Rose Harissa Chicken with Herby Bulgur & Garlic yoghurt

Ingredients

• 500 g chicken breast, cut into strips
• 2 tbsp rose harissa paste
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 250 g bulgur wheat
• 1 chicken stock cube, dissolved in 400ml boiling water
• 200 g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 cucumber, diced
• 20 g fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 10 g fresh mint, roughly chopped
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 150 g Greek yoghurt
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
• Fine salt and black pepper
• 6 pitta breads
• 300 g chopped tomato, cucumber and lettuce salad, dressed with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1. Tip the bulgur into a pan with the hot stock, stir once, cover and simmer on the lowest heat for 12–15 minutes until the liquid is fully absorbed and you can see steam holes across the surface. Pull off the heat and leave covered; it carries on steaming and the grains relax.
2. Toss the chicken strips with the rose harissa, 1 tbsp of the olive oil and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Season before it hits the pan, not after; salt on raw protein draws moisture to the surface and helps the crust form. Every strip should be slick and crimson.
3. Heat the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil in a large stainless or cast iron frying pan over a high heat until it shimmers. Lay the chicken in a single layer and leave it alone for 2 minutes; don't crowd the pan, and if your pan is small, cook in two batches. All at once and the strips steam in their own juices instead of browning. Turn once, cook another 2–3 minutes until deeply golden at the edges and cooked through.
4. Throw in the cherry tomatoes for the last 2 minutes, cut-side down where you can. They'll blister, slump and burst into the harissa-stained pan, lifting the sticky bits off the base. Pull the pan off the heat.
5. Grate the garlic straight into the Greek yoghurt; raw garlic this fine is sharp, so a small clove goes a long way. Stir in a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Taste it: it should bite gently, then cool.
6. Fluff the bulgur with a fork and stir through the cucumber, parsley, mint, the lemon zest and the lemon juice, with a final drizzle of olive oil if it looks dry. Taste the bulgur and add salt if needed.
7. Spoon the herby bulgur into bowls, pile the harissa chicken and burst tomatoes on top with all the rosy pan juices, dollop the garlic yoghurt alongside and scatter over the sliced spring onions and extra mint leaves. Tear warm pitta to scoop, if using.