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Tabbouleh (Parsley Salad)

Name: Tabbouleh (Parsley Salad)
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Lebanese
Ingredients: 2 bunches Parsley (flat-leaf); 4 tbsp Fine bulgur; 2 Tomatoes; 3 tbsp Mint; 2 Scallions (or red onion); 3 tbsp Lemon juice; 4 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil; 0.5 tsp Salt; 1 to taste Black pepper

A Lebanese herb salad of chopped parsley with bulgur, tomato, and mint, dressed in lemon and olive oil. A bright, healthy no-cook dish that pairs perfectly with mezze like hummus and falafel.

Ingredients

4servings

Parsley (flat-leaf) · coarsely chopped, dried well2 bunches
Fine bulgur · soaked in warm water4 tbsp
Tomatoes · finely diced, lightly seeded2
Mint · chopped3 tbsp
Scallions (or red onion) · sliced2
Dressing
Lemon juice3 tbsp
Extra-virgin olive oil4 tbsp
Salt0.5 tsp
Black pepper1 to taste

Steps

Soak the bulgur in warm water 10–15 minutes until tender, then squeeze out the liquid (fine bulgur can soften on the tomato juices alone).
⏲ 15 min
Dry the parsley thoroughly, remove the stems, and chop coarsely. Chop the mint and scallions too.
⏲ 7 min
Finely dice the tomatoes (remove some juice if very wet).
⏲ 3 min
Combine the parsley, mint, scallions, tomatoes, and bulgur in a large bowl.
⏲ 1 min
Add the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper and toss gently.
⏲ 1 min
Let it sit about 10 minutes to meld, taste, and adjust with lemon and salt. Serve chilled.
⏲ 10 min

Variations

Gluten-free: Use quinoa or cauliflower rice instead of bulgur.
Parsley vs bulgur ratio: Traditional Lebanese is mostly parsley with just a little bulgur.
Pomegranate: Add pomegranate seeds for a sweet-tart pop.
Cucumber: Add cucumber for extra crunch.

Tips

Dry the parsley fully so the salad isn't watery.
Use fine bulgur, lightly soaked, and not too much, to keep it fresh.
Be generous with lemon and olive oil — brightness is the whole point.
Chop by hand, coarsely for better texture (don't blitz it fine).
Let it rest briefly to meld, but don't leave it too long.

More detail and the reasons why (6)

Bulgur is not cooked. It is restored. Bulgur is wheat that has been boiled, dried and cracked, so it is already a cooked grain and the only thing left to do is give the water back. There is nothing to boil. Simmer it like rice and you get porridge (soaking).
And "a little" is about space, not restraint. What bulgur can take up is a fixed amount, and any water beyond it occupies in advance the space something else has to fill. In kısır that something is pepper paste. Here it is lemon juice, olive oil and the liquid the tomatoes give up. Soak the bulgur wet and the dressing has nowhere to go, so it collects in the bottom of the bowl.
The ratio is the definition, not a variation. Set beside kısır, both are bulgur salads with the proportions reversed. Tabbouleh is a herb salad in which parsley leads and a little bulgur joins; kısır is a grain salad in which the bulgur leads and the herbs join. Even the colour splits, green against orange. The line below about traditional Lebanese proportions is not a preference — it is what the dish is.
Dry the parsley because the dressing is barely an emulsion. A dressing of only oil and lemon clings by being thick rather than by being stable, and water on a leaf breaks that contact instantly (emulsions). Wet parsley does not dilute the dressing so much as stop it sticking at all.
The same reason not to chop it fine. Parsley chopped too fine leaves its juice on the board (fresh herbs) — and that juice is the aroma, so whatever stays on the board is missing from the salad. Drying the leaves completely helps more than a sharper knife, which makes one action do both jobs.
A short rest and a long one are different events. What happens in the short rest is the bulgur using the absorbency it has left on the lemon and the oil. After that the salt starts drawing water out of the tomato and cucumber (salt and seasoning), and from there the salad sits in its own liquid. So when tabbouleh is said to improve on standing, that means the short rest, not overnight.