In the Learn the Dish test kitchen in Toronto’s entertainment district, our producer Ani battles with a bunch of parsley. She’s making tabouli, a parsley-based salad, which requires the herb to be very finely chopped indeed. Without a food processor, this can be a mission.
Tabouli is a Lebanese dish, and one often made by Armenians. Like many others, Ani’s family passed through Lebanon on their way to Canada, and tabouli was a part of many meals growing up. Her tabouli however, is a recipe she learned at her local Armenian grocer.
Ani shared her recipe, and a couple tips to make your tabouli faster. Watch the video below! Some producers were harmed in the making of this video.
Ani’s Tabouli Tips
The bulgur (boulghour in French and Armenian) is the key. It’s important to get the finely ground stuff, Ani tells us. That will ensure it absorbs nicely into the oil and lemon, and that your tabouli won’t come out crunchy.
The reason tabouli is tricky is the extreme amount of dicing. It sometimes doesn’t feel worth it. But, you can speed things up.
Ani had been keeping her tomatoes in her fridge. She tells us she’d done this in advance of making the tabouli, so she could dice the tomatoes more finely, and more quickly. “It’s much easier to chop cold tomatoes,” she said. Especially if you’re not working with the sharpest knives in the world.
The parsley, of course, is the main event. Ani doesn’t have a food processor. That would be the fastest option, of course, to pulverize her parsley into the desired fineness. Instead she gathers her parsley into a tight clump, rolling them up. This creates a very firm parsley brick which is much easier to cut.
Ani is also using curly parsley, which is much easier to chop finely than other parsleys, because it keeps its form rather than mushing.
With some effort, Ani’s parsley is finished and she mixes in her vegetables and the bulgur, lemon, and oil dressing. “You want to let it stand for a little bit [so] there’s an even coating of lemon and oil.”
Ani likes to have her tabouli with a little aleppo pepper to garnish.
Dietary Notes:
Diary free, Nut free, Peanut free, Vegan
Bulgur contains gluten
What you’ll need:
2 bunches of parsley
1 bunch of green onion
2-3 tomatoes
1 cup (240mL) extra-fine bulgur
3 tablespoons (45mL) lemon juice
⅓ cup (80mL) olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
The Steps:
Whisk together lemon juice and olive oil, and add the bulgur. Mix thoroughly and set aside for 15 minutes, until the bulgur softens and absorbs the oil and juice.
Dice your onions and tomatoes finely.
Chop very finely, or food-process your parsley. Mix it in with your tomatoes and onions.
Add your bulgur, lemon, and olive oil mixture to the salad, and mix thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Let your tabouli stand for a few minutes to let the oil absorb into the parsley.
Serve with falafel, or your favourite protein. Enjoy!
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