In the search for healthy, nutritious food, I have been experimenting with different grains, vegetables and fruits for salads. I specially enjoy Lebanese and Mediterranean cuisine, where the combinations of fresh vegetables, salad greens and herbs gives ideas for very delicious simple meals. Like this Levantine Tabbouleh made of fresh parsley, some mint, juicy tomatoes, a little bulgar wheat and really good quality olive oil. Fresh ground black pepper and a smattering of salt, complete this plateful of goodness.
The Theme for the 180th Event of the FB Group, Foodie Monday Blog Hop, is Low Calorie Food. If you browse my blog you will see a number of salads, soups, rasams, kootu and other recipes that would comfortably fall in this category. I am however focusing on grain based salads now, and decided to go for something with bulgur.
Will the Real Levantine Tabbouleh Please Stand Up!
The Levantine Tabbouleh was a natural choice as I had fresh parsley, a packet of bulgur, extra virgin olive oil, mint, tomatoes - everything I would need to make the dish. So the choice was easy, but the hard part came now. As I browsed blogs and my cookbooks, I realized that identifying an authentic recipe was going to be tough.
There were 1000s of recipes for the Levantine Tabbouleh, all differing from one another is some way or the other. Some used cilantro. Others heaped up the bulgur and added parsley and mint almost as garnish. Yet others had green chilies, some not. A few Recipes had onions, others shallots, and yet others scallions. And most claimed to be the perfect or authentic Tabbouleh or Tabouli, Lebanese, Mediterranean, Levantine. It was mind boggling.
After all the research, I decided that the Tabbouleh was like the Rasam from my home State, Tamilnadu. Knock on the doors of 15 homes in Mylapore, Chennai, and you will get at least 30 different recipes for Rasam, all authentic, all delicious, all perfectly Tamilian. So each person had their own pet Tabbouleh recipe, just like the rasam in Chennai.
As a food blogger though, I feel I have the responsibility to put out as close a version as is acceptable in the region where a dish is made, using ingredients too, as nearly matching the ones found there.
One thing was clear. This was not, as I had mistakenly thought, a grain based salad. The true Levantine Tabbouleh, as all my reading told me, had just a little bulgur. It was the Parsley that reigned over the salad, with help from the tomatoes. The rest of the ingredients including the bulgur, were there to give 'outside support' as they say in political circles.
And Then There is Bulgur and Bulgur and Bulgar!
I found that there were many types of bulgur (or bulghur or bulgar). In the Middle East and Mediterranean regions, it appears you get a fine grained bulgar, which does not need to be cooked. You just soak it, usually in the juice of the tomato or other ingredients being used. The bulgar I had on hand had clear package instructions to pour boiling water over it and let it steam within a covered bowl, for 10-15 minutes, just as I would make couscous.
There are probably other variants which either need actual cooking, or soaking in boiling water for a different length of time, or used straightway without the need for soaking. In this recipe for the Levantine Tabbouleh, I have therefore followed the package instructions for the bulgar I had purchased, and the method would need to be changed according to the type you are using.
Another question that came to my mind was - what parsley is to be used in this salad. Some recipes from popular chefs and home cooks swore by curly leaf parsley, and others equally firmly swore by the flat leaf one.
When in doubt, go to the Master and so I turned to Yotam Ottolenghi for guidance on making the Levantine Tabbouleh. I have followed his recipe in the Guardian here, as to ingredients and proportions.
A couple of deviations, not because I think I know more than the Master, but because of practical necessities - I ran out of the required volume of flat leaf parsley that Ottolenghi's recipe specifies and made up the difference with curly leaf parsley from my balcony garden (sacrilege, I know, but by now I just wanted to make the Tabbouleh and be done with it).
Another thing, Ottolenghi used shallots in his recipe. The other reliable source I had, Kamal Mousawak's Lebanese Home Cooking, had scallions in the recipe. Well, I had spring onions and no shallots. So my recipe also has spring onions. Other than this, I have followed the recipe faithfully.
When you make this Levantine Tabbouleh or Parsley Tomato Bulgur Salad, follow the same proportions for the ingredients, as in my recipe, and you will get as close to Ottolenghi's Tabbouleh as is possible.
Oh, and I wrestled with the spelling of bulgur too. Bulgar, bulgur, bulghur? YO's article in the Guardian says 'bulgar wheat'. Wiki says 'bulgur'. I've used both..
Some interesting facts about Bulgur and its health benefits may be found on HealthLine.com One serving of this Tabbouleh has 25 gms of Bulgur, which gives roughly 21 calories. The Olive oil, 40 ml for one serving, is about 300 calories.
The theme for this week was suggested by Sujata Roy who blogs at Batter Up With Sujata. If you visit her blog, which I hope you will do, do look up her mouth watering recipes. I dream about the Orange flavoured rosagullas, and I hope to make them soon.
This Post has been sent to the Event 180 Foodie Monday Blog Hop "Low Calorie Food"
Levantine Tabbouleh - Parsley Tomatoes Bulgur Salad
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons Bulgur (about 35 gms in weight) Soak according to the kind of bulgur you have, or packet instructions if applicable
- ¼ cup boiling water 60 ml
- 1.5 cups Tomatoes (about 300 gms) Diced very small
- ⅓ cups Spring Onions or Shallots (about 35 gms) Minced
- 3 cups Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley Heaped cups (about 80 gms) Minced
- 1 tablespoon Fresh Mint leaves (about 15 gms) Minced
- ½ teaspoon Allspice powder (about 1 gm)
- 2 tablespoons Fresh lemon juice (about 30 ml)
- ½ teaspoon salt (about 2.5 gms) or to taste
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper (about 1 gm) or to taste
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (about 60 ml)
Instructions
- Prepare the Bulgur as per packet instructions, or as per the variety of bulgur available to you. The packet I used said to pour boiling water [about ¼ cup (60 ml) for 35 gm/ 3 tablespoons of bulgur], cover it with cling wrap and let it steam for 10-15 minutes. The water should be fully absorbed. Remove the cling wrap and add a teaspoon of olive oil.
- Meanwhile chop the tomatoes, parsley, mint, spring onions as fine as you can. Ottolenghi says to use a large very sharp knife and chop the parsley no wider than 1mm.
- Place the soaked bulgur in a bowl. Add the sliced tomatoes, shallots, parsley, mint to the bowl.
Next, add the allspice powder, stir it in nicely.
Add half of the lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Stir it all in, taste and adjust seasonings, adding more lemon juice, salt or pepper as may be required, taking care not to over salt the dish.
Add the olive oil, stir it in and serve the Tabbouleh immediately.
Sasmita Sahoo Samanta says
The ingredients used here are quite interesting for me....Love to try soon this fresh salad !!! The write-up is so beautiful as well in the whole post .... The freshness of all is fully visible here in the salad 🙂
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you, Sasmita! This is one of my favourite salads and today Ive again got a bunch of parsley so that I can make Tabbouleh soon!
Veena Krishnakumar says
Loving that bowl of goodness. On seeing your recipe, I have ordered the bulgar. Levantine is new to me and now you have made me to explore this more
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you Veena! I became comfortable with this cuisine, by cooking from Yotam Ottolenghi's cookbooks!
Preethi Prasad says
This green salad looks so appetizing.This bowl makes a complete meal .Levantine cuisine is new to me as i am yet to try the dishes.Lovely share. Thanks for the detailed write up.
Sujata Shukla says
Thanks a lot, Preethi! Most of the recipes in this cuisine are easy to make and use fresh produce, healthy and nutritious too.
Seema Doraiswamy Sriram says
I love to grab tabbouleh of that platter, it sure looks like a happy lunch to me.
Batter Up With Sujata says
Loved rereading your detailed write up about levantine cuisine and tabbouleh. Thanks for coming up with a completely new recipe. Salad sounds so healthy and delicious. For me a bowl full of this salad is perfect for lunch. Comforting and filling. Awesome share.
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you so much, Sujata Roy! As I lunch mostly on salads, I need to be innovative and mix and match ingredients!
FoodTrails says
Beautiful write-up Sujataji, enjoyed reading it word by word..and an equally beautiful and healthy salad recipe. A wholesome filling meal full with fresh flavours mint, parsely and lemon and all spice!!. Lovely share!!
Sujata Shukla says
Thanks so much, Swaty! I still have to find out why only flat leaf parsley is considered in the authentic recipe and not the curly leaf one! The salad was delicious and I will be making it often!
FoodTrails says
SujataJi, What I have read and personal experience is that flat leaf parsley is much more flavorful than the curly one. Also the curly leaves are thick and leave a slight bitter after taste, so I too don't use it much. Will surely love to know if there is any other reason for using flat leaves one..
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you! Makes a lot of sense. I will explore further too!
Vandana Mathur says
The salad looks tempting as well as healthy. I heard about Bulgar for the first time. Had to google search to know more about it. Salad looks refreshing and will try it for sure.
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you, Vandana. Dalia is an option to use instead of bulgar (of course the taste and texture are different) as we don't get bulgar easily in India and it is expensive, but the daliya needs to be cooked with less water so that it doesn't become sticky.
mayurisjikoni says
This day and age is definitely not for authentic traditional recipes. Most of the dishes worldwide are not adapted according to availability of ingredients and tastes of the people. Even within the Levantine Countries their dishes vary with some ingredients. I love tabbouleh and yours looks so inviting with all the parsley and mint. Its definitely a meal on its own.
Sujata Shukla says
Totally, Mayuri! And the availability of ingredients is an issue, definitely, creating variations of the original recipe! Thank you for the nice words about my Tabbouleh post!
poonampagar says
I love the way you went into deep researching for an authentic recipe to recreate. Truly shoes your passion for cooking and blogging di ! My dish for the Levantine cuisine is cooking up today, all thanks to you. Anyways , this gorgeous salad sounds so very flavorful and I would love to have it as a mid day snack.
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you Poonam! This is one cuisine I can never have enough of!
The Girl Next Door says
Levantine cuisine is something very new to me, as is bulgur as an ingredient. The salad looks so lovely and delicious - I'm sure this can be an entire meal in itself. 🙂
Absolutely loved your write-up, Sujata! Brilliantly done - great going!
Sujata Shukla says
Thank you so much, Priya. Ive been using couscous for a long time, but only now trying out bulgar, as it is not easily available except at Food Hall and online from amazon.
Vidya Narayan says
So, this is where the next theme draws influence from? Hmm.. Super excited to cook but more than happy to see a lovely green loaded salad. A hearty lunch for weight watchers. PS - Tabbouleh and Rasam comparison had me in splits. Loved it!
Sujata Shukla says
Spot on! When I was browsing and reading up for this post, I thought I should suggest it for the next theme, as it has a wide range of healthy veg and vegan recipes. And of course, it is one of my favorite cuisines! The salad was lovely!
Kalyani says
The levantine theme inspiration must have been from here 🙂 .. I LOVED this salad, and would easily have it as a meal.. Mint livens this salad, doesnt it ? I particularly loved the line - will the REAL tabbouleh stand up 🙂
Sujata Shukla says
You are absolutely right, Kalyani! It was this post which inspired the Levantine cuisine theme! The mint does add its special flavour to the salad, as just parsley doesn't do the trick! As for the tabbouleh - I was amazed at the numerous recipes, each varying from the others in one way or another!