The Levant and Anatolia · Volume 03, The Pestle, the Pantry and the Mezze Table
Tabbouleh
Lebanon, the mezze table's opening statement
Illustration
- Time
- 30 minutes
- Researched
- 8 sources cited
Tabbouleh opens the Lebanese mezze table, and it is mostly parsley: 3½ cups of minced leaf to 3 tablespoons of bulgur. The mincing by hand is the work of it.
As tradition built it
Serves 4 to 6 as part of a mezze spread. 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 3.5 cups flat-leaf parsley, finely minced
- 3 tbsp fine bulgur
- 2 to 3 ripe tomatoes, finely diced
- 1¼ cups fresh mint, finely chopped
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- to taste salt
Method
- Soak the bulgur in a little water for a few minutes only, just enough to soften it slightly, then drain thoroughly.
- Finely mince the parsley by hand; this is the dish's real labour and its real character, and it should not be shortcut with a food processor, which bruises and darkens the leaf.
- Combine the parsley with the drained bulgur, diced tomato, mint and spring onion.
- Dress with lemon juice, olive oil and salt, tossing well, and taste, adjusting the acid until it is bright.
Notes
The parsley, bulgur and mint follow Anissa Helou's published recipe; the spring onions, lemon and olive oil follow Kamal Mouzawak's.
What a modern chef changes
The ratio itself treated as the technique
Rung 2
Method
- Weigh or measure the parsley-to-bulgur ratio deliberately before starting, aiming for the proportion in the list, 3½ cups of minced parsley to 3 tablespoons of bulgur, rather than eyeballing a Western-style "salad with grain" balance.
- Hand-chop the parsley finely and evenly, since knife work here is not a formality; an unevenly chopped leaf changes the salad's texture as much as the ratio does.
- Dress only just before serving, since the parsley wilts and the salad loses its bright, upright texture within half an hour of dressing, a dish built for immediacy in the same way as kibbeh nayeh.