What’s cooking in Lebanon?
Tabbouleh
Sonia and I met many years ago in Amsterdam, when she was there for work. When I asked her if she would like to share a recipe from Lebanon with us, she wanted to share her typical favourite from her country, Tabbouleh. Sonia is from a small village in the south of Lebanon , called Qaaqaaiyet El Jisr. As a child, her holidays were spent in the city of Beirut, where her mother’s family lived. Sonia and her family left Lebanon because of war, and moved to Texas in the USA. She later moved to the New York area, where she still lives with her husband and children. Sonia returns to Lebanon as much as possible and her children love the local food. ‘They have many favourite dishes’, she says.
Tabbouleh is an authentic Lebanese recipe. According to Sonia many nearby countries have emulated Taboulleh, but for her it tastes best as its origin from Lebanon. Sonia still remembers, as a child, going to her family’s vegetable gardens with her mother to pick all the ingredients right from the ground or from the plant to make the Tabbouleh. She says: ‘It tasted and smelled so fresh and delicious’. Right now, Tabbouleh is available and known in many parts of the world because it is a healthy salad. Sonia still makes her Tabbouleh the way her mom made it when she was a child.
Tabbouleh
Often served as a side dish.
Preparing time: 30 minutes
Ingredients (serves 4):
- Parsley (I used 2 whole bunches, preferably the curly sort of parsley)
- 2 tomatoes
- 4 scallions
- 1 lemon
- 1 cucumber
- Bulghur
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive Oil
*side note: You may add fresh mint if you like. Tabbouleh can also be made without cucumbers.
How to prepare:
This video that Sonia’s daughter made for a school project will show you how to make this delicious salad:
- Soak bulghur in warm water to soften
- Chop up parsley
- Mince tomato, scallions and cucumber and put it all in a big salad bowl with the parsley
- Squeeze one lemon and add to the minced vegetables
- Add two tablespoons of bulghur
- Sprinkle salt
- Add pepper
- Drizzle olive oil and then mix everything real well
We have already made Sonia’s Tabbouleh recipe several times and we love the fresh taste of it! Thank you so much Sonia for sharing your Lebanese recipe with us, and thank you to your daughter for the great video!
Sahtain! (means Bon Appétit! Enjoy your meal!)
