Tebbouleh

I love Lebanese cooking -- everything they make is so fresh, light, and above all simple.  Tebbouleh is one of my favorite salads and despite the look of it is very easy to make (it just takes a little bit of patience with the chopping). Tebbouleh as a side salad goes well with most Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes.

The key to a good tebbouleh is (and trust me on these because I've made bad tebbouleh before):

1. The parsley. Don't be shocked by the amount you'll be using -- this recipe is all about the parsley.
2. The chopping. The parsley has to be chopped down to a uniform consistency. You can't really cut corners.
3. The dressing. It has to be nice and tangy, but not so much that its all you taste.

Ingredients:

2 tomatoes
4 or 5 large bunches of parsley
1 small onion
1/2 cup of burghul

Ingredients for the dressing:

1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp black pepper
Juice of 2 large lemons
1/4 tsp salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of sugar

First begin by chopping the parsley. Take a handful at a time and with a sharp nice finely chop the parsley into miniscule pieces. The easiest way to do this is to roll the handful into a cigarette like shape (I can't believe I'm using the word cigarette in a recipe!) and chop by working your way from one end to another. Transfer the chopped parsley into a bowl.

Next, dice the tomatoes and onion into very small pieces -- as small as you possibly can without making them "pastey". Transfer the onion and tomato into the parsley bowl.

In the meantime, put the burghul into a small bowl and pour boiling water over it -- just enough water to cover the burghul -- the water should be just a 1/4 of an inch above the burghul. Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside for 15 minutes. When the burgul is done, add to the rest of the salad.

For the dressing, mix all the ingredients together. Taste and adjust to your liking.

Add the dressing to the tebbouleh, mix well and enjoy :)

Serves 6