I saw this recipe in Woman’s Day magazine under Heart Healthy Recipes category.  I wanted to try this recipe because it had bulgur wheat as the main ingredient, which I have not tasted before.  I use cracked wheat regurlarly, so I always have it in home.  I thought that both were same.  So before using it in the recipe, I wanted to be sure and check if there was any difference between bulgur wheat and cracked wheat and found out the following; (Source: www.epicureantable.com)

Bulgur Wheat:
Partially hulled whole wheat kernels that are soaked, then steamed (hence pre-cooked if you will), dried and then crushed are called bulghur.  It requires no or little cooking.  Though modern processes involve oven drying or roasting some villages still sun dry bulghur on their rooftops. 

Cracked Wheat:
Raw whole wheat berries that are crushed to varying qualities of texture are called cracked wheat and require cooking.  These are also found in 3 grades of coarseness: fine, medium and coarse, the choice of which depends on use and preference.

To simplify it even more bulgur is wheat cracked after cooking and drying, whereas the wheat is cracked in raw stage for cracked wheat.
 
Are they interchangeable? 
This depends on whether the recipe requires cooking or not and your own degree of purism.  A salad recipe such as tabooli is uncooked, and so requires true bulghur as do recipes where bulghur is brought to the boil, cooked for a moment then left to rest off heat to swell as in a pilaf.   Recipes requiring longer cooking times or coarse grain bulghur can be replaced with cracked wheat, but will need more cooking time.
 
But both bulghur and cracked wheat are excellent sources of fibre, minerals and vitamins for your diet.

Moving on to the recipe,  I have scaled down the measurements given in the original recipe; still we had a lot of chili.  I made it for dinner and it was very filling.

Ingredients:
Water – 3 cups
Bulgur Wheat – ½ cup
Olive Oil – 2 teaspoon
Onion, chopped – ½ cup
Red Pepper, chopped – ½ cup
Chili Powder – 1 tablespoon or as per taste
Garlic, minced – 1 tspn
Ground Cumin – 1 tspn
Water – 2 cups
Crushed Tomatoes – 1 cup
Pumpkin Puree (canned) – 1 cup
Zucchini, medium, diced – 1
Frozen Corn, ½ cup
Black Beans (canned), drained and rinsed – 1 cup
Cilantro, chopped – ¼ cup

Accompaniments/Optional:
Reduced-fat Cheddar
Reduced-fat sour cream

Procedure:
1.  Put 3 cups of the waer and bulgur in a medium microwave-safe bowl.  Cover and microwave on high until bulgur is tender, about 13 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet.  Add onion and pepper; saute 5 minutes.

3.  Add chili powder, garlic and cumin; saute until fragrant.

4.  Add remaining 2 cups water, the tomatoes, pumpkin, zucchini and corn; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

5.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender.

6.  Stir in beans and bulgur; heat through.

7.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

My Notes:
My husband loved the chili.  The only thing I didn’t like was the flavor of the red pepper.  I will be trying it without the red pepper next time.

I found this recipe in the “Good Housekeeping” magazine.  This recipe was featured under Heart Smart Dinners and Healthy in a Hurry category.  With 16gms protein, 13gms fiber, 0mg cholesterol and just 1gm saturated fat per serving, it’s definitely heart healthy.  Added bonus, very tasty and easy to prepare too.

I reduced the quantity of ingredients.  Even then it was a lot of soup for the 2 of us.  I have another serving left for tomorrow.  Check the original recipe for actual quantities and detailed nutritional information.

Ingredients:
Olive oil – 1 tablespoon
Carrots, medium, chopped – 3
Onion, small, chopped – 1
Ground Cumin – 1 teaspoon
Canned diced tomatoes (14.5 oz) – 1 can (I didn’t have this, so used crushed tomatoes)
Vegetable broth (14.5 oz) – 1 can
Dried red lentils (masoor daal) – 3/4th of a cup
Baby Spinach (5 oz bag) – 1 (I used frozen spinach)
Salt – as per taste
Ground black pepper – as per taste
Grated ginger (this was not mentioned in the original recipe, but I chose to use it because red lentils especially has the reputation to cause gas)

Procedure:
1.  In a saucepan heat oil and add carrots, onion and cook until lightly browned and tender.  Stir in cumin; cook 1 minute.

2.  Add tomatoes, broth, lentils, 2 cups of water salt, ground black pepper cover and cook until lentils are tender.  Stir in spinach.

My Notes:
1.  I soaked the lentils before starting to chop the vegetables.  I did this because I thought that this will reduce the cooking time and it did.  Later only I came to know that soaking the lentils and throwing away the water and then using the lentils aids in easy digestion.  Just be sure to throw away the soaking water.  Enjoy!