Recipe for Mackerel, Pepper and Bulgur Wheat Salad
Serves 3 as a light lunch
This can get feistily spicy if, like me, you happen to have spicy seeds as well as the already peppered mackerel - make sure that you have a taste before you finish off the dish off with extra pepper and a pinch of chilli flakes. Do change the mackerel to bulgur ratio if you want to – I have included very modest portions of the fish just to fit in with the usual packet size.
Smoked mackerel is salty stuff so I haven’t added any extra salt to season this dish. If you have hypertension in the family and/or you are watching your salt intake then you can prepare the bulgur wheat with a low sodium brand of stock.
200g bulgur wheat (about a cup)
1 heaped tsp vegetable stock powder
1 large carrot, coarsely grated
1 green pepper, diced
2 Peppered smoked mackerel fillets (about 150g/5oz)
1 tbsp mixed seeds
Juice of half a lemon
Black pepper and a pinch of chilli flakes to season
Hot water
Optional but delicious: chopped flat leaf parsley
Place the bulgur wheat in a large bowl and stir the stock powder into the dry grains. Pour freshly boiled water over the bulgur and cover the dish with a clean tea towel. I pour over about the same weight of water as I have used of bulgur wheat but feel free to use your own method.
The bulgur should be cooked after about 10 minutes (if it is still hard add a splash more just boiled water and leave for a couple of minutes longer). Stir with a fork to separate the grains.
Add the carrot, pepper, and seeds to the bulgur and stir in. Follow this with the lemon juice. Finally, taste and season with pepper and chilli according to your own taste.
Eat now while slightly warm or chill and remove from the fridge about 30 minutes before you want to eat it. It will keep in the fridge for a couple of days but make sure that you check the use by date of the mackerel.