, whenever we go to places like this, are chicken şiş kebab, lamb şiş or Adana Kebab.

All of these kebabs are cooked on a skewer which is placed on the ocakbaşı along with vegetables such as red and green peppers and onion.

Once the kebabs are ready, they’re often served on a bed of lavash bread, with a side salad and bulgur pilavı.

Pilav is a Turkish dish – the Turkish rice side dishes you usually see in Turkish eateries is called şehriyeli pilav – and bulgur pilaf (or ‘bulgur pilavı,’ to give it its Turkish name) is one of our favourites.

We actually both prefer bulgur wheat to rice.

High Nutrition, Low Calories

And, if you’ve not got a wheat intolerance, bulgur has a much higher nutritional content, fewer calories, and it’s just as filling. Happy days!

If we’re ever having grilled meats, this easy bulgur pilaf recipe is our staple accompaniment.

Along with rice, bulgur wheat is a bit of a staple in Turkey.

Walk around Fethiye market and you’ll see a number of stalls selling it by the kilo from huge plastic bowls or nylon sacks.

The local supermarket stocks it, pre-packed, on their shelves alongside rice, lentils and other dried foods.

It’s Not Couscous

There are different types of bulgur and fine bulgur wheat (köftelik bulgur) resembles couscous.

But it is not couscous, despite what you might see on menus in tourist areas.

And we’ve used bulgur wheat in the past for other Turkish recipes.

When you make the Turkish bulgur wheat salad, kısır, for example, or lentil köfte, these recipes both use the fine köftelik bulgur.

And when you sample the delights of çiğ köfte, that’s fine bulgur wheat, too.

For our bulgur pilaf recipe, however, we’re using pilavlık bulgur; a larger grain that you might know as coarse bulgur wheat.

This is what you can see in the photo above and it is what is traditionally used in Turkish style bulgur pilaf dishes.

Domatesli Bulgur Pilavı – Easy Bulgur Pilaf Recipe With Tomatoes

There are lots of little additions you can make to your bulgur pilaf recipe to make so that you can pack it with flavour.

One of our favourite local lokantas in Fethiye uses a stock and they also give their bulgur pilaf side dish a generous sprinkling of dried mint.

Another common bulgur pilaf recipe you will see in restaurants and lokantas is the one we make more than any others – domatesli bulgur pilavı.

This translates as bulgur pilaf with tomatoes.

We love it!

We love it because, as the cooking bulgur wheat softens, it takes on the colour of the tomatoes and absorbs the red pepper paste.

Don’t worry if you can’t get red pepper paste (biber salçası) where you are. Tomato puree or tomato paste (domates salçası) will work just as well.

A bit of colour on your plate, a bit of moisture and also sweetness from your added ingredients.

Turkish pilav dishes go perfectly with Turkish süzme yoghurt (or natural Greek yoghurt is fine if you can’t get Turkish yoghurt).

And we often eat leftovers, served at room temperature, with yoghurt the day after (your cooked bulgur pilaf will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for around three days).

As well as the Turkish rice we mentioned above and this bulgur pilaf with tomatoes, we’ve also made bulgur pilaf with spinach and, back to rice pilaf varieties again, nohutlu pilav.

There are lots more dishes we can do, too…

For now, though, enjoy making – and eating – your traditional bulgur wheat pilaf with tomatoes.

And don’t forget the yoghurt. It’s yummy!

How To Cook Bulgur Pilaf With Tomatoes

So let’s get on and make our classic Turkish bulgur pilaf recipe, domatesli bulgur pilavı, so that you can add a little taste of Turkey to your dishes.

The following recipe lists the basic ingredients – but, actually, you can even skip the chopped onions and red or green bell pepper, if you like.

And, as you might have guessed if you read this blog a lot, we’re quite partial to adding a good generous spoonful of chilli flakes (pul biber).

We sometimes add a pinch of cumin too.

And of course, we don’t usually serve our domatesli bulgur pilavı like this; it’s usually just spooned onto the side of the plate with whatever grilled meats we’re having.

But, as this is a celebration of bulgur wheat, we thought we’d make it look a tad more presentable, like we did with our green beans in olive oil recipe, too.

It’s nice to play with presentation if you have friends round for dinner – especially when you’re trying to show off the joys of Turkish cuisine!

These days, we add a sprinkling of chopped fresh herbs and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, too, just before serving.

And that’s how you make Turkish bulgur pilaf with tomatoes – domatesli bulgur pilavı.

And if you use vegetable stock or water rather than chicken stock, this recipe is also suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Afiyet Olsun!

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