I grow lots of parsley. It is easy to grow, can be used in lots of recipes and tabbouleh is a great stand by salad with most of the ingredients able to be found in the fridge.

Many years ago when I was teaching at a “multi-cultural” school I was introduced to Lebanese food by the children I was teaching. I came to love it and the children I was teaching became my teachers. I still have the recipe for tabbouleh that was written out for me by Robyn Khoury when she was about 10 years old. I treasure it for its use of the language of cooking that she wasn’t familiar with.

TABOULEH

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch parsley, rolled and sliced finely
  • Mint leaves – about 1/4 of the amount of parsley, sliced finely
  • 4 spring onions or finely chopped onion or garlic chives or combination
  • 1/4 cup burghul, washed, excess water removed by wrapping in a paper towel (can use cous cous, hemp seeds or Cauliflower rice)
  • 3 tomatoes diced
  • (optional) 2 cucumbers (peel, slice and lightly salt. Let sit in a colander until quite a lot of the juice has run off)
  • Lemon – juice of 1-2 lemons
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • olive oil

 Method

  1. Mix onions, tomatoes, salt and pepper and lemon juice and add to burghul and leave for flavours to mix and the burghul to soften while slicing the greens.
  2. Slice mint and parsley finely and place into a colander, wash and shake to drain well.
  3. Add the greens to the tomato mix and add olive oil. Adjust lemon and salt and pepper to taste.
  4. The greens take a long time to slice. If preparing ahead leave mixing the two sets of ingredients until 2 hours before serving.

Variations:

I have tried adding small amount of lemon flavoured herbs – kaffir lime, lemon grass and lemon thyme just for a change. They add a bit of interest and depth of flavour if you have the time.

I have also found that any herbs go ok – try adding oregano or fennel

 

Tabbouleh with cucumber and cauliflower rice

Tabbouleh with cucumber and cauliflower rice