Tabbouleh, or Parsley Salad, is one of those dishes just packed with nutrition: high fiber bulghur (semi-cooked and dried whole wheat), fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and parsley, beautiful golden olive oil and the best sea salt you can find. Fresh lemon juice finishes it off, giving you a side dish that’s light enough for a late iftar or an early-morning suhoor if you are one to incorporate salads into those meals.
It may or may not be traditional to make tabbouleh in the way I describe below, so if you’re a tabbouleh traditionalist, I’m curious to know how you simply must have yours. I’m mostly focused on the high-quality, fresh and hydrating ingredients in this dish because they help me get through a long fast when paired with protein, fruits and other healthy things.
Bulghur + fresh parsley= tabbouleh. Start out with fresh, dried bulghur. I like the medium grain, also known as #2 bulghur, but if you prefer smaller, go ahead.
Pick nice, fresh tomatoes but try to get ones that aren’t too juicy or you’ll spend a lot of time drying them up. No one likes soggy tabbouleh.
Put the bulghur in a bowl, then add water. I like the 1:1 ratio- 1 cup bulghur, 1 cup water. It doesn’t really matter, though, because you’re going to squeeze it out and remove most of the water like in the picture above.
Clean the veggies really well, even if they’re organic. I like to spray with white vinegar and let sit for a few minutes, then rinse realy well with cool water. Vinegar is a great, all-natural disinfectant.
Removing seeds and drying up the vegetables are where most of the work is in this dish, but I like to think chopping can be therapeutic. Save the insides of these veggies and add to soups and stews or make gazpacho with it.
Salad spinners aren’t just for lettuce. Once I’ve rinsed the vinegar off the parsley, I run it through a salad spinner and then chop off the woody stems and even the thinner, shorter stems all the way up to the leaf. Again, a little bit of work but easy to do while talking on the phone or something else involving multi-tasking.
I love my salad spinner. If you have a similar one, don’t put heavy things like tomatoes or cucumbers in it or it could break- it’s not that sturdy.
Chop the parsley as fine as possible. It’s nicer to eat when there aren’t large chunks of it in the salad.
This is what it looks like before the addition of tomatoes. It’s so pretty. But it’s not really tabbouleh yet.
Add all the fresh ingredients you’ve just chopped up, including the tomatoes plus olive oil, salt and lemon juice to the bulghur. (Detailed recipe below)
UPDATE: THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
At the end of this post, tell us how you use real, wholesome food to get you through a long fast and you could win coupons for FREE Saffron Road halal frozen foods AND a $100 Whole Foods Market Gift Card! For those of you who follow the MHK Facebook page, you probably already know that this is just one of FIVE giveaways sponsored by Saffron Road and Whole Foods Market during the month of Ramadan. Please stop by their pages and thank them for offering such generous giveaways in an effort to reach out to Muslim consumers at a time that is so special to us. Saffron Road is donating 50 cents to the IFRC and the Whole Planet Foundation for every ‘like’ they get on their page during Ramadan.
How do you use real, wholesome food to get you through a long fast?
Your answer in the comments section of this post will enter you into the giveaway for FIVE FREE Saffron Road halal frozen entrees, redeemable at Whole Foods Markets AND a $100 Whole Foods gift card, redeemable at any U.S. Whole Foods stores.
Coupons will only be sent to U.S. addresses, as they are redeemable at Whole Foods Markets in the United States.
US Sweeps will randomly choose a winner selected from those who follow the giveaway eligibility guidelines. Giveaway ends August 1, 2011 at 12:01 am.
To Enter the Giveaway:
1) Leave a relevant comment after this post that answers the question: “How do you use real, wholesome food to get you through a long fast?”
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5) Subscribe to the Whole Story blog (where you’ll find another giveaway from Saffron Road and Whole Foods during Ramadan).
Entries (comments plus other requirements) must be received by 12:00 am on August 1, 2011
(please note: this is not a printable coupon)
Thanks for participating and stay posted for four more giveaways during Ramadan!