Tunisia-How to prepare a palestinian Tabbouleh salad
Tabbouleh (tabūlah or tabouleh) is one of my beloved Middle Eastern salads but that’ would not be considered as proper tabbouleh by people in Palestine.
Ingredients :
75 gr of bulgur wheat
2 large bunches of flat leaf parsley (100gr of parsley or 3 cups once chopped)
¾ large cucumber (or 2 to 3 small ones)
1 medium tomato
1 small onion (optional)
Handful of mint leaves
Olive oil (extra virgin preferably)
1 lemon
Salt
Black pepper
Steps:
Put the bulgur in a bowl and pour 90 ml of boiling water over it. Cover the bowl and let it sit for about 10/15 minutes, until the bulgur has soaked up the water. The grains will be a little soft but still crunchy.
While the bulgur is soaking, wash all the herbs and vegetables and pat dry.
Prepare the parsley. Remove the leaves from the stalks and chop the parsley very thinly. It’s ok that some stalks remain. Once chopped, you should have about 3 cups of parsley. Put in a large bowl. When the bulgur is ready, mix it with the parsley and leave to rest.
Deseed the tomato. Chop the tomato and the cucumber(s) in very small pieces. If you are using an onion, repeat with the onion. The smaller the better so just be patient and cut everything as small as you can. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix 4 tablespoons of olive oil with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, salt and black pepper. Thinly chop up a good handful of mint leaves to obtain about 2 large tablespoons of chopped mint. Add to the olive oil dressing and mix.
Pour the dressing over the parsley and bulgur. Add the cucumber and tomato (and onion) and mix with your hands. Taste and add lemon juice, olive oil and/or salt according to your own taste. Some people like it very lemony, some like it with more olive oil.
Tabbouleh is even better if left to rest a couple of hours in the fridge before serving it.