Tabouleh

Tabouleh is a type of salad that is very popular in Lebanon but  widespread throughout the Arab world. In Turkey it is called Kisir (pronounced keser), while from the Maghreb to the Middle East the usual name is Tabouleh. It is the salad par excellence of the Arab mezze.

INGREDIENTS :

• 1 cup bulgur or couscous (different name for same thing, depending on where do you live)
• 1 cup of water
• 4 ripe tomatoes
• 1 spring onion, if possible
• lemon juice
• virgin olive oil
• fresh garlic
• parsley
• Salt
• Pepper
• lettuce

Bulgur or couscous is nothing more than shredded wheat; that is, if it had continued grinding, flour would have been obtained. But not bread flour, the kind used to make pasta. This is so because it is obtained from durum wheat, not from the wheat used to make white flour. It is easy to find in any supermarket.

To soften the couscous, boil a cup of water and pour it on top, leaving it to rest with a lid on top so that the couscous softens and absorbs all the water. If everything is correct, a cup of the same capacity as the poured couscous should be enough. If not, add more water but that would be quite unusual.

I particularly like the way of cooking used in the Maghreb, which is nothing more than steaming it. If you have the necessary saucepans to do this, use them since the absorption of water is better.

We peel and remove the seeds from three ripe tomatoes and make a raw tomato sauce, simply by passing them through the blender.

When the couscous is cold, add salt, pepper, the tomato sauce and a good splash of olive oil. With the hand we will knead the mixture working it so that it is well homogeneous but without it being "lumpy". As in the case of a good rice, it is appreciated that the couscous is "loose". The result is a couscous dyed red by the tomato.

Next, finely chop the spring onion, the spring garlic (we can dispense with it if we dislike too strong flavors) and the parsley. We incorporate them and knead again.

Finally, season with at least the juice of one lemon and cut the fourth tomato to decorate with the slices. We put in the refrigerator.

It is served on a plate with lettuce leaves that serve to collect the couscous and take it to the mouth. In addition, additional lemons or lemon juice must be available for the diner to season to their liking.