David Lebovitz/ Pantry essentials/ Salad/ Side/ Toss/ whole wheat

Traditional Tabbouleh | My Paris Kitchen

We made tabbouleh this week at Cook-the-Book-Fridays. This is another raw vegetable dish from My Paris Kitchen by David Lebovitz. He also introduced us to fattoush and celery root salad. Like tasting anything new and unfamiliar, you take a small bite slowly with furrowed brows. Instantly, you know whether you like it or not.

Most of us probably have tabbouleh before, in one form or another. What raises my eyebrows is the amount of parsley David uses. Well, the recipe calls for ten cups of parsley, two cups of fresh mint and three stalks of scallion. I bought one bunch of parsley, without much thoughts. After removing the stems, the amount of tender parsley leaves left was barely enough to make half the recipe. It’s a revelation that it takes five cups of parsley for each tablespoon of bulgar wheat. David claims that this is the authentic traditional Lebanese way of making tabbouleh.

After chopping mounds of parsley, mint and green onions, combine the herbs with softened bulgur and chopped tomatoes. Actually, I don’t mind all the chopping; I love wielding my new Japanese knife and having fun with it. Next, dress the tabbouleh with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, and sprinkles of salt and spice mix (of allspice, cinnamon and black pepper). The salad is done. It’s that simple to make!

The bottom line is — this is a refreshing salad. I see the wisdom of using copious amount of parsley, relative to bulgur. Tabbouleh is all about the fresh herbs and little to do with bulgur wheat. I got it! More greens and less carb; that’d always work for me. We served the tabbouleh with lamb chop and brussels sprouts. They went well together. As it turned out, I could have made the full recipe of tabbouleh. It still wouldn’t be enough.

 

Key ingredients: parsley, mint, green onion, tomato, bulgur, lemon juice, olive oil and spices.

Tabbouleh | My Paris Kitchen

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons (20g) fine bulgur
  • 2½ tablespoons warm water
  • 2 medium firm ripe tomatoes, diced into small cubes
  • 3 spring onions or scallions, trimmed and very thinly sliced
  • 10 cups (250g) flat-leaf parsley, most of the stalks discarded, leaves washed and dried
  • 2 cups (20g) mint leaves, washed and dried, no stems
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (or Lebanese seven-spice mixture)
  • 1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
  • salt to taste
  • 5 tablespoons (75 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2/3 cup (150ml) extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses (optional)
  • Romaine lettuce or cabbage leaves, to serve

Instructions

1

Rinse the bulgur in several changes of cold water. Drain well and put in a bowl. Mix the bulgur and the water in a large salad bowl and set aside to plump. Stir it with a fork every now and then to help it fluff up.

2

Halve the tomatoes horizontally and squeeze out the liquid and seeds. Dice the tomatoes and set aside to drain in a colander. Put the diced tomatoes in a bowl and set aside while you prepare the herbs.

3

Chiffonade the parsley and mint leaves by gathering bunches of the herbs in a tight cluster with one hand, and slicing the herbs into thin ribbons with a chef’s knife. (Don’t run your knife over them repeatedly, which will bruise them and make them bitter.) A word of caution: do not chop the herbs with a mandoline. This will only bruise them.

4

Add them to the bowl of bulgur along with the scallions and the drained tomatoes. Sprinkle the bulgur all over. Season with the cinnamon, allspice and pepper. Add salt to taste. Add the lemon juice and olive oil and mix well. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary. Toss well and serve with crisp leaves of romaine lettuce or cabbage leave to scoop it up.

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8 Comments

  • Reply
    by Andrea Janssen
    November 30, 2018 at 12:33 pm

    I loved this dish, never had it before. I thought some extra bulgur made it even more delicious, but I can understand if you eat it with lamb this isn’t necessary. What a great picture!

  • Reply
    Emily
    November 30, 2018 at 11:10 pm

    Easy, but oh so refreshing! And like you said, no cooking required.

  • Reply
    MARY H HIRSCH
    November 30, 2018 at 11:20 pm

    I agree with Andrea. If you are serving this for lunch and it’s the primary dish, you might need a bit more grain. If it’s on the dinner menu with meat and veggies, not so much. I am glad I made this and learned about authentic Tabbouleh but I was a bit overwhelmed by the Parsley. I didn’t mind the chopping either. (Hooray for your new knife.) Putting it together and then making my bowl was fun. But, did I love it? Not as much as you all did.

    • Reply
      Shirley@EverOpenSauce
      December 1, 2018 at 6:28 pm

      What I enjoyed more than other things is the understanding and appreciation of different ways in making tabbouleh.

  • Reply
    Chez Nana
    December 1, 2018 at 4:35 pm

    An interesting dish, never having ever seen it before. I did not particularly enjoy in but after seeing how other people served it up it might be worth trying again with some other Lebanese dishes as a snack. Your looks very interesting.

  • Reply
    Katie from ProfWhoCooks
    December 2, 2018 at 11:03 am

    very nice!! It is delicious and I agree that it’s nice to have a mostly green salad, with a bit of grain to give it some heft. We also ate the entire thing in 1 go!

  • Reply
    betsy
    December 18, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    I made half a batch and ate the whole thing for lunch. Very refreshing and light. It’s always interesting to try another version, especially when it is said to be more authentic.

  • Reply
    Herb Tabbouleh with Pomegranate & Za’atar Dressing - Ever Open Sauce
    December 24, 2019 at 2:28 pm

    […] The herb tabbouleh with pomegranate and za’atar dressing recipe comes from Jamie Oliver. It gets my attention because of the sparkling pomegranate seeds. There is one pomegranate sitting in the fridge for quite a while waiting for a salad to bring it to life. I call it a salad since I put in, primarily, arugula and pomegranate seeds, as opposed to a lot of herbs that dominate the traditional tabbouleh. […]

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