May 2, 2020 ~ Tabouleh is my go-to “taste of summer.” It’s a bowl full of fresh, healthy goodness that satisfies my tastebuds. All I have ever known is the tabouleh I have bought at a grocery store. While I love it, I am sure it doesn’t compare to a homemade Lebanese tabouleh, which I do hope to experience one day. I must work on perfecting my own recipe because tabouleh is not easily found in grocery stores in this part of NE Iowa.
Today I made Tabouleh #4…meaning my fourth attempt at this dish. Tabouleh #1 and #2 can only be described as “bitter.” I couldn’t even finish #1 and threw it out, and I unhappily choked down #2. Tabouleh #3 was much better after cutting way back on the amount of parsley I was using in the recipe. I have great hopes for Tabouleh #4, so I thought I would share my recipe which is at the end of this post.
First, I washed and thoroughly dried the parsley. I removed the leaves from the stems and discarded the stems. This is the most time consuming part of making Tabouleh. Next, I chopped the parsley up very finely. I used a Ulu knife and cutting board that I found at a thrift store. I didn’t know what a Ulu knife was but it did look intriguing to me. As soon as I saw it, I “got” how it would work. I watch a lot of shows on TV about people living in Alaska, and the Ulu knife resembles the knives I have seen in those shows.
As it turns out…the knife I bought was made in Alaska. I bet it found it’s way to the Pennsylvania thrift store where I found it after it was brought back as a souvenir from a cruise. After a short learning curve, the Ulu has become my go-to knife for chopping herbs, onions, vegetables, etc. I can get a pretty fine chop in a short amount of time. The bowl shaped cutting board that came with the Ulu knife was not as good a quality as the one I have now. I also found my upgraded cutting board at a thrift store and I like it’s deeper bowl. I find the things I am chopping aren’t flying out on the countertop as much. In the picture below, the parsley on the left side of the bowl is unchopped and the parsley on the right is already chopped. It took me less than 10 seconds to do the chopping.
After cleaning, drying and chopping the parsley, the recipe comes together pretty quickly. After mixing all the ingredients, I let it rest in the refrigerator (overnight is best) to allow some of the juice to leave the tomatoes. That makes for a tasty, juicy tabouleh in my opinion.
The verdict: This is my best tabouleh so far. Resting the tabouleh in the refrigerator helped the flavors meld and some of the bitterness of the parsley fade away.
A special thanks goes out to my Lebanese friend Alex for showing me pictures of his mom’s tabouleh and inspiring me to try to make my own. Also, thank you to Alex’s mom for her spot-on suggestions on how to make my tabouleh less bitter and more tasty. Choukran!
Tabouleh #4
1 bunch parsley ( washed, dried, stems removed, finely chopped)
2 TBSP sweet onion (finely chopped)
1 TBSP Quinoa (because I can’t find bulgur, which is normally used)
2 med vine-ripe tomatoes (chopped as small as possible)
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup high quality olive oil
Salt to taste
- Prepare quinoa according to directions and let cool
- Prepare the parsley, onion, tomato and combine
- Add quinoa
- Add lemon juice, olive oil and salt to taste
- Stir to combine
- Refrigerate (overnight if possible)
- Stir to recombine before serving, don’t be afraid to add more salt or olive oil
Please, I would love to hear your comments and suggestions in the comment suggestion below.