In our search for the best vegetarian christmas recipes we have come to a family classic. The first vegetarian christmas we celebrated (back in the 90′s), me and my sister looked through mum’s cook book shelf to find some kind of christmas recipe without ham, turkey or meatballs. It wasn’t easy, Swedish Christmas tables usually looks something like this. Finally we did find a Saffron Couscous recipe that we tried and we have made it almost every Christmas since then. This year we have changed the couscous for bulgur.
Maybe I should add that saffron is one of the most important Christmas spices in Sweden. We use it in buns, cakes and all kinds of food. I have always thought that saffron was used as a Christmas spice all over the world, but Luise has shown me that they don’t even use it in Denmark.
So now I’m a bit confused, are there any other countries that use saffron as a christmas spice or are we all alone with this?

Saffron Bulgur with vegetables
Serves 4

1 1/2 cup bulgur
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2 g saffron

olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 chili
1 red bell pepper (sliced)
1 zucchini (thinly chopped)
10 cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
1/2 lemon (juice)
1 handful coriander (cilantro)
salt & pepper
200 g goat cheese
roasted salted almonds

Cook the bulgur in vegetable broth for about 10 minutes and add the saffron while cooking. Add olive oil to a frying pan on medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic and chili. Add bell pepper, zucchini, cherry tomatoes and juice from the lemon. Stir it around for about 10 minutes before adding half of the chopped coriander, salt and pepper, and half of the goat cheese. Mix it all with the bulgur and serve on a big plate. Sprinkle the rest of the coriander, goat cheese and some roasted salted almonds over before serving it.