Tabbouleh

The first recipe I want to share is Tabbouleh: it is one of my all time favourite salads. It is simple to make, although you do need a little preparation, but it’s well worth the effort, even if it might feel a little daunting. Tabbouleh is a great side to have with almost any meal that you want, or it can be a main course if you want something light! Growing up, this was by far one of the favourite salads I would ask my mom to make! Fresh parsley and tomatoes, a little bulgur, and my personal favourite: lots of lemon. I only use fresh lemons as I feel it gives the salad the rich flavour that I prefer, more so than bottled lemon juice, so I highly recommend squeezing out fresh lemons (but both work). When making Tabbouleh, if you have time the night before, wash and dry your parsley ahead of time so it will be dry when needed. Just take the washed parsley and wrap it with a towel, then refrigerate until you need to use it. When chopping the parsley, you really have two choices depending on your kitchen/knife skills: you could chop the parsley with a good sharp knife or take a shortcut and use a food processor. Both work well, but the knife would be the traditional way to go. Either way, make sure that your parsley has been washed, dried well and destemmed before cutting it. This just makes it a lot easier to work with, especially if using a knife. The smaller the pieces, the better.

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Prep

40 minutes prep time

Servings 4

Ingredients

3 washed and destemmed bunches of Italian parsley

3 tomatoes minced

3 green onions

1 1/2 tsp dried or fresh minced mint

1/4 cup fine bulgur

1/4 cup olive oil

2 or 3 lemons squeezed, depending on your lemon preference. Start with 2 and if you wish, add a third.

1 tsp salt

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1. First wash your bulgur twice and then soak it in the lemon juice. Set aside for later use, for at least 30 minutes.

2. Wash, dry and destem your parsley. Make sure that the parsley is completely dry before chopping it or putting it in your food processor. To make this step easier, you can wash the parsley the night before, then dry it with a towel and put it in the fridge overnight. When you are ready the next day, take the parsley out and dry off the excess moisture as much as possible before chopping. Once chopped, transfer it to a bowl.

3. Cut up the tomatoes, green onions and mint into small pieces, and add them to the parsley.

4. Add the bulgur, lemon and oil to the parsley mix, then add salt and stir well.

5. You are now ready to serve the dish with your favourite meal or on its own. Enjoy!

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