“Tabbouleh“ salad is probably the most famous of the Levant region. It’s simple and admits some variations, but it’s often offered in a completely distorted way. For example, some supermarkets sell a ready-made version presented as a couscous salad, which is completely different from the traditional recipe.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of parsley
1/2 coffee cup of burghoul
1 large tomato
1 spring onion (only the bulb)
Some mint and lettuce (or grape) leaves
Salt, pepper, allspice, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice
Rinse rinse and cook the burghoul in 2 and a half times of water for 10 minutes. Reserve and let cool, discarding any excess water that may have been left over.
Separately, chop the parsley leaves without the stem as small as possible, dice the tomato and spring onion, and the mint leaves. Add the cooked burghoul and mix. Season with salt, pepper, allspice, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.
It is usually served with whole lettuce (or grape) leaves, and is eaten by cupping a small amount on each one and closing it to make a “little package”.
Tips and tricks:
- The only important detail is that the absolute protagonist of this salad is the parsley, and it has to be present in a greater proportion than the rest of the ingredients.
- Although it will mean more work, it is important to chop the parsley with a knife and not with a machine, so as not to completely undo its texture.
- The parsley stem is actually edible, but we discard it because it is more bitter than the leaves.
- It is preferable to use the burghoul „for köfte“, that is, the one used for filling a kind of meatballs, which comes in smaller crumbs.
- For a „fitness“ version, the burghoul can be replaced with quinoa, a grain of South American origin which is obviously not part of the Middle Eastern tradition. However, I have copied this idea from a restaurant in Dubai, and it works perfectly.