Tabbouli / Tabouli / Tabbouleh Salad (Parsley Salad)

"A Lebanese friend showed me how to make this back in 1996. It's my mother-in-laws favourite salad and I normally make it on request specially for her. I prefer flat leaf fresh parsley (also known as Italian Parsley) as it's better texture but curly leaf is alright. I normally buy the parsley and spring onions from the supper market prepacked bunches so if your measurements are slightly more or less it's alright, it doesn't have to be exact. The bourghul also soaks a lot of the moisture and I like Tabbouli to be moist not dried that's why there is a lot of lemons and olive oil. Like everything we cook it's all about the palate and who we are cooking for so if you choose to put less oil and lemons then it's ok. Salt and black pepper to taste, so feel free to add less but not to much. The secret to good Tabbouli is that everything should be finely chopped. Enjoy"
 
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photo by Robin and Sue photo by Robin and Sue
photo by Robin and Sue
photo by Jessica M. photo by Jessica M.
photo by rbatool photo by rbatool
photo by Robin and Sue photo by Robin and Sue
photo by Robin and Sue photo by Robin and Sue
Ready In:
30mins
Ingredients:
9
Serves:
8-10
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ingredients

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directions

  • Add one cup of boiled water and one cup of bourghul (bulgur) in a small bowl and mix. Place a tea towel over the bowl so the steam is unable to escape. Set aside until cool.
  • Finely chop the parsley, spring onions and tomatoes and place them into your separate large salad bowl.
  • Juice all the fresh lemons and pour it over the salad mixture. Add olive oil, black pepper and salt in the salad mixture. Mix well.
  • Place over the cool bourghul and mix well.
  • Serve.
  • Refrigerate any left overs for about 2-3 days.

Questions & Replies

  1. Does anyone add chopped fresh mint leaves? My recipe from a Lebanese friend includes a “handful” of chopped mint leaves added at the last minute.
     
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Reviews

  1. Here is my take on this as a first generation lebanese who prepare this salad regularly. First, I would double the parsley for that much burgul. I dont use boiled water to soak burgul. I usually rinse my burgul and drain then add freshly squuezed lemon to burgul snd let it sit for it to absorb the lemon and become soft (this way your salad is not runny with juices). I would skip any pepper, snd I take the seeds out of my tomatoes.
     
  2. A little less bulgur and this recipe works great! I found the secret to perfect tabbouli...That is, add some crumbled feta. You will not regret it.
     
  3. I'm Lebanese and this is exactly how we were taught to do this. I chuckled when I seen the link, but was impressed with its accuracy. The only thing I'd add is when you're cutting the parsley, you want to cut out as many stems as possible. You don't want a stemmy Tabouli.
     
  4. Good Recipe! I use cooked Quinoa instead of Bulgur for Gluten Free alternative and it comes out great!
     
  5. Well now! Local supermarket had flat-leaf AND curly parsley for cheap so lucky me! Added garlic and feta for extra flavor. Good friend brought me 3 dozen Meyer lemons (made limoncello, Shaker pie fillings, and 3 quarts of lemon curd - and STILL had lemons left so lucky me again!). Wanted a spring-y dish for dinner and this is terrific! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!
     
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Tweaks

  1. I love a lemony tabouleh, and to be exact and get a perfect amount of lemon for my taste, I use just above 1/2 and under 3/4 cup of squeezed and strained lemon juice and keep some extra on hand to add more to taste at the end. But 1/2+–3/4 is about the perfect amount for me, as lemons come in wildly different sizes and give unreliable amounts of juice. It's best to have a measurement instead of number of lemons. I have made tabouli far too tangy and not near lemony enough, before I pinned down a cup amount, for this. I also use about 1/4 a teaspoon of black pepper, as I like a good deal of pepper, instead of 1/8. Before adding the greens, I put the tomatoes on top of the bulgur, add the lemon, olive oil, recipe amount of salt, and pepper, gently mix the tomatoes and bulgur, and let it sit and soak for about 30-60 minutes before adding the parsley and green onions. This way the bulgur and tomatoes absorb those flavors before the greens are added. For the parsley, it doesn't do bad in a food processor. It's a bit more wet than hand-chopping, so I do it first and let it sit and dry some while I do the rest of the recipe. As personal preference, I add a good amount of coarse sea salt to taste, at the end. I usually cover the top of the mixture with sprinkled coarse sea salt, mix, and repeat about 3-4 times. If I'm going to eat some soon, I chill the bowl of it in the freezer for about 2 hours (not long enough to freeze), to have a cool tabouli. This recipe also goes excellent with feta cheese. I buy a block of feta with peppercorns in it from a nearby grocery store that stocks a wide cheese selection, and I cut it into cheese cubes for serving on top of the tabouleh. The rich, creamy, cheesy taste of feta goes perfect with the lemony, salty, peppery flavor of this recipe. At risk of becoming mundane, I strongly suggest to anyone to vinegar wash their produce (the tomatoes, parsley, and green onions, in this case). I use one part white vinegar to ten parts filtered water, so .75 cups vinegar to 7.5 cups water. I soak veggies at least 10 minutes, or about 7 minutes per side. I then rinse generously with filtered water in a strainer. This will provide one with extremely-fresh-tasting produce and dishes. It's shocking how many people only rinse with water. Water is not sufficient to strip the veggies of the pesticides. Another tip with keeping your green onions fresh is you want to regularly put the green ends in fresh (filtered and not reused) water. Watering the white ends doesn't help, just the green ends (upside down in a glass). I have also experienced reusing the same water repeatedly for the onions makes them lose their deep green color much, much faster, fading out. Clean water each time preserves the green color longer. Not sure why. I have also read it said that finely-chopped ingredients is the key to the perfect tabouli. I couldn't agree more. Very thin slices of green onion and very finely-diced tomatoes is key, meaning you need a decent cutting knife, particularly for the tomatoes.
     
  2. I make tabbouleh all the time, love the olive oil/lemon flavor. I like to use halved cherry tomatoes instead of diced whole ones. It looks pretty and the salad doesn't get watery.
     
  3. Quinoa instead of bourghul.
     
  4. To make it gluten-free, I'd use quinoa instead of bulgur (and boiled in veg stock instead of just water to make it tastier).
     
  5. cut out parsley stems.
     

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