Tabbouleh: a parsley salad, not a grain salad
In many Western recipes the proportions are upside down: lots of grain and a handful of greens. In Lebanon and Syria, where tabbouleh comes from, it is exactly the other way round — this is a parsley salad in which the bulgur is a seasoning, something to give it body, not the base. The grain is never cooked here, only soaked in lemon juice and water for 20 minutes. The result is vividly green and so refreshing it is hard to stop eating.
Your own work in that: 25 min.
- Soaking 20 min
- Chopping 20 min
- Tossing 5 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneSoak the bulgur
Put the bulgur in a small bowl, pour over the juice of one lemon and 3 tablespoons of cold water, stir and leave 20 minutes. Fine bulgur is already parboiled and dried; moisture alone is enough to swell it. Boiled, it would collapse into mush and turn the salad into wet porridge.
Ingredients: 4 bunches flat-leaf parsley · 60 g fine bulgur · 400 g tomatoes · 20 pcs fresh mint · 4 pcs spring onions
TipIf all you can find is coarse bulgur, pour boiling water over it for 15 minutes and squeeze it well. But fine, grade 1 bulgur gives a completely different, light texture — it is worth hunting down.
Lemon juice instead of boiling water, twenty minutesWash and dry the parsley
Wash the parsley and dry it thoroughly — in a salad spinner or on a towel. This is the one moment where the whole salad can be lost: wet parsley waters down the dressing, and chopped wet it mats into a green paste.
TipWash the parsley an hour ahead and leave it loose on a tea towel. Dry leaves fall apart into separate pieces under the knife instead of into a smear.
Chop it very fine
Strip the leaves off the thick stalks, gather them into a tight pile and chop with a large, sharp knife in short strokes, until it is almost dust. Do the same with the mint and the spring onions, greens included. Don't use a blender: the blades bruise the leaves, press out the juice, and within five minutes the green has gone brown.
TipA blunt knife crushes instead of cutting. If the board is wet and green after chopping, the knife needs sharpening.
Short strokes of a sharp knife, almost to dustDice and drain the tomatoes
Cut the tomatoes into a 5 mm dice. Scoop out the watery seed pockets with a teaspoon and discard them — keep only the firm flesh. Let the diced tomato sit in a sieve for 5 minutes to drain.
TipTomato water is the main reason tabbouleh swims on the second day. Draining takes five minutes and settles it for good.
Firm flesh only, seeds set asideWhisk the dressing
Whisk the juice of the second lemon with the olive oil, salt, pepper and a pinch of cinnamon if using. The dressing should be distinctly tart — parsley and bulgur absorb a surprising amount of acid, and without it the salad just tastes grassy.
Ingredients: 2 pcs lemons, juice · 6 tbsp olive oil · 1 tsp salt · ½ tsp pepper · 1 pinch cinnamon
More lemon than seems necessaryToss just before serving
In a large bowl combine the parsley, mint, spring onion, swollen bulgur and tomatoes. Pour over the dressing and toss with two spoons, lifting from the bottom. Taste, adjust salt and lemon. Serve at once, with romaine leaves instead of cutlery: they scoop like a spoon.
Ingredients: 8 pcs romaine lettuce
TipOnce dressed, the salad is at its best for about an hour. Prepare everything ahead and keep the parts separate in the fridge, but add the salt and dressing only at the table.
Two spoons, lifting from below, at the last moment
Before you start
Gluten free
Use cooked and cooled quinoa or millet instead of bulgur, 100 g cooked weight. The texture is close and it needs the same amount of acid.
As part of a mezze
Serve it next to hummus, falafel and pita: sharp, green tabbouleh is the counterweight to a heavy, creamy chickpea purée and fried patties.
What not to add
Cucumber, bell pepper and garlic make a different salad. Classic tabbouleh keeps to five ingredients, and that plainness is exactly why it tastes so clear.
How much parsley, really
Four bunches look absurd until they are chopped: a heaped bowl of leaves shrinks to just a few cups of green. That is normal, not a mistake in the recipe.
