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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 2, 2010 15:53:25 GMT
It's interesting that tabbouleh is often mentioned in our food conversations here, but there's no recipe for it in The Galley's index, nor until now, no thread on the subject.
I just saw a French recipe for it in another thread, but it deserves its own thread.
I'm kicking this one off with the recipe my mother got from a family of Lebanese descent where she lives. It remains my favorite, although I'm certainly open to every variation.
1 cup bulgur 1 2/3 cups boiling water 1/3 cup olive oil 1/3 cup lemon juice 1 cup chopped green onions 1 cup chopped fresh parsley 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint 3 tomatoes, chopped salt & pepper to taste
Combine bulgur and boiling water in a large bowl. Cover, and set aside to soak for 1 hour. Drain and press out any excess water. Add oil, lemon juice, onions, parsley, mint,& tomatoes; toss to combine. Add salt & pepper. Cover, and refrigerate for at least an hour.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2010 17:22:06 GMT
Hah! I would have bet 100€ that a taboulé recipe was going to appear here today! ;D That recipe looks about halfway between the North African taboulé and the Lebanese taboulé.
I must buy a box of instant taboulé in the coming days and make a fantastic photo report. It will show you why the French are so incredibly lazy about taboulé.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 2, 2010 17:37:54 GMT
Because it is available everywhere? But most of the French supermarket taboulés are far too heavy on the grain (whether made with bulghur or with couscous; the latter isn't actually taboulé, but couscous salad) and don't contain enough greenery or lemon. Does the instant kind contain dried greens? Sounds awful.
bixa, my Lebanese friends would drain that (pressing the soaked bulghur against a sieve); that recipe could come out too soggy, what with the lemon and tomatoes.
Why do they refrigerate it? (I don't mean for safe food storage, but as part of the recipe).
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 2, 2010 17:38:47 GMT
Better yet:
a) translate your recipe & post it here, and
b) start a couscous thread (please?)
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2010 18:25:30 GMT
No, really, I must buy a box of the stuff and display it here. And yes, Lagatta, the refrigeration is considered to be a must. Maybe tomorrow. Here is the main brand. 5 minutes to prepare! 30 minutes in the refrigerator! Who wants to make food themselves anymore?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2010 18:26:48 GMT
The boxed tabbouleh I've seen sold in stores has freeze dried herbs and onion in it. It's dreadful...
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 2, 2010 19:16:02 GMT
True, LaGatta. Actually, draining it is part of the recipe, I just forgot to put it in. (will modify) Also, I admit that I used an internet recipe as the base so I didn't have to type too much. Personally, I much prefer this at room temperature, but what doesn't get eaten right away should be refrigerated.
I'll admit I've used boxed tabbouleh when I couldn't get bulgar, but I added lots of fresh stuff to it.
No, no, no to frivolously adding fake stuff to this nice thread.
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Post by onlymark on Jun 2, 2010 19:17:23 GMT
Kerouac has reminded me I have a box/tin of this stuff bought from the local Carrefour by a European visitor. I advised her not to try it, so she left it with me.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 2, 2010 19:25:26 GMT
Instead of lowering yourself to be as silly as the other boy male non-contributor to this thread, why don't you tell how tabbouleh is prepared in Egypt. It is eaten there, correct? What's it called?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2010 19:35:38 GMT
I am not going to perpetrate the myth of what the French eat. They love this boxed stuff, and I think it is quite good myself. Even the food critics talk about it, and they say it is one of the most acceptable shortcuts in modern French meals.
If you want to believe that French women are rolling wheat between their breasts to make the perfect taboulé, go ahead and dream, but you will be wrong.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 2, 2010 20:19:42 GMT
There is a desperate tale behind this, but Casimira can attest to barley tabbouleh being sold successfully in a restaurant.
I frequently use leftover rice to make a tabbouleh-style salad. Can any grain-based salad using traditional tabbouleh ingredients be called tabbouleh?
I'd say, for the purposes of this thread, yes.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2010 20:42:08 GMT
Sure why not, but I would call it rice salad (or barley salad). No need for a fancy foreign name.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2010 20:46:24 GMT
I was looking up 'taboulé' and apparently the arabic meaning is just 'seasoned salad' -- that leaves the barn door wide open.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 2, 2010 21:00:06 GMT
Well, saying barley tabbouleh announces the general nature of the dish. Saying barley salad might elicit questions such as, "You mean, like tabbouleh?"
Wikipedia says: "A Turkish variation of the dish is known as kısır,[3] while a similar Armenian dish is known as eetch. In Cyprus, where the dish was introduced by the Lebanese, it is known as tambouli."
It's childish to laugh at words in other languages, but ....... eetch ~ ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2010 21:02:37 GMT
Can we each have a helping of eetch?
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Post by Jazz on Jun 2, 2010 21:41:28 GMT
hmmm...I've seen the boxed stuff here but have never been tempted to try it. It's easy to do yourself. But sometimes I'm even lazier than Mark and Kerouac. We have a great Middle Eastern restaurant (Lebanese) just around the corner, eat in or take out. Delicious and fresh and cheap, especially the Mon and Tues specials. A loonie is $1 (.75E), toonie is $2 (1.6E).... www.mezzettarestaurant.com/
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Post by lagatta on Jun 2, 2010 22:19:04 GMT
Oh, that looks like a nice friendly place.
One can also make a similar salad with quinoa. The advantage of that is that quinoa is very rich in protein and minerals. There is another advantage for observant Jewish people - quinoa (which is not actually a grain) has been declared kosher for Passover!
bixa, I'd certainly refrigerate any uneaten grain salad; that is basic food safety (yep, even up here). But I prefer things rather tepid.
I have friends in France who make it from scratch, and not just Levantines or Maghrebis. The main work is chopping the parsley and mint, in any event. A popular Lebanese resto here has a person doing that all day; no, their customers would not accept food-processor chopping. What a boring job.
Another important benefit of making it from scratch is the nutrition. Now I certainly wouldn't eat blech food for the nutritional benefits, but real taboulé is very tasty and a vitamin bomb. Parsley is higher in vitamin c than citrus fruits.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 3, 2010 1:54:12 GMT
Oh gosh ~~ I just looked up quinoa and am dying to try it: chetday.com/quinoa.htmlI always have to refrigerate tabbouleh because I make it in huge quantities. I adore the stuff. Even if boxed tabbouleh tasted fine, all the beauty of the fresh ingredients would be missing. And god knows, it's easy enough to make.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 3, 2010 2:25:54 GMT
It was a mainstay of the Incan and related civilisations and cultures. Yes, potatoes were important - there is a lot of nutrition just under the skin, and hard-working mountain people needed the easily-assimilated calories, but quinoa is among the plant foods highest in complete protein - only soya beans equal it thus, and many people are allergic to them.
It is important to refrigerate all cooked grain dishes - obviously where you live, but even up here. They deteriorate quickly and rice in particular is a common source of food poisoning - rarely lethal, but extremely annoying if you have a conference somewhere and all the participants have come down with the runs. (A Swedish chef I know told me how important this was, as few people suspect rice - they suspect things like mayonnaise or meat). That was not my point about Lebanese taboulé: the friends who made it for me did NOT refrigerate it before serving; like many Mediterraneans, they rather like tepid foods. Obviously they refrigerated any leftovers.
A salad made with quinoa, some apt pieces of vegetable (peppers and such) and lots of chopped parsley and other fresh herbs would not be only one of the most nutritious and easy-to-assimilate dishes possible, it would also be damned tasty.
Easy to assimilate is very important as not all people are healthy enough to eat big hunks of raw vegetable or do complicated chewing, or digest some forms of legume or animal protein. "Complicated chewing" is a phrase I learnt while doing social-history research at a hospice for Italian immigrants, from the dietician. They didn't serve pap - the food was delicious - but it was not too challenging for seniors with a wide range of health problems, whether physical or cognitive.
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Post by onlymark on Jun 3, 2010 5:15:37 GMT
Instead of lowering yourself to be as silly as the other boy male non-contributor to this thread, why don't you tell how tabbouleh is prepared in Egypt. It is eaten there, correct? What's it called? In Egypt taboulé is called ....errr........taboulé. But it is the mirror image of that boxed French thing. The vast majority of it, 99%, is the green leafy stuff. That is how real taboulé should be. The rest is just a poor imitation of a classic dish. I have known of Europeans coming to Egypt who cannot identify a certain salad on the dinner table and express surprise when it is named as taboulé. They think it isn't the real thing as there is so little grain type ingredient.
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Post by onlymark on Jun 3, 2010 5:16:14 GMT
And I don't have a recipe as it is so cheap here I just buy it.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2010 5:27:34 GMT
Yes, in Egypt people eat the Lebanese taboulé. The French eat the Maghrebi version. Bixa, we have had a thread about quinoa in the past. (I'm relieved that I am not the only forgetful one here.)
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Post by Don Cuevas on Jun 3, 2010 9:26:48 GMT
I've always used cold water to soak the bulgar for taboule. Then, squeeze very well in a clean kitchen towel. I like lots of chopped parsley, a moderate amout of lemon juice, and very little seasoning, especially, no nasty cumin.
I got somewhat burned out on taboule in the 70s and 80s, as our hippy or back-to-the-land friends would invariably bring it to potluck suppers, aways with too much lemon juice and the nasty cumin. (There were far worse offences to the palate committed at those affairs, usually involving undercooked soybeans, but that's off topic.)
"If you want to believe that French women are rolling wheat between their breasts to make the perfect taboulé, go ahead and dream, but you will be wrong.".
Never had the pleasure.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 3, 2010 14:45:13 GMT
I've been looking around for "official" different versions of tabbouleh. What I expected to find was nothing more than different proportions of the same few ingredients, with maybe a stray carrot or a different seasoning thrown in. This was a revelation: Bazargan Syrian Cracked Wheat Salad Serves 6 to 82 cups bulgar wheat or finely cracked wheat Salt to taste 6 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons tamarind paste dissolved in cup boiling water, or 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses 2 tablespoons tomato paste 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste 2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground coriander teaspoon ground allspice teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped cup pine nuts, toasted (optional) 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley Put the wheat in a bowl and cover with lightly salted water. Let soak until the grains are tender, 30 minutes or longer. Drain well. Transfer to a bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil, tamarind mixture, tomato paste, lemon juice, and spices together. Add to the wheat and toss. Season to taste. Fold in the nuts and parley and mix well. Let sit at room temperature for 4 hours or as long as overnight. Serve at room temperature. There is interesting reading in the source for this recipe.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 3, 2010 15:08:41 GMT
Click here for lyrics so you can sing along! Tabbouleh Tabbouleh Tabbouleh Makes me shake shake shake my booty Eat it with lots of falafal Eat it on top of a camel
Dance. Cuz it's the only beat That's gonna stick in your head and stick in your teeth
You gotta push push Push the tush When you eat an Arab salad that is not fettoush
It's a hearty party tasting yum yum Taste that parsley Shake your bum bum
In the club. Don't need a shorty/cutie All I need to take is a bowl of tabbouleh
No we don't need hip hop house or trance Cuz this song about a salad make you shake your pants
No we don't need groovy techno techno Just tabbouleh in your head hole
Don't need bouncers or velvet rope I hope by now you get the point
Don't need glow stick or Red Bull vodka You just gotta shake where you make the kaka
First you take parsley from your sister Chop it off like hand of shoplifter Then take a tomato and dice it don't forget to add all the spices
Then you take a half cup of burghul Oh my God, it's gone taste so good Yes this recipe is the bomb but it tastes best when it's made by Mamma
In Lebanon they eat it with coffee In Libya eat it with Quadafi
Jordan, Iraq Bahrain, Saudi Everybody love the tabbouleh
In Syria they eat it the fastest and make sure to shake shake Damascus
Them in Yemen lemon the food-y And Africa they move move Djibouti
Tabbouleh I hope I will finish It to me is like Popeye's spinach
but instead of getting muscles in both arms I get a moving groove in my buttocks
Met a girl She was a cutie She said she'd make me tabbouleh
But she made it without the tomatoes So I had to tell her See you later
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2010 0:04:50 GMT
This evening, had a refreshing plate of at our neighborhood Lebanese restaurant.They use just the right amount of parsley for me. it's always perfect on a hot summer's evening.
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Post by onlymark on Jun 6, 2010 3:35:21 GMT
Is that potato in there as well?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2010 4:49:14 GMT
Might be cucumber?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2010 16:00:51 GMT
is cucumber
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2010 16:53:24 GMT
But potatoes sound interesting.
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