And so, with the first warm weather, I start preparing tasty and vegan one-dish meals like this bulgur salad with chickpeas and grilled vegetables. It’s so good! And also light, it costs only 11 Weight Watchers points per serving.
Tasty yes, but also very simple to prepare. In fact, you just need to grill or roast the vegetables even the day before and then assemble the dish at the moment. I also found an alternative cooking method for the bulgur, which you can read about further on in the steps….
Anyway, now I’ll move on to explaining the recipe without too much chatter, but I’ll tell you that here at home it was a very appreciated, filling, and very tasty dish!
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: Air frying
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup bulgur
- 7 oz canned chickpeas (alternatively 1/4 cup dry chickpeas and then cooked)
- 2 onions
- 2 bell peppers (sweet Italian peppers are tastier)
- 1 eggplant
- 8.8 oz green beans
- 7 oz cherry tomatoes
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil (2 measuring teaspoons)
- to taste basil, parsley, and mint (fresh)
- to taste lemon juice
- to taste salt, oregano, and garlic powder
- to taste curry (optional)
- Points per serving = 11 WW points
Tools
- Air Fryer
Steps
First, clean the vegetables and cut the onions into wedges that aren’t too thin, the peppers and eggplant into cubes, and the cherry tomatoes in half.
Now it’s time to roast all the vegetables and be careful: in this step and the next, I didn’t use oil! If you want to use the oven, proceed as you always do, otherwise, cook the onions and peppers together in the air fryer at 356°F for 10 minutes, and then the eggplant also at 356°F but for 12 minutes. Check the vegetables occasionally to ensure they don’t roast too much, as every air fryer has its timing!
I also use the air fryer to make confit cherry tomatoes: put them all in the basket with the cut side up, season with salt, oregano, and garlic powder, and cook them at 356°F for about 12 minutes. They are delicious even just like that…
Meanwhile, clean the green beans and boil them for about 5 minutes in lightly salted water. Drain them and rinse immediately with cold water to stop the cooking: they will remain crunchier! Finally, cut them into 2 or 3 pieces.
For the bulgur, I’ve discovered that you can even avoid boiling it, so I prepare it like couscous. Put the bulgur in a pot, season it with a bit of salt and, if you like, a bit of ground cumin, and cover it with boiling water plus an inch more. Cover and let it soften for at least ten minutes. Taste it and when it’s ready, if there’s still water, drain it.
And now we can assemble the whole dish. Put the bulgur in a salad bowl, add the chickpeas well-rinsed and drained. Then add grilled onions, peppers, and eggplant, as well as the green beans. Dress with an emulsion of salt, oil, finely chopped fresh basil, parsley, and mint, and fresh lemon juice.
Mix everything and divide onto plates, adding only at the end the confit cherry tomatoes on this tasty bulgur with chickpeas and grilled vegetables salad. What a treat!
Enjoy your meal!
by Giovanna Buono
Tips
A similar but vegetarian salad, also very tasty and light, is this one: Couscous with Grilled Vegetables and Feta.
