Weekend Recipe

All over Syria and Lebanon, women are chopping parsley. The quiet rhythm of their knives, swish, swish against the cutting board, slicing bunches of verdant green leaves, part of the rhythm of the region. Tabboule is considered the national dish of Lebanon and the pride of Syrian cooks, a salad of bright green parsley flecked with tomatoes, bulgur, mint and lemon. Part of the pride of tabboule is the labor it takes to make it, the parsley must be chopped by hand (a food processor bruises the parsley too much), and it takes a lot of chopped parsley to make even one serving of tabboule.

A good bowl of tabboule is a delight, whether gulped lustily with a spoon, scooped with elegant lettuce leaves, or eaten with thin pita bread, squeezing the bread to absorb the lemony dressing.

Tabboule is Parsley Salad with just a little bit of bulgur. There are regional variations, and there is a 'Turkish tabboule' which is primarily bulgur, but tabboule is not synonymous with bulgur salad. Here are some tips for making traditional tabboule:

• Parsley should remain the primary ingredient, not bulgur.
• The parsley should be chopped by hand (I give tips on how to do this below).
• Use a generous amount of olive oil
• you need a lot of oil to coat all those little parsley pieces, and don't balk, it's good for you (besides, parsley's a diuretic). You'll also need a complimentary amount of fresh lemon juice, there should be a bit of dressing floating in the bottom of the dish (great for smushing your bread into).
• Traditionally, there is no garlic in tabboule. Also, no cucumber or red peppers please.
• Tabboule is best when served about an hour after it's made
• it needs time to rest for the parsley to soften, but if you wait too long it well get soggy.

Tabbouleh

• 1/2 cup coarse bulgur
• 5 cups finely chopped flat-leaf parsley (see instructions)
• 1 cup finely chopped scallions
• 1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup finely chopped mint leaves
• 3/4 cup lemon juice
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• more as needed salt, pepper, and allspice to taste

1. To chop parsley: Sharpen your knife. Gather several stems of parsley in your hand. Pull the stem ends down so that all the leaves are clustered evenly together (see photo). Gather the leaves closely together and press against a cutting board. Holding the leaves in place with your left hand, use your right hand to very thinly slice the parsley leaves. Once you've chopped that bunch, you can go back and chop a few remaining big pieces, but avoid going back over the parsley, as further chopping will result in bruised leaves. Continue with remaining parsley, placing chopped leaves in a bowl. This can be done over 1-2 days, storing parsley in the refrigerator.


2. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Pour over bulgur in a bowl and let sit at least one hour, until softened.


3. In a large bowl combine the parsley, scallions, tomatoes, and mint leaves. Fold in the bulgur. Stir in the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and all spice to taste. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour to one hour before serving. Serve with small lettuce or endive leaves as scoops.

From: Desert Candy