This is truly a van-friendly dish – inexpensive, quick to make, and easy to eat on the road. Whenever we find parsley, tomatoes and cukes on sale, we can’t wait to get our fix. Karen recently bought some red bulgur for us. Made from whole grain hard red wheat berries that have been parboiled, dried and cracked, it’ll make for a more colorful salad. We also tend to use curly parsley, which adds some “fluff” to the salad.
The key to the best tabouleh, though, is to remember that it’s a “parsley” salad, so we try to go by this rule-of-thumb: one-half parsley, one-quarter other veggies, and one-quarter bulgur. It’s flavorful and satisfying for the most discriminating vegetarian or vegan. Yum!
This recipe serves 4 and is about one half or a third of what we usually make if we’re staying in a house. But for the van, smaller is better. So double or triple this recipe depending on your needs.
Ingredients:
- 1 large bunch of curly parsley
- leafy tops from several stalks of celery
- ½ small red onion (about ¼ cup), chopped fine
- 1 Roma tomato, diced finely
- 1 small seedless cucumber, diced finely
- ¼ cup medium grind red bulgur wheat
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon or lime juice
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Preparation:
Pull the parsley leaves from the courser stems and chop on a cutting board until fine and fluffy. Add to a largish mixing bowl. Do the same with the celery leaves. Add the diced onion, tomato and cucumber. Boil ¼ cup of water and pour over the bulgur wheat in a separate bowl and cover for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, pouring off any excess liquid, and add to the vegetables. Add the olive oil, lemon or lime juice, salt, and pepper. Toss and adjust the salt, pepper and lemon or lime juice to taste. Enjoy!
Any leftovers that make it to day two may need a little more salt and/or lemon or lime juice as these flavors can get absorbed by the bulgur and diminish overnight.
We are Girl Hobo and Rusty (Ren and Troy), two greys who met on the Appalachian Trail. We started a life together, converted a van to travel and hike across the country, and we like to eat well. Now, we’re sharing what we’re learning on the road, and we’d love you to join us!
You two rock!
Thanks!
We made tabouleh again tonight, but with a little kale instead of celery. Just as good, if not better.
Tabouli is a sacrament in okla. I can live with the foreign celery tops, but should be green onions and I buy frozen lemon juice, Minute Maid at my grocer, it keeps for weeks. I just love it, the hot pre soak works, if it is for supper. We disagree about the portions , but I am right. Also, I buy a cuke. Peel and seed it for inclusion. Spell ck wants to turn cuke into cute haaaa, it’s all good
The seeded cuke is definitely a requirement. As is the parsley, tomato and onion. But we’ve been experimenting with small bits of other added greens we may have on hand and don’t necessarily want to toss out, like the parsley greens, or maybe even carrot tops, kale or whatever. As long as it doesn’t overwhelm the parsley, only adding a bit of depth and complexity. Mint, for example, is a common ingredient, but we won’t pay $3 for a tiny sprig at the grocery store. If we find it wild, or a gardener friend is sharing, then that always goes in too. We’re also experimenting with different grains, like rice and quinoa. We might even try a quick-cooking legume, like lentils, someday. The point is that experimenting with our recipes is a good thing that often leads to favorite variations or shortcuts, like your frozen lemon juice idea, which just works!