🥔 SIDE
Burghul bi Banadoura (Syrian Tomato Bulgur Pilaf)
Coarse bulgur simmered in a quick sauce of fresh tomatoes, onion and green pepper until each grain is tender and stained red, served beside stews, grills and yogurt.
Syrian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 40 min · plus 5 min hands-off time
~389 cal · 12g protein · 73g carbs · 8g fat · 14g fiber · 9g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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In Syria, burghul, wheat that has been boiled, dried and cracked, often takes the place of rice beside a meal. Villages traditionally made their own, boiling the new wheat in huge pots and spreading it out to dry before it was cracked, and the coarse grind is the one that goes into .
Burghul bi banadoura, with tomato, is the red version of that everyday side. Onion and green pepper are softened in or olive oil, fresh tomatoes are cooked down into a light sauce, and the rinsed is simmered in it, covered, until it has drunk everything up. Some cooks brown a little minced lamb or beef in the pot first, and in Aleppo a version with eggplant is eaten at room temperature.
It is eaten with a bowl of yogurt, with pickles, turnip or eggplant, and a simple salad, and it sits happily beside grilled meat or a vegetable stew.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 300 g (about 1 3/4 cups) coarse (burghul, grind no. 3)
- 900 g (about 6 medium) ripe tomatoes
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 green peppers (mild), chopped
- 2 tbspHard to find? 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt, adjust to taste
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) hot water, only if needed
Instructions
- 1Cut a small cross in the base of each tomato and drop them into boiling water for 1 minute. Lift them out, peel off the skins and dice the flesh, keeping all the juice.
- 2Heat the ghee or oil in a heavy pot over medium heat and cook the onion for about 5 minutes, until translucent. Add the green peppers and cook for 2 minutes more.
- 3Add the tomatoes with their juice, the salt and pepper, and simmer uncovered over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, until they break down into a light sauce.
- 4Meanwhile rinse the bulgur in a sieve under lukewarm water and drain it well.
- 5Stir the bulgur into the sauce and bring it back to the boil. Cover tightly, turn the heat to very low and cook for 20 minutes. Check after 10 minutes: if the pot looks dry and the grains are still hard, add the hot water.✎ Chef’s noteCoarse burghul needs the full time. Fine burghul is for tabbouleh and kibbeh and turns to mush here.
- 6Take the pot off the heat and leave it covered for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Serve hot with yogurt, pickles and salad.
Syrian home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Damascus. The mezze table is a sequence rather than a spread. Cold dishes go down first, hummus, labneh, pickles and vine leaves, then hot small plates, then grilled meat, and bread does the work of cutlery the whole way through. The point of it is that it takes a long time.
🗺️
Syria. Aleppo and Damascus are not interchangeable. Muhammara, red pepper and walnut pounded with pomegranate molasses, is Aleppine; so is the kibbeh made with sour cherries, and so is the seven-spice baharat that goes into it. Aleppo pepper is a named cultivar, halaby, sun-dried and rubbed with oil rather than simply dried, which is why it is fruity rather than sharp.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Syria
KibbehTorpedo-shaped bulgur shells stuffed with spiced meat and pine nuts, fried until crisp.
BalilaWarm chickpeas dressed with cumin, lemon, garlic, and olive oil, a simple Damascene breakfast.
Chicken ShawarmaMarinated spiced chicken roasted and shaved into flatbread with garlic sauce and pickles, the Levant's great street lunch.
Browse all Syria recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Syria meal
Sous (Licorice Drink)Drink
Halawet el JibnDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Burghul bi Banadoura (Syrian Tomato Bulgur Pilaf)?
Coarse bulgur simmered in a quick sauce of fresh tomatoes, onion and green pepper until each grain is tender and stained red, served beside stews, grills and yogurt.
Where does Burghul bi Banadoura (Syrian Tomato Bulgur Pilaf) come from?
Burghul bi Banadoura (Syrian Tomato Bulgur Pilaf) is a Syrian dish from Damascus, Syria.
Can Burghul bi Banadoura (Syrian Tomato Bulgur Pilaf) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Burghul bi Banadoura (Syrian Tomato Bulgur Pilaf) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Burghul bi Banadoura (Syrian Tomato Bulgur Pilaf) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Burghul bi Banadoura (Syrian Tomato Bulgur Pilaf) take to make?
About 1 h in all: 15 minutes prep and 40 minutes cooking, plus 5 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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