Tabouli, Tabbouleh, Tabbouleh

Tabouli, Tabbouleh, Tabbouleh 

No matter how you spell it - it's one of my favorite summer salads.

Summer is the ideal time to make this salad with fresh ingredients, the Tomato, Cucumber, Onion, herbs, lemon juice and Olive Oil, mixed together just taste like summer freshness on your tongue! There are 'Boxed' versions of this salad but like many 'Boxed' versions of things it bears little resemblance to the Fresh version. It's my favorite side dish to BBQ or grilled chicken but goes with just about anything. This Middle Eastern salad is often referred to as 'Parsley Salad' - my version has the amount of parsley cut back and I've found many people prefer it to the heavy parsley version. Feel free to experiment to develop your own version.

2 Cups Wheat Bulgur (Cracked Wheat)
1 to 2 Cups Flat Leaf/Italian Parsley leaves - finely chopped Traditional versions add as much as 3 cups.
1/4 Cup Mint leaves finely chopped
3 Scallions or 1 large shallot minced
2 med - lg tomatoes cut into 1/2" cubes
1 lg Cucumber pealed, seeded, cut into 1/2" chunks
1/4 to 1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
2 tsp salt
4 TBSP your best Extra Virgin Olive Oil (lesser oil can be substituted)
3-4 TBSP Lemon Juice

Place the 2 cups of Wheat Bulgur in a bowl and add 2 cups hot water and let stand 30 min. (this can be done a day or two ahead of time)

Add Soaked Bulgur and remaining ingredients to a bowl and mix well.

For Taste Sake

One of my favorite additions to this traditional dish is a can of garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed - many brands of canned Garbanzo Beans have salt added so you may want to taste your salad first before adding the additional salt. Grabanzo beans add texture and makes it a little more of a heavier substantial salad and will make it stretch a little further.

Another popular addition to Tabbouleh is chopped lettuce - lettuce adds another level of texture, makes your salad a bit lighter and fluffier and again can make it stretch a but further among your guests without having to make two batches.

Feta cheese is another good addition - remember to take into account that most feta cheese has salt in it.

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You can substitute cherry tomatoes for whole ones, keep in mind cherry tomatoes are typically less acidic and therefore sweeter than most varieties of larger tomatoes. I prefer the whole tomatoes, cubed, but the cherry tomatoes run a close second.