I decided to get out my Honey & Co recipe book and find something interesting to cook. I landed on pomegranate molasses chicken with bulgar wheat salad. I decided that I was going to replace the chicken with tofu. Why? I wanted to try something different. I wanted to use up the blocks of Tofu that I had impulsively bought at my last Costco shop.

It was an interesting experiment/experience. I marinated the tofu in the marinade made for the chicken. I then mixed them in cornflour and put them in the airfryer to cook. Perhaps this was where I made my mistake because they did not turn out so well. Very hard and crunchy on the outside, not an interesting sensation.

However the bulgar wheat salad was delicious. So fresh and light and sweet. Definitely something I will adapt and make again in the future. I did find that I had to cook the bulgar wheat for much longer than stated in the recipe book to get it to the texture that I was happy to eat.

Ingredients

• For the marinade
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 – 1 green chilli, sliced
• 3 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• For the salad
• 200g bulgar wheat
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 200ml boiling water
• 50g shelled pistachos, roasted and coarsely chopped (half reserved to sprinkle on top)
• 75g currants
• 2 tsp dried mint
• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 50 fresh pomegranate seeds (1tbsp reserved to sprinkle over the top)
• 1 small bunch of mint, roughly chopped (about 15 – 20g)
• 1 small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped (about 15 – 20g)

Instructions

• Mix the marinade ingredients together and use to coat the tofu all over. Cover and keep in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours to marinate.
• Preheat the oven to 200oC/180oC fan/gas mark 6
• Place the bulgar wheat in a bowl with the salt and oil, pour over the boiling water and cover with cling film for 5 minutes. Uncover and fluff up the bulgar using a fork. Add all the remaining salad ingredients except those you have reserved to use as garnish, and stir well.
• Here I deviated and cooked the marinated tofu in the air fryer.
• Spoon the salad onto individual plates or a large serving platter and top with the chicken and the juices that have accumulated in the frying pan. Sprinkle with the reserved pistachios and pomegranate seeds to garnish.

Reference: Honey & Co. Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich. Food From the Middle East. Page 148.