Put the bulgur wheat in a strainer and rinse with warm water. Allow it to strain while you heat up a cup of water. Add a couple of pinches of salt and bring the water to the boil. Once boiling, add the bulgur wheat and immediately remove the pan from the heat. Put a lid on the pan and leave to stand for 20 minutes.
Take the cucumber and cut in half lengthwise. Then, using a spoon, remove the seeds from the inside of the cucumber. Once done, very thinly slice the cucumber.
Peel the onion then dice it into small pieces.
Use a grater (or zester) on the skin of the lemon to get 2 teaspoons of zest. Then quarter and deseed the remainder of the lemon. Dice the apricots into very small bits. We’re going to use all of these later, but first…
Pick the mint and parsley off their stems and chop both sets finely.
Heat up a couple of tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan to a medium heat until hot. Chuck in the lemon zest, onion, zaatar, and paprika. Also add salt and black pepper to your taste. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring throughout.
Add the pine nuts, apricots and half the chopped parsley. Cook for a further 2 minutes, until combined, then take off the heat and transfer to a large bowl.
Add the turkey mince and bulgur wheat to the same bowl as the cooked spices, and combine thoroughly.
Form 12 patties with the mixture, each about half an inch thick.
Heat up your frying pan again to a medium heat, and add a couple of tablespoons of oil. Once hot, add the patties. Cook for 5 minutes per side. Once cooked through, remove from heat.
While the patties are cooking, combine the yogurt, mint, olive oil and lemon juice in a bowl. Add a dash of salt and pepper.
In another bowl, mix a quarter of the yogurt sauce with the cucumber, and a dash of salt and pepper.
Serve up the patties on a plate, with some pita bread, and top off with the cucumber sauce on top, with the remainder of the yogurt sauce on the side. Garnish with the rest of the parsley. Enjoy!