Tabbouleh is traditionally made with parsley, and I've discovered that even—especially—even quite bitter, strong tasting parsley actually tastes best. However, other leafy greens may be substituted; the stuff in the picture, frex, is about 1/3 chickweed, one of the very first to grow in my garden (as I type this during freezing march temps...)
This recipe is based on the Exotic Bakery version. However, if you want their authentic recipe, I recommend the purchase of their (very reasonable) cookbook on CD for $15. The food is fantastic, too.
Tabbouleh with chickweed. Actually relatively dry, bitter greens such as dandelion, kale, garlic mustard etc would probably work best as substitutes.
Ingredients & Method
- peel fresh lemon; set aside peel
- juice lemon – should yield 1/4 C
- add juice & pulp to: 1/4 C couscous, fine preferred
- chop finely 1/2 C fresh (grape) tomatoes; add to above
- chop finely 1/4 C vidalia or other sweet onion, OR green onions
- add to 1/4 C olive oil mixed with
- 1/2 t salt
- mince lemon peel & add to olive oil/onion mixture
- wash and spin large bunch parsley[1] , adding spinach, chickweed, mint, etc as desired
- pat dry with paper towel
- mince finely
Allow couscous to absorb acids (lemon & tomato juices); and for salt-olive oil to mellow onions. Then stir greens, olive-onion mixture and acid-couscous mixtures together. Serve cold. The secret to this recipe, besides using the freshest & best quality ingredients possible, to make certain there isn't a lot of water clinging to the green. Although the salad stays good 3 days, it's best within a few hours of being made, as it gets a bitter tang with time.
Updated method, 2018:
This has exactly the steps I use to be as efficient as poss & is more a cue sheet for me personally. However, the original recipe should be fine for any experienced cook used to her own methods, & is certainly easier & faster to read.
Notes: In order to maximize flavour, parsley should be as dry as practicable. I draw the line at using paper towels (wasteful) or hand towels (potentially germy) but the secret to good tabbouleh is concentrating moisture in flavour (e.g. lemon juice) & chopping bits fine. If you don't have a salad spinner, then wrap washed greens in a towel & shake vigourously to get excess water off. This method is designed to minimize dishes: measuring tools, french knife, spoon or rubber spatula, cutting board, salad spinner, juicer, storage/serving container.
- assemble ingredients (lemon, onion, tomatoes, salt, olive oil, parsley)
- soak parsley, spin in salad spinner to remove as much water as possible; set aside to continue drying
- rinse and peel lemon (with carrot peeler)
- cut lemon in half; juice; remove any seeds from juice
- add 1/4 C fine couscous to juice (right in juicer)
- chop 1/2 c tomatoes[2] in 6mm dice; add all, including juice to lemon/couscous mixture (set aside)
- chop 1/4 C onion in 6mm dice, vidalia or green onions preferred; place in large storage container
- add 1/4 C olive oil to onion
- add 1/2 t salt to olive oil/onion mixture
- mince lemon peel very fine, add to olive oil/onion mixture; set aside
- mince parsley (& other greens if desired) in batches, very fine[3] Minimum 1 C minced required. Trim stem ends if brown, otherwise don't bother: parsley stems provide crunch, so don't discard them!
- couscous should have by now taken up lemon juice & tomato liquid (about 10 min process)
- scrape couscous & tomato mixture into container with onion; add minced greens; mix
- store in refrigerator. A couple of hours will mellow & blend flavors. Best if eaten 24–36 hours of prep.
update, 23sep18: added more detailed, updated method. 04mar20: changed onion from 1/2 to 1/4C in original, i think it's a mistake, though I didn't actually check the original exotic bakery recipe (couldn't find the pdf)
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
