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Salad

Kisir

A Turkish salad made with cracked wheat, tomatoes, cucumber, green onion, parsley, olive oil, pomegranate or lemon juice, cumin, red pepper paste, and olives.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Kisir

Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the wheat

  1. Soak cracked wheat in 6 cups of hot water for 30 minutes.

  2. Drain the wheat, add red pepper paste or tomato paste, salt, cumin, lemon, and olive oil, and mix well.

Make the salad

  1. Cut cucumber and tomato into small cubes, chop green onion into thin slices, add parsley, and mix well.

  2. Add all the vegetables and mix well.

  3. Serve at room temperature.

  4. Optionally serve with romaine lettuce.

  5. Guests can fill romaine lettuce with Tabouleh.

  6. Garnish with Kalamata olives.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

311Calories
6 gProtein
16 gFat
42 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 13 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Pomegranate1/2 cup seeds (87g)72
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Romaine Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Olive1 large (4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Wheatnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Pomegranate + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together96 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Tomato + cumintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,272 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + cumintop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together821 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Parsley + pomegranatetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together83 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cracked wheat
Forms the bulk of the salad and absorbs the dressing as it softens in hot water.
Olive oil
Adds fat and richness, and helps coat the wheat and vegetables.
Red pepper paste or tomato paste
Adds color, savory depth and a concentrated tomato flavor.
Pomegranate juice or lemon
Adds acidity that brightens the salad and balances the oil.
Tomato
Adds moisture and fresh, juicy sweetness to the salad.
Cucumber
Adds crisp texture and moisture that cools the salad.

The step that matters

Drain the wheat well before adding the seasonings. Cracked wheat that stays waterlogged will dilute the dressing and turn soggy. Draining thoroughly lets the oil, acid and paste cling to the grains and flavor them evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, tomato, cucumber, parsley, olive, pomegranate, cumin):

  1. Eggplantfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, tomato, cucumber, parsley, olive, pomegranate, cumin. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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