Tomato and Pepper Bulgur with Lentils, Arugula, and Mint
Cherry tomatoes burst in a hot skillet with red pepper, onion, cumin, and a little chile, folded through bulgur and lentils and finished off the heat with arugula, torn mint, lemon, and toasted sesame.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
When the tomatoes are good, nothing clever needs doing to them. Left whole in a hot pan, cherry tomatoes hold on for a couple of minutes and then burst, and the juice that comes out is sweeter and more concentrated than anything you would get from chopping them. That juice is the sauce. A little crushed tomato goes in behind it for body, the bulgur and lentils soak the whole lot up, and the pan goes from a pile of ingredients to one dish in about three minutes.
Texture is what keeps a grain bowl from being dull, so almost everything here goes in at a different moment. The onion and pepper start early and stay a little firm, the tomatoes burst in the middle, and the arugula and herbs are stirred in with the heat off so they wilt only where they touch the hot grain. What you get is soft, chewy, juicy, and peppery in the same forkful. Cumin and paprika underneath it all give the bowl a warmth that people recognize but usually cannot name.
It is a Monday dinner in my house, cheap and fast, and it uses up whatever is limp in the vegetable drawer without complaint. I cook bulgur and lentils in bigger batches on the weekend so that this becomes a fifteen minute job, and I keep a bag of arugula around for exactly this kind of finish. Cold from the refrigerator the next day it eats like a grain salad, and it is one of the few leftovers I look forward to more than the original.
Ingredients
- 3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, about 1 lb, left whole
- 3 cups cooked coarse bulgur, from about 1 cup dry
- 1 cup cooked brown or green lentils, drained
- 3/4 cup no-salt-added crushed tomatoes
- 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into short thin strips
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 1/2 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp sweet paprika, or Aleppo-style pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp cayenne, or to taste
- 5 packed cups arugula, about 5 oz
- 1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, torn
- 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 2 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, from 1 lemon
- 1/3 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- Toast the sesame seeds and get organized: Toast the sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat for two minutes, shaking constantly until they are pale gold, then tip them onto a plate. Dice the onion, slice the pepper and garlic, and have the bulgur, lentils, and arugula within arm's reach, because the last three minutes of this move fast.
- Soften the onion and pepper: Add 1 1/2 tbsp of the olive oil to the same skillet over medium-high. Cook the onion and pepper strips for four minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent and the pepper edges have taken a little color. Stir in the garlic, cumin, paprika, cayenne, and salt and cook forty five seconds more, until the pan smells toasted.
- Burst the tomatoes: Add the whole tomatoes and the last tablespoon of oil, turn them once to coat, and then leave them alone over medium-high for four to five minutes. They will blister first and then start to split and hiss. Press any stubborn ones against the side of the pan with the back of a spoon so all of them give up their juice.
- Fold in the bulgur and lentils: Pour in the crushed tomatoes and let them bubble for a minute, scraping up anything stuck to the pan. Add the bulgur and lentils and fold everything together for two to three minutes, until the grain has turned brick red and the liquid has been absorbed. Add a splash of water if it looks tight.
- Wilt the greens off the heat: Take the pan off the burner, pile the arugula on top, and fold it through in two or three gentle turns. The residual heat is enough to half wilt it, which is what you want. Stir in the lemon juice, mint, and parsley, then scatter the sesame seeds over the top and serve straight from the pan.
Variations
- Yogurt on the side: Spoon cold plain yogurt over each bowl and drag it through the hot grain so it streaks pink.
- Pomegranate and walnut: Scatter pomegranate seeds and chopped toasted walnuts over the top for sour bursts and crunch.
- Charred eggplant: Brown a cubed eggplant in the pan before the onion goes in and fold it back through at the end for a heavier, smokier bowl.
- Dill and scallion: Trade the mint for a big handful of chopped dill and a few sliced scallions, which pushes it in a fresher, greener direction.
- Kale in place of arugula: Fold in torn lacinato kale two minutes before the end while the pan is still on the heat, so it has time to soften.
Storage & Leftovers
This keeps four days in a sealed container in the refrigerator and gets better on day two, once the bulgur has drunk up the last of the tomato and the cumin has spread through everything. The arugula does darken overnight, so if you know you are cooking for two nights, fold the greens into only half the pan and keep the rest of them in the bag.
Cold from the refrigerator it eats like a grain salad and needs nothing more than a squeeze of lemon and a little olive oil. Warm, it wants a covered skillet over medium-low for three or four minutes with a tablespoon of water, stirred once. Add fresh herbs at the very end either way, because the mint from yesterday will have gone dark and flat.
It freezes for up to three months, best done before the greens go in. Cool the tomato bulgur completely, freeze it flat in a sealed bag, and thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Reheat in a pan, then fold in fresh arugula and herbs off the heat so the finish is as bright as it was the first time.
Notes & Tips
- Leave the tomatoes whole: Halved tomatoes release their juice immediately and it evaporates. Whole ones hold their pressure, burst all at once, and give you a sauce rather than a dry pan.
- Do not stir them for the first three minutes: Blistering takes still contact with hot metal. Constant stirring keeps the skins from ever catching and the tomatoes just soften into a pale mush.
- Cook the bulgur ahead: Coarse bulgur takes twelve minutes on its own, which is most of your weeknight. Make it on the weekend and this becomes a fifteen minute dinner.
- Greens go in off the heat: Arugula needs no cooking at all. Folded into the hot grain with the burner off it half wilts and keeps its pepperiness, and it holds its color on the plate.
- Tear the mint, do not chop it: A knife bruises mint and turns the cut edges dark within minutes. Torn leaves stay green and release their oil more slowly, which keeps the last bites as fragrant as the first.
- Taste before the lemon and again after: Acid changes how salty and sweet a dish reads. Judge the seasoning after the juice goes in, and you will usually find it needs less than you thought.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Tomatoes, bulgur, and lentils are the three things doing the work here. The tomatoes give the bowl its sauce and its sweetness, the bulgur brings the chew and a good deal of fiber, and the lentils add plant protein and iron without making anything heavy.
- Cherry tomatoes cooked until they burst release lycopene in a form the body takes up more readily than it does from uncooked fruit, and the olive oil in the pan is what carries it, which is a nice argument for cooking them in fat.
- Coarse bulgur is parboiled cracked wheat, so it needs almost no cooking and still keeps a distinct grain, and it holds on to a fiber-rich bran layer that gives the bowl its body.
- Lentils cook softer than most legumes and scatter through the grain like small beads, carrying folate and iron along with protein, and the lemon squeezed over at the end helps that iron along.
- Arugula folded in off the heat keeps its pepper and its bite, contributing calcium and nitrates from a green that most people eat cold, and the mint, parsley, and toasted sesame on top are what make the last forkful taste as lively as the first.
- As you eat, look for the tomatoes that stayed whole and let one burst against the roof of your mouth, and use that small pause to notice how warm and full the bowl has already made you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use chopped large tomatoes?
You can, though the dish changes. Cherry tomatoes have thick skins and concentrated juice, so they burst and release something almost jammy. A chopped beefsteak gives up thin, watery juice that has to cook down for another five or six minutes. If large tomatoes are what you have, quarter them and give the pan the extra time.
What if I only have canned tomatoes?
Use a 14-oz can of no-salt-added diced or crushed tomatoes in place of both the fresh and the crushed, drained of most of its liquid, and cook it down hard for five minutes before the grain goes in. You lose the bursting, which is half the fun, but the bowl still tastes right.
Do I have to use both bulgur and lentils?
No, and the dish is fine with four cups of bulgur and no lentils at all. The lentils are there for texture as much as anything, small soft beads against the chewier grain, and they make the bowl eat more like a full dinner. Cooked chickpeas, roughly crushed, work the same way.
Is the cayenne necessary?
It is there for a low background warmth rather than actual heat, and a quarter teaspoon across four servings is gentle. Leave it out for children, or trade it and the paprika for a full teaspoon of Aleppo-style pepper flakes, which is fruitier and closer to how this would be seasoned in Gaziantep.