Introduction
Tabbouleh is a salad of finely chopped parsley with tomato, mint, spring onion and a little bulgur wheat, sharp with lemon juice. It is green, not beige: the parsley is the salad, and the bulgur is only a sprinkle. It goes with falafel, grilled food or a spread of dips.
It comes from the mountains of Lebanon and Syria and is part of the mezze, the small dishes shared at the start of a meal across the Levant. Chopping the parsley by hand with a sharp knife takes time, but a food processor bruises it and turns it to mush.
Ingredients
- 40 g fine bulgur
- 3 large bunches of flat-leaf parsley (about 200 g)
- a small bunch of mint
- 4 firm, ripe tomatoes
- 4 spring onions
- juice of 2 lemons
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and black pepper
Tools
- A salad bowl
- A fine sieve
Preparation
- Rinse the bulgur in the sieve, put it in the bowl and pour over the juice of one lemon. Leave it to soften for 15 minutes.
- Wash the parsley and mint and dry them very well. Remove the thick stems and the mint stalks.
- Holding the herbs in a tight bundle, slice them as finely as you can with a sharp knife.
- Cut the tomatoes into small dice and slice the spring onions thinly.
- Add everything to the bulgur with the rest of the lemon juice and the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and mix.
- Serve within the hour, while the herbs are fresh.