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tabouleh and other bulgur based cold salads

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I used to make this a lot...great refreshing summertime salad.

I made the bulgur starting with organic wheat berries, cooked them, dehydrated and cracked in the grinder...then soaked as needed for the salad.

We always grew mint and garlic and usually had some parsley, rarely had any lemon so used a bit of vinegar...then cucumbers if we had them...back in the skinny days it was a great way to eat mint

I don't eat much wheat these days but wanted another salad in the refrigerator so have ordered some wheat berries again.

Recipes?
Variations?
Super delux versions?

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Jan White

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posted 1 year ago

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I use millet in place of bulgar. It does require cooking, so it's not such a nice spontaneous salad.

I don't do anything special, but when I make it it's at least half parsley. I've been known to eat a big bowl of nothing but parsley, though 😁

Cristobal Cristo

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Location: Sierra Nevada foothills, 350 m, USDA 8b, sunset zone 7

posted 1 year ago

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I use:
-bulgur (medium size)
-tomatoes
-cucumbers
-scallions
-parsley
-coriander
-olive oil
-lemon juice
-salt
-black pepper

I wash bulgur on the strainer and then soak in lemon juice covered.
Sometimes I add chopped avocado - worth trying!

Denise Kersting

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I don't have a recipe, but I always use the same amount by volume of mint & flat-leaf parsley. My tabouleh is more green than wheat-berry brown when I'm done mixing

For me, the lemon is a must, and while fresh with some zest is great, reconstituted in the bottle works fine too. Edit to note: tabouleh is great for summertime picnics and get-togethers because it won't spoil or make people ill if not refrigerated or kept cool like some mayo-based salads might.

Tereza Okava

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posted 1 year ago

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I used to eat a lot of tabbouleh til i discovered the Turkish equivalent, kisir, and now i make it almost every week. mine is also more green than orange. this is my go-to recipe: https://vidarbergum.com/recipe/kisir-spicy-turkish-bulgur-wheat-salad/

I do tweak it depending on what i have. last week i had some extra cooked sorgum laying around and used that instead.

this will be our dinner tonight, along with some lentil soup, quick flatbread, and maybe some eggplant stew.

(the recipe above calls for red pepper paste, which i make when peppers are cheap, but today i have none, so part of the chopped tomato will be replaced with a chopped red pepper and i'll use some super fragrant korean red chili flakes. i also will use red wine vinegar instead of the pomegranate molasses, which i tried but don't really care for-- it's too expensive here to buy for something i don't feel "hell yes" about!)

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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Cristobal Cristo wrote:I use:
-bulgur (medium size)
-tomatoes
-cucumbers
-scallions
-parsley
-coriander
-olive oil
-lemon juice
-salt
-black pepper

I wash bulgur on the strainer and then soak in lemon juice covered.
Sometimes I add chopped avocado - worth trying!

Thanks everyone!
Now I'm really looking forward to my wheat arriving

Cristobal,
I want to try this one first and wondered if you grind the coriander seed or use whole? I have some that are still green on plants in the garden and are chewable and very tastey.
Thanks!

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Cristobal Cristo

Posts: 557

Location: Sierra Nevada foothills, 350 m, USDA 8b, sunset zone 7

posted 1 year ago

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As coriander I mean the leaves.

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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Cristobal Cristo wrote:As coriander I mean the leaves.

My cilantro has all gone to seed but we like the flavor of the green seeds (that we then call coriander) in certain things so might still toss some in the salad.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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Got the wheat berries so....

Today's tabouleh was homemade bulgur, peppermint leaves, perila leaves and parsley all about equal amounts and then all the chopped fresh moringa leaves I could mix in...definitely more green than bulgur....then olive oil, a splash or two of braggs acvinegar...and garnished with red dahlia petals.

Forgot to take a picture and it's gone now...yum!

Once I found that perila's strong scent tones down to almost imperceptable when finely chopped and added to other flavors, raw or cooked, I'm using all I can...it grows like a weed

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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Today's mix is bulgur, arugula, moringa, one of our 'dinner plate' dahlias all chopped up (the pale yellow bits in the salad) and some lightly steamed long beans.
The three flowers on top are also edible dahlias but I have so few that color we garnish with them.

Dahlias grow well here but I have to lift the tubers in the fall and store in the house with the moringa roots because our winter weather can be extreme.
Have not eaten many of the tubers as we love the flowers both to eat and attract pollinators. Seed from Baker Creek.

Added another photo with the corn flower garnish...we love our flowers

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"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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This weeks tabouleh has bulgur, moringa, mint, and finally some cucumber and tomatoes are ripe....and I added yesterdays leftover salad with ingredients only my husband knows for sure

Have been looking for some volunteer cilantro with no luck but since we've always used mint it doesn't taste as summery and as refreshing without it

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"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Mk Neal

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posted 1 year ago

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I made tabbouleh the other day using lovage, chives, and chopped radish pods because that’s what was in the garden.

Radish pods add a great tasty crunch to any salad.

Weeds are just plants with enough surplus will to live to withstand normal levels of gardening!--Alexandra Petri

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Anita Martin

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posted 1 year ago

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I love this kind of summer salads, but I would only ever call the real thing tabbouleh. It is a childhood memory and in this case I am quite strict ;-)
A must is real lemon juice, a good olive oil with pronounced flavour and loads of parsley. I don't need mint but don't mind it either.

For other tabbouleh inspired salads I would add some roasted pine nuts or other nuts, use quinoa instead of bulgur, or a different grain product like Perlgraupen (traditional German wheat grits of polished grains) or Grünkern (a traditional spelt product that is harvested when still milky and then roasted).
I made a salad today with Grünkern and mangetouts (word?) from my garden. A added a bit of crema di balsamico, lemon, garlic, olive oil and not much more.

As we don't eat much meat and one daughter is vegetarian, I also often mix grains with pulses for amino acid combinations and mix in some greens. Quinoa and beluga lentils make a good combination. When I feel fancy I add in a bit of diced (frozen) mango, and cilantro is a good addition in most cases.

Gr-nkern.jpg

Grünkern salad (cooked roasted spelt) with mangetouts

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. (E.E.Hale)

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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Anita, I think the dish varies just like the spelling of it's name

Yours sounds very good!

Tabbouleh (Arabic: تبولة, romanized: tabbūla), also transcribed tabouleh, tabbouli, tabouli, or taboulah, is a Levantine salad made mostly of finely chopped parsley, with tomatoes, mint, onion, soaked uncooked bulgur, and seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and sweet pepper. Some variations add lettuce, or use semolina instead of bulgur.[1][2]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabbouleh

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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I love this kind of summer salads, but I would only ever call the real thing tabbouleh. It is a childhood memory and in this case I am quite strict
A must is real lemon juice, a good olive oil with pronounced flavour and loads of parsley. I don't need mint but don't mind it either.

Which brings up the ethics of using a dish or recipes traditional name and then making substitutions or additions?
I don't know where I stand on this and certainly don't want to offend...food for thought....

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Anita Martin

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Honestly I was not thinking about "cultural appropiation" at all. I love all kinds of grain salads, but if you promised me tabbouleh I would be quite disappointed to find vinegar or cilantro in it ;-)

I have also eaten hummus since the 1970s but in this case variations don't bother me at all as they are usually announced in the name: beet hummus, white bean hummus etc.

Usually I have very few recipes which I like to follow without alterations, mainly for sentimental reasons, and for the rest I am open to experiments. I am always a bit bothered by one of my neighbours who is a hobby chef and his favourite frase: "this ingredient does not BELONG into this dish!" or "ingredient X MUST NOT be omitted from this this dish".

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. (E.E.Hale)

Judith Browning

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Thanks Anita

I would much prefer lemon rather than acvinegar but I can't find organic lemons here at any price so, for me, the substitute for an acid in the form of an organic raw apple cider vinegar in a salad with all either homegrown or purchased organic ingredients made sense.
I get that it's not the substitutions as much as the name of the salad once it's been altered from the original.
My husband makes springerle cookies every winter and sometimes substitutes ground organic orange peel for those who don't like anise...he does specify 'springerle with orange peel' though.

I cooked more wheat berries this morning and have them dehydrating now...kind of a time consuming part but I enjoy the process.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Anita Martin

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Judith Browning wrote:Thanks Anita
I cooked more wheat berries this morning and have them dehydrating now...kind of a time consuming part but I enjoy the process.

I have never thought of making my own bulgur. Maybe I should try. I can easily get organic wheat berries. Once dried you grind them / break them up?

I can get bulgur in most supermarkets but it is a bit coarse. The traditional recipes use the fine one which doesn't need cooking, just rehydrating with lemon juice. I love the super juicy lemony taste when you have a mouthful of tabbouleh and I guess it is due to the soaking process!
On the other hand, I only have to hop on the suburban train to get to the center of Munich with lots of ethnic shops so I could search out fine bulgur and avoid the labour-intensive cooking, drying and grinding. Let's see, first I will use up the package of coarse bulgur.

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. (E.E.Hale)

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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Once dried you grind them / break them up?

Yes...I use a corona hand crank mill. Done this way I just soak to use.
I don't know how to describe the courseness once ground? Maybe the size of uncooked millet a bit larger than seseme seeds?
I soak one cup bulgur to two cups liquid all at room temperature for a few hours...it probably doesn't need that long but I start things for lunch early morning because of the heat.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Anita Martin

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Judith Browning wrote:

Once dried you grind them / break them up?

Yes...I use a corona hand crank mill. Done this way I just soak to use.

Ha, this just gave me the idea that I could run the coarse supermarket bulgur through my Kenwood grain mill in a wide setting to crush it up a bit further - which would allow the soak method!

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. (E.E.Hale)

Anita Martin

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Update:
The crushing of the coarse bulgur with my Kenwood mill worked fine.
I then followed the recipe with soaking the bulgur in lemon juice. Although I diluted it a bit we all thought it was a bit too acidic so next time I will play around with the lemon juice a bit. Apart from that it was a success - especially for my parents and brothers who are not accustomed to our high level of cooking ;-)

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. (E.E.Hale)

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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A little closer to 'authentic' this time Anita

Homemade bulgur, good olive oil, peppermint and tomato....then raw apple cider vinegar and moringa.

Not an onion in the house and I still can't bring myself to buy a non organic lemon...

Tastes pretty good!

...forgot the garlic, will have to add some.

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"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Anita Martin

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Judith, this looks yummy!
I wonder how Moringa leaves taste? Do they have a very distinct flavour?

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. (E.E.Hale)

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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Thank you Anita! I'm enjoying the ease of bulgur.

As to the taste of moringa I had to go pick some and try to describe the taste.
Texture wise, easily chewed.
Right off the tree the flavor is deep and green and has just a bit of bitter and a back of the throat 'bite'.
All of which are not at all noticable chopped fresh and added to a dish.
We rarely cook it...only add at the last minute to a stir fry and sometimes just chop up a lot and serve whatever on a bed of the leaves...no bitterness or really much taste other than 'green'.
If someone has only eaten it right off the tree it would probably not be appealing?
I dehydrate some also and there is really no noticable flavor when added to soups etc....it is a taste easily masked.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

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Location: Ozarks zone 7 alluvial, clay/loam with few rocks 50" yearly rain

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Salad for today has bulgur soaked in homemade vegetable broth, sauted onions, garlic chive flowers, a whole whole lot of chopped moringa leaves, sauted fresh homemade tempeh and some braggs acvinegarband a splash of yogurt whey.

And I changed the title to this thread to include any bulgur salad

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"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

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