Tabbouleh




Tabbouleh is a light and refreshing Arabic salad that is wonderful as part of a mezze or with barbecued meat. I have made and eaten a lot of tabbouleh over the years varying, adding and taking away ingredients; Pomegranate, sesame seeds, feta, onion, molasses and sage have all made an appearance at some point. Shock and horror. The one constant is that it is a parsley salad and the parsley should be the key component, not the bulgar. It should be definitively green in colour. I have found it hard to find fine bulgar at short notice, which is what is traditionally used. Therefore I interchange between this and the more readily available medium size bulgar. I actually prefer the latter as it has a more distinctive texture.The herbs should be carefully and thinly sliced for best results. Also this must be hand chopped so as not to bruise the herbs. Pick the leaves from the stalks and bunch tightly together with your fingers and slice as close as you can without losing a finger. Really excellent chopping practice.

Serves 3 - 4 as a mezze / side salad 

Ingredients

3 large bunches parsley 
1 bunch of mint 
Seeds from 1/2 pomegranate 
25g bulgar wheat
Juice of 2 lemons 
2 tomatoes 
1 tsp of ground all spice berries
Spice mix; 1/2 level tsp of the following; salt, pepper, ground cumin, cinnamon, ground coriander, paprika combined.
Olive oil; approximately 70 ml 
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses 
Salt 
Black pepper 

Soak the tomatoes in boiling water for 5 minutes and peel of the skin. De seed and finely chop. Add the ground all spice and one tsp of the spice mix to the tomatoes and combine. 

If you are using fine bulgar pour cold water over it and set aside. For regular bulgar simmer it in boiling water for 2/3 minutes, drain and refresh with cold water. Fluff the grains with a fork and set aside. 

Rinse the parsley in cold water and pat dry. Finely slice it as above. The mint needs to be carefully picked from the stalks and also finely sliced. 

Add the bulgar, tomatoes, pomegranate, combine the olive oil, molasses and lemon juice and add to the herbs and combine everything. Taste it and add more of the spice mix, salt and lemon juice to your taste.

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