About the Author (recipes)
Tabouli, My Way
Tabouli as I know it is a wonderful summertime salad that easily makes a
complete meal. It takes a little while to make, but you can make quite a lot
for a tiny fraction of what grocery stores charge for it! This particular
recipe makes many servings (probably 10-12 normal-sized servings), but in
my experience, it keeps pretty well in the refrigerator; David and I usually
finish up the batch in a few days.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups bulgar wheat (you can find this in the "ethnic" section
of the grocery store -- Goya is pretty decent -- or in bulk at health food
stores)
- 3 to 4 cups water (to cook or soak the bulgar in)
- 2-3 medium sized tomatoes (barely ripe, or grocery store "plastic" tomatoes
-- very ripe ones don't keep well, and you can't cut them up as fine)
- 2-3 stalks of celery (I prefer the inner stalks with leaves for tabouli,
but that's a matter of taste. If using inner stalks, go for 5-6 of the smaller
ones.)
- 1 medium red or Vidalia onion (these are usually less overpowering than
regular cooking onions)
- Herbs and spices: If you can get fresh ones, do so; otherwise, use dried
ones, generally about a tablespoon of each depending on your tastes.
- Fresh parsley (I use about 1 1/2 cups of chopped fresh parsley, but
David thinks that's too much; it's really a matter of personal preference)
- Fresh dill (a little goes a long way...)
- Fresh mint -- 5-6 leaves
- Fresh basil -- 5-6 leaves
- Rosemary -- I can't find this fresh for cheap, so I usually use about
2 tsps dried.
- Pepper -- 1 1/2 tsp or to taste
- 1/2 cup olive or salad oil
- 3/4 cup bottled lemon juice (finding the right brand can be hard -- some
reconstituted ones taste really nasty, others are okay) or two fresh-squeezed
lemons
Directions:
- Revive bulgar according to directions -- some require boiling the water
and then adding the bulgar and soaking it; others may just call for soaking the
bulgar in cold water for a few hours. I've had decent results either way: boiling
the water is a little faster, but then you have to wait for the bulgar to cool
before adding it to the other ingredients. Lately I've been soaking the bulgar
in lemon juice instead of water, for an extra kick.
- Cut up the veggies. I like a very fine dice, about 1 cm to the side, even
smaller for onions, but this may tax one's patience. You can try a food
processor, but we got mush the one time we gave it a shot. This is the most
unhappy part of the procedure, but you only have to do it once for a large
batch of tabouli.
- If you're using fresh herbs, mix them in with the veggies.
- For dried herbs and spices, combine them with the oil and lemon juice
in a container you can shake or stir vigorously.
- Combine the (revived) bulgar and the veggies, and pour the lemon juice/oil
mixture over them. Mix well.
- Chill before serving (if you want to), and keep in the refrigerator for
up to a week (the tomatoes tend to go first, so you might want to add them
in separately for each day's serving).
We love this for hot summer days when produce is cheap and we don't want
to cook; it makes a great lunch and a terrific side dish for dinner. Preparation
can be unpleasant if you don't like cutting things up... but sometimes that's
half the fun! Enjoy!
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