This is a lovely recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s book, Simple. It is fine by itself for a mid week supper, served with a green vegetable, but is also great with spiced chicken pieces. In his recipe YO, uses Urfa (Isot) chillies which have a curious chocolaty favour. I prefer Aleppo chillies. When in season, strips of wild garlic could be added towards the end of cooking to give extra taste.

150g bulgar wheat
250ml boiling water
Olive oil
1 large onion, finely sliced
1 tsp cumin seeds
500g mixed mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 tbsp thyme leaves, picked from the stalk
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Small handful dill, roughly chopped
60g feta
1 tsp Aleppo chilli flakes (or Urfa (Isot) flakes or ½ tsp regular chilli flakes)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Rinse the wheat and place it in a large bowl. Add generous pinches of salt and pepper. Pour over the boiling water. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave for 20 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed and the bulgar wheat is soft. Strain to remove any excess liquid. Set aside.

Put two tablespoons of oil into a large sauté pan and, on a medium heat, fry the onion for 7-8 minutes until soft and caramelised. Add the cumin seeds and continue to fry for 1-2 minutes,until the seeds have turned dark brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Into the same pan pour a further two tablespoons of oil and, on a higher heat, add the mushrooms with a good pinch of salt. Fry, stirring frequently, for 6-7 minutes until the mushrooms have browned and softened. Add the thyme leaves and stir for another minute before adding the balsamic vinegar.

Stir in the bulgar wheat, onion, chilli flakes and most of the dill.

When warmed through, remove from the heat. Turn into a warmed serving dish. Sprinkle over the remaining dill, crumbled feta and drizzle over a little olive oil before serving.