Tabouleh

his recipe is a staple for me. Bulghur wheat is high in protein, and herbs are good for you. This is supposed to be a "green" salad - so put lots of parsley in. I sometimes leave the onion out, and I use ground allspice, which may or may not be traditional. It's tasty, in any case.

Here's the list of ingredients:

• A half cup of medium Bulghur wheat
• A few tablespoons of olive oil
• Juice from a whole lemon
• salt, pepper, ground allspice
• A whole tomato, diced
• A huge handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• A bunch of fresh mint, finely chopped

Start off by putting the wheat, the salt, pepper, and allspice in a small bowl and combining them. Add the lemon juice and stir it a bit, and leave it sit for 5 to 10 minutes so the juice gets soaked up. Bulghur wheat is a sponge - the juice will quickly get soaked in. While you're waiting, chop up the tomato, the mint, and the parsley.

It's simple at this point. When you're ready, combine everything, add the olive oil, and stir it well. Let it sit for an hour for flavours to develop. If the wheat is still crunchy for some reason (shouldn't be - the tomato has a lot of juice in it), add a bit more lemon juice, oil, or a bit of water. Up to you. Serve in a pita, or as a side salad.

Valid: XHTML, CSS