Easy Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad

Eating salad almost every day may be one of the most healthy habits you can adopt.  Not only that, but salads are cool, crunchy, and fun to eat (lots of textures, colors, and flavors) :).

When we were kids, I remember eating loads of Cucumber especially during the summer.   I also loved to eat tomatoes cut into pieces with sugar.  I guess these days our kids do not want to have any cooked veggies / salads and they prefer having junk food which is a big worry.

Since my in-laws have been going through the Diabetic Treatment Course with Dr. Tripathi @ Pune, they have been advised to have loads of greens / salads / sprouts in their diet.  Can you believe, my mom in law  was taking 24 units of Insulin every day...  By following a strict diet and exercise, she does not take Insulin anymore and is having just half a tablet.  The Diabetes has almost reversed in her case :).  We also ensure that we include salads and greens in our diet as I believe we  are responsible for our health and what we cook at home or eat out. 

I was browsing through my recipe book and came across Tabbouleh Lebanese Salad and when I first read the title, I was not sure if all would like the taste of it.  I thought of experimenting the dish and declared to my family that it would be a dinner with 2 types of salad and followed by steamed wheat Momo's. The other salad I made was  Cucumber, Coconut, Peanut Salad which I will share with all of you shortly.

A delicious Lebanese Tabbouleh recipe is made of parsley / Corriander leaves, mint leaves, cucumber, tomatoes etc and the base is Dhalia or broken wheat.

Luckily, I had all the ingredients at home and the final product was delicious and refreshing!

Hope you will enjoy this salad and I'd love to hear from you through your feedback and mails :)

Ingredients :

Burghul Wheat / Broken wheat or Dhalia (1/2 cup)

Cucumber - 1/2 cup

Tomato- 1/2 cup

Mint leaves - 1/4th cup

Red / Green / Yellow Bell pepper (Capcicum) -1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Roasted White Sesame Seeds - 2 tbsp

Lemon Juice - 2 tbsp

Pepper Powder to taste

Cumin (Jeera) Powder to taste

Corriander leaves - 1/2 cup

Water 1.5 cups

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Cabbage / Lettuce leaves to serve

 Method :

Wash the Dhalia well and add 1.5 cups of water and pressure cook upto 1 whistle.   Once the cooker cools down, transfer the cooked Dhalia onto a plate and spread well and allow it to cool. 

Deseed tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper and cut them finely with a help of sharp knife.  You can store them in different containers in the fridge to cool.  You can do this preparation before the Dhalia is cooked.  Cut corrainder leaves, mint leaves and keep them aside.   Once the veggies are cooled, add them to the cooled Dhalia.  Now add roasted sesame seeds, finely chopped onions, salt, pepper, jeera (cumin powder).  Mix well.  Now add Olive Oil, Lemon Juice and mix gently.  Lay the salad on Lettuce / Cabbage leaves and serve chilled.

Some tips :  Once mixed, Tabbouleh gets soggy rather quickly, so it’s best if you mix it immediately before serving. Moreover, make sure that when you add the chopped veggies to the mixing bowl, that they are dry of moisture and juice otherwise your salad turns soggy. Ideally you want the juice in the salad to be mostly from the lemon juice and olive oil. Use only freshly-squeezed lemon juice. So if you want to prepare the ingredients in advance, do the chopping, then dry with strainer/paper towels, then place ingredients side by side in a bowl or deep tray, and put in the fridge.

Once ready to serve, add the lemon juice on top of the cooked Burghul, add the olive oil and salt all over the ingredients and then mix lightly with a fork and avoid over-mixing so it doesn’t turn soggy.