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AI-generated photograph: Bright green tabbouleh piled into a shallow white bowl, fine parsley and mint flecked with diced red tomato and bulgur, a sheen of olive oil, a few crisp little gem leaves tucked at the side

Home · Recipes · Lebanese tabbouleh with bulgur

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Lebanese tabbouleh with bulgur

chopped parsley · lemon · fine bulgur

AI-generated photograph

A fresh green herb salad from Lebanon, made mostly of finely chopped parsley with mint, tomato and spring onion, a little fine bulgur and a sharp lemon and olive oil dressing.

Contains: cereals containing gluten, as written. Of the 14 allergens, only gluten is in this recipe, from the bulgur wheat. The herbs, vegetables and dressing contain none of the 14.

Ingredients

  • 50g fine bulgur wheat
  • 3 ripe tomatoes, finely diced
  • 100g fresh flat-leaf parsley (about 2 large bunches)
  • 20g fresh mint, leaves only
  • 4 spring onions, finely sliced
  • 1 lemon, juiced (about 3 tablespoons)
  • 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • A quarter teaspoon ground allspice (optional)
  • Salt
  • Black pepper

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Let's cook

  1. Put the bulgur in a bowl, pour over just enough boiling water to cover it and leave for 15 minutes to soften. Bulgur is wheat that has already been cooked and dried, so it only needs soaking.
  2. Meanwhile, put the diced tomatoes in a sieve over a bowl with a pinch of salt, so their juice drips out and does not make the salad soggy. Keep the juice.
  3. Wash the parsley and mint and dry them very well in a clean tea towel or a salad spinner. Wet herbs turn to mush when you chop them.
  4. Pick off the thickest parsley stalks. Bunch the parsley tightly and slice it as finely as you can with a sharp knife, then do the same with the mint. Slicing gives a fresher result than a food processor, which bruises the leaves.
  5. Drain the bulgur in a sieve and press out the water with a spoon.
  6. In a large bowl, mix the parsley, mint, spring onions, bulgur and tomatoes. Add the lemon juice, olive oil, allspice if using and 1 tablespoon of the saved tomato juice.
  7. Toss well, taste and add salt, pepper and more lemon if you like it sharper. Serve within an hour.

Tips

  • Tabbouleh should look green, not beige: it is a parsley salad with a little grain, not a grain salad.
  • A sharp knife matters. A blunt one crushes the herbs and they go dark.
  • In Lebanon it is often scooped up with little gem lettuce leaves.

Swaps

  • Gluten free: use 60g cooked quinoa, cooled, instead of the bulgur.
  • More filling: add half a cucumber, finely diced.

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