Tabouleh Salad
By: Betsy Dorfman
Published: April 26, 2009

Tabouleh salad always leads to licked clean plates in our house; basically if we want leftovers for another meal I have to hide some. The dish is typically made with bulgur as the staple grain, but we prefer a lighter version made with couscous instead. The other advantage of couscous is the quick cooking time: a couple of minutes in the microwave and a few minutes cooling and the dish is ready to compose. 
 
Also spelled tabbouleh or tabouli, this Mediterranean salad is a vegetarian's delight, and consists of a cooked grain tossed with olive oil, onion or green onion, mint, tomatoes, parsley, and lemon juice. Or add any other vegetable you have on hand. I had some orange and yellow peppers so added a few of those. Chopped vine leaves, garlic, and cucumber are often seen additions as well. I have been known to toss in a bit of basil, OK, a lot of basil, which is probably not kosher but is tasty. If it makes you feel better, lower the blinds first and/or call it "couscous salad" rather than tabouleh, so as not to offend the purists. I won't even tell you about my version with feta cheese…


 
The proportions vary wildly with "store bought" tabouleh - we have purchased some that was 95% parsley, with a sprinkling of grain making a cameo appearance. We like a more balanced version with plenty of grain, but the choice is yours. Assemble the basic chopped ingredients and mix with the grain until you like the results, then drizzle in the olive oil and finally add lemon juice, salt & pepper to your taste. I was lucky enough to have Meyer lemons on hand which have a sunny robust flavor and less acidity than regular lemons, but any lemon will do. The salad is supposed to taste lemony!
Here's a suggested starting point re how much of what to incorporate, but feel free to make it your own.
Ingredients:
2 cups couscous or bulgur, cooked and cooled
2-4 green onions, or one medium onion, chopped
3/4 cup chopped parsley, flat or curly
1/2- 1 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes, seeded and peeled
1/2 cup chopped red, green or yellow sweet peppers - optional
4-5 T olive oil
3-5 T lemon or Meyer lemon juice

Comments:
Anders Conbere
April 27, 2009

Years ago I switched to making Tabouleh with Quinoa mostly because I don't really like the taste or texture of Bulgar. But beyond a textural and pleasing taste the Quinoa adds 9 grams of protein per serving and it's a whole grain so a ton of fiber as well.
Give it a shot next time you make some. 10 - 15 minutes in my rice cooker is long enough to cook up the Quinoa and I think it's a big win in terms of the taste quotient.
Corrinne

Ahh!  I love Tabbouleh.  We have a great recipe as well but one of the best tips is adding the fresh goat cheese.  It adds such a wonderful layer of flavor.
Beverly Mills

At Kitchen Scoop we like to make big batches of bulgur ahead to use for the whole week. Great in Easy Tabbouleh or whatever strikes the mood! http://tinyurl.com/or4e38
Mimi Cooks

Tabbouleh is a very famous Levant salad. Each village in the Levant region has its own version of it although the main ingredients are bulgur, parsley, tomatoes, lemon juice and good olive oil. some people add too much parsley and very little bulgur while others add more bulgur, it all depends on the region they come from. Some add onions or scallions to it, some add Sumac to add more lemony taste. no matter how you make and what you add to it, its always healthy and delicious.
Mimi Cooks

Oh, one more thing: i usually soak my bulgur with lemon juice, equal ammount of bulgur to Lemon juice. and this is a rule to using burgul in middle eastern cooking, the ratio of bulgur to liquid is always 1:1