Cold-Soak Bulgur and Chickpea Salad
Bulgur, chickpeas, and pistachios soaked in a jar while you walk. Lunch is ready when you stop.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 124
- protein
- 21 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 5 min
- water
- 300 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Cold soak
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Day hike
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Fine bulgur wheat | 3/4 cup | fine grind only, coarse will stay gritty |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried or dehydrated chickpeas | 1/2 cup | crunchy roasted ones never rehydrate |
| Dried cucumber slices | 1/4 cup | or skip and add more onion |
| Dried minced red onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried parsley and mint | 2 tbsp total | heavy on the mint |
| Shelled pistachios | 1/4 cup | |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Citric acid or a lemon powder packet | 1/2 tsp | stands in for the lemon juice |
| Salt and black pepper | 1/2 tsp salt, pepper to taste |
Method
- At the first water source of the day, pour 300 ml of cold water into the jar with everything except the pistachios and oil.
- Screw the lid down and shake. Check the seal before it goes back in the pack.
- Leave it two hours. Fine bulgur is soft by then; the chickpeas want the full two.
- Pour off any standing water, then stir in the oil and the pistachios so they stay crunchy.
- Taste and add salt. Cold food reads flat and almost always needs more than you think.
The original is a chopped salad that lives on fresh herbs, cucumber, and feta. None of that survives a pack, so the structure stays and the perishables get swapped: dried herbs, dried cucumber, and no cheese at all. Bulgur is the reason it works on trail. It is parboiled at the mill, so cold water alone is enough to soften it, which is not true of rice or most grains.
Acid and fat are doing the rest. Citric acid replaces the lemon and weighs nothing, and the oil is where most of the calories come from. Add the pistachios at the end rather than at the soak, or you get two hours of soft nuts and no texture left in the bowl.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one bag or straight into the soak jar at home. Oil rides separately. Pistachios in their own small bag so they do not soften in the soak.
Variations
- A packet of tuna or a foil chicken pouch turns this into a real dinner.
- Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped small, soak at the same rate as the bulgur.
- Car camping with a cooler: crumble in 1 oz of feta at the end, which is how the original goes.
https://mealswithmaria.site/best-potluck-dishes