The occasional recipe: tabouli

I had almost forgotten how much I like tabouli. And it’s a natural for summer--cool, light, and tasty, featuring summer’s best: tomatoes and herbs. It’s always tempting to pick up a package at the supermarket, but how long have those tomatoes been in there anyway? They always look a little sad and mushy to me. And the parsley is often less than bright green Of course you can always buy one of those dry packages, but then you still have to add almost everything anyway. It’s really just as easy to make it yourself from the beginning. Trust me. No cooking involved, just a little minor chopping and mixing. Try it!

Tabouli

1 cup bulgur wheat--you can usually find this in the bulk bins at the market
2 cups boiling water (ok--I said no cooking: you DO have to boil a little water. Really, is that cooking?)
1/2 cup olive oil
juice of 2-3 lemons or more as you like
1-2 tomatoes--chopped up
scallions--as few or as many as you want, sliced
a few sprigs of fresh mint, chopped
as much fresh parsley as you like, chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1--Put bulgur in a bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let it sit for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
2--Drain in colander (sometimes all the water is absorbed, sometimes not).
3--Return bulgur to bowl, add other ingredients, and mix well.
4--Chill for about 2 hours. (No comment!)

This is not exactly the recipe as I received it. This is the recipe as I realized it could be modified to suit the tabouli tastes of the person making it.

Also--important modification--you can put the bulgur, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and scallions together ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator for a few days. Then, when you’re ready to eat it, just add the tomatoes and fresh parsley and mint. I’m guessing cucumber would be good in it, too.