Tabbouleh - parsley and bulgur salad
Tabbouleh - a world-famous Lebanese salad, certainly belongs to the dishes that should be included in our menus. It is the first Lebanese-Arabic dish I have adopted and I have been offering it to guests, especially in summer, for many years. In my combination, arugula is added to the parsley, which is not strange because lettuce can be added. An unavoidable ingredient of tabule is bulgur, broken wheat, which has recently been bought in our country.
Preparation steps
- Cook the bulgur according to the instructions on the bag, (1: 2, 5 ratio of bulgur water), for ten minutes, until the bulgur absorbs all the water. Strain it, rinse and leave to cool
- parsley remove the stems and keep it for five minutes in cold water to wash well. Strain and dry
- parsley and arugula cut into very small strips (like tobacco). Tomatoes in small cubes, red onions in slices
- in a small bowl, mix the oil, lemon, salt, freshly ground pepper and finely chopped hot pepper. Stir for about five minutes until a fine emulsion is obtained - citronette
- put bulgur in a bowl first and season with half a citronetta. Stir, try and, if necessary, add salt and pepper.
- Stir in all the green ingredients, red onion and tomato. Add chopped mint (if you like it, let it be a small bunch), grate some nuts and cinnamon
- season with the rest of the citronet, mix well, try if you are missing something and then season to the end
- let the tabula stand for a few hours in a cool place. Try it before serving, it can happen that the bulgur has absorbed too much oil and lemon and you may have to add spices again.
- serve with crispy lettuce leaves in which the boards are placed, wrapped with your hands and eaten
Serving
It is good to make the tables 3-4 hours earlier so that all the ingredients adhere well. Care should be taken that there is not too much bulgur and that green ingredients predominate. Bulgur is an essential ingredient in tabouleh, but the taste of this salad must be dominated by green elements. The difference is amazing when the tabula is placed on lettuce leaves, wrapped and thus eaten from the usual "Western" consumption with the use of a fork. Someone recommends that the tabula stand for at least one day. Since red onion oxidizes and leaves a bad, metallic taste, I think it’s ideal to stand for 2-3 hours to get a unique harmony of flavors and aromas. In addition, the longer the tabula stands, the more the bulgur absorbs the spices and the salad becomes drier. Tabbouleh, tabouly, taboule originates from the Levantine countries - Lebanon and Palestine. Boulgur can be purchased at DM stores.
