Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh

 Ingredients:

• 1 cup bulgur wheat – rinsed thoroughly

• 8 spring onions

• 2-3 cups of parsley, washed and dried thoroughly

• 1 cup of mint leaves

• 4 large tomatoes

• 1 tsp mixed spice

• ¼ cup of lemon juice

• 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• Salt and black pepper

 Optional extras:

• ½ cucumber

• 4 large radishes

 How to make:

1. Pour warm water over the bulgur wheat and leave for about 10 minutes or until it is soft but still has a bite to it. Rinse, drain thoroughly and place into a mixing bowl.

2. Finely chop the parsley and mint, I use my Kenwood Food Processor for this, add this to the bulgur wheat along with the mixed spice and combine.

3. Slice the spring onion add this to the bowl along with the herbs and stir through.

4. Roughly chop the tomatoes and place on a paper towel to absorb the excess juice, then add these to the bowl and stir through.

5. Next, add the lemon juice and olive oil, season with plenty of black pepper and a little salt.

6. Finally, slice the cucumber and/or radish if you are adding either of these. I use the thick slicing blade on my food processor here to make this quick and easy! If you are using cucumber, place the slices on a piece of kitchen towel to absorb excess moisture before adding.
   If you plan to eat the tabbouleh within half an hour of making, you can either stir the cucumber and/or radish through, or alternatively, use ¾ of the cucumber/radish slices to line the bowl you are using for the tabbouleh, add the bulgur wheat mixture to the bowl and scatter over the remaining cucumber/radish.
   If you are going to eat the tabbouleh a few hours after making, keep the cucumber and radish separate, wrapped in kitchen towel and then scatter over the top just before eating.  

7. Chill and serve.

 Serve it up

• Enjoy as a side dish with fish, chicken or meat and green salad.

• I personally enjoy this most of the time with homemade lamb or beef meat balls, a crunchy green salad and a yoghurt dressing like Tzatziki (yoghurt, mint, cucumber, garlic).

Adapt it

• If you are short on time, you can use hot water to soak the bulgur wheat and it will only take 5-10 minutes to soften. It can go very soft, so just keep checking as it is soaking to make sure it doesn’t go mushy, it still needs to have a ‘bite’.

• No spring onions at home? No worries, just use red onion instead.

• You can use cooked brown rice, buckwheat or quinoa for a gluten free version. Pearl barley is also delicious, although not gluten free.