Authentic Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad

Authentic Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad a true summer recipe winner where herbs are the star. This salad comes together with a handful of ingredients, but it’s a real treat for your taste buds. Fresh, light, tangy and full of flavour this salad will satisfy any palate.

Summer is the perfect time to bust out your favourite salads for sharing. I personally love a light salad on a hot summer day that doesn’t leave me feeling too full and weighed down. Made with fresh parsley, mint, cucumber, tomatoes, green onions, and bulgur wheat. And flavoured with a simple olive oil lemon dressing, this salad ticks all the boxes. If you don’t eat gluten, you can swap bulgur for quinoa. So read on for the how-to make this deliciousness yourself!

What is tabbouleh salad?

Tabbouleh also known as tabouleh, tabbouli, or tabouli, is a traditional, Levantine vegetarian salad made mostly with finely chopped herbs. It includes tomatoes, green onions and soaked uncooked bulgur wheat. Seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. This easy salad is bursting with herby, lemony flavour.

The WOW factor of this recipe is that bulgur is normally soaked in water but here it is soaked in olive oil, lemon juice and bit of water. The liquid seeps in the bulgur softening and flavouring it at the same time. The bulgur and tomatoes are to balance all those herbs, so keep a check on the proportions. It’s so refreshing, light and packed with healthy ingredients. You’ll often find tabbouleh as a side dish on Mediterranean menus. It’s served alongside with, hummus, baba ganoush, falafel, feta, olives… all of my favourite.

What is Bulgur?

Bulgur comes from cracked whole-grain kernels of wheat that are par-boiled and dried before packaging. It’s a quick-cooking, versatile grain that is very forgiving. You can make it a day ahead, refrigerate it, and when you take it out the next day and fluff it with a fork, it will still be light and delicious. I use bulgur as a base for a variety of salads or make it alone with a swirl of olive oil and a pinch of salt as a simple side dish. Bulgur has the nutty flavour as many whole grains with a similar chewy texture and an appealing popcorn scent when it cooks.

Bulgur comes graded as fine, medium, coarse, and very coarse. The fine and medium varieties cook in less than 5-7 minutes, while the coarse grinds require up to 15min. Tabbouleh recipes generally specify fine to medium bulgur, while pilaf, soups, and stuffings generally use a coarser grind.

Authentic Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad Ingredients

1. Bulgur – Par-boiled cracked whole grain
2. Parsley – Peppery and earthy in flavour its the star of this salad and requires a bit of care. Make sure to use a very sharp knife so that you can slice through the herbs just once. You don’t want to bruise the tender leaves and make them soggy.
3. Mint – Gives tabbouleh a very nice flavor! I highly recommend you add it.
4. Tomatoes – fresh summer tomatoes are the best for tabbouleh.
5. Cucumbers and Radish- Is unusual in tabbouleh but fresh cucumber and radish add more texture, volume and colour, and build on the refreshing factor. So it optional not traditional.
6. Green Onions – fresh green onions are sliced for this salad.
7. Pomegranate – add a modern touch to the traditional salad.
8. Olive oil, Lemon Juice – Tabbouleh is dressed in a simple combination of good quality olive oil and lemon juice.

How to Make the Authentic Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad

1) Soak your bulgur in olive oil, lemon juice and hot water.

Fortunately, this doesn’t take any extra time. Mix the extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice and hot water, and bulgur wheat and let it soak while continuing with the rest. This way, you will save some time and let the wheat absorb all the flavours. If you only find fine bulgur, you can use it, but omit the boiling water to the olive oil and lemon juice mix. Always test for hardness before mixing with the green and veggies.

2) Use lots of parsley and chop it finely.

This recipe calls for two bunches of parsley, and the easiest way to chop that much parsley is with a sharp knife. Don’t worry about removing the thin parsley stems—they offer a lot of great flavour. Some recipes suggest to use a food processor, but I feel they bruise the leaves and makes them soggy.

3) Prepare the tomatoes, cucumber, radish and green onions

• Core the plum tomatoes, then deseed and finely chop them in small dice.
• Peel the cucumber, deseed and clean. Then chop them in small dices.
• Chop the green tops from the green onions and leave them soaking in ice water to make their flavour less intense.

After you chop all the veggies, you need to salt them and place them in a colander to remove the excess moisture.

4) Drizzle with olive oil, and season with lemon juice, salt, cumin and Aleppo chilli flakes.

Tabbouleh should be zingy and bursting with flavour. So you’ll need to use enough lemon and salt to get there.

Helpful Tips and Tricks to Make Authentic Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad

• Mixing the tomato and cucumber (if using) with a pinch of salt will help to extract the juice. Use a colander to drain the excess water.
• Make sure you dry the parsley really well before chopping it. You can do this by placing it between two clean kitchen towels or by using a salad spinner. 
• If you use a food processor for chopping the herbs to accelerate the process, keep in mind that it may make the green mix a little watery, and you will need to pass it through a colander or a salad spinner to get rid of the excess juice. Otherwise, your salad recipe can turn out soggy and miss the right tabbouleh texture.
• MAKE IT GLUTEN FREE: Bulgur is not gluten free (it’s cracked wheat). If you still want to enjoy tabbouleh substitute it with quinoa for an untraditional gluten-free option.
• Plus, make sure to mix this dish well! The goal is to have as many of the ingredients as possible in one single bite. This means you need to chop the vegetables finely and mix together thoroughly.
• Make this dish 2-3 hours ahead of time! tabbouleh tastes best when it has had time to sit and allow the parsley and bulgar to absorb the dressing.
• More Texture Try adding chopped almonds, walnuts, or sunflower seeds on top right before serving. This will add some rich, healthy fatty oils to your dish.

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Authentic Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad

Serves: 6 Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 4 voted )

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Ingredients

• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil 
• ⅓ cup bulgur wheat, (fine or medium)
• 3-4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• ¼ cup boiling water
• 2 bunch parsley, (about 3 cups chopped)
• 1 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
• 2 large plum tomatoes, firm
• 1 Persian cucumber
• 4 small pink radish, chopped (optional)
• ½ cup green onions, chopped
•  ¾ tsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• ½-1 tsp aleppo chilli flakes
• ½ tsp pepper

method

1. Prepare bulgur wheat. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice and boiling water in a bowl and add the bulgur wheat. Let it soak for 15-20 minute.

2. Chop the veggies. Finely slice the green onions and soak in 1 cup of ice water to make the flavour less pungent. Slice the tomatoes in quarters and deseed and remove the juice and watery content. Finely dice the firm part.  Peel the cucumber roughly, leaving some of the green peals on. Slice it lengthwise and with the tip of a spoon, remove all the seeds. Finely chop the two parts into small dices.

3. Mix ingredients. Mix the tomato and cucumber and add a pinch of salt. Transfer to a strainer with a bowl underneath to catch the excess water. The salt will help to remove the excess water.

4. Prepare the herbs. Remove the hard and strong parsley and mint stems. Using a sharp knife finely chop the leaves together.

5. Mix everything and season in a medium mixing  bowl and drizzle with some olive oil. Season with aleppo chilli flakes, cumin powder, salt and pepper to taste. Add the pomegranate aril and mix well. You may want to add a little more lemon juice, but always taste before adding. 
6. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Serve as a side dish or a main with some crispy pita bread. Enjoy!

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