I ordered Tabbouleh Salad in a Lebanese restaurant a few years ago just to try it. Zowie! What a fine and different salad from our regular fare here in the USA. What I am learning about Middle Eastern foods is the focus on fine herbs and spices, sometimes in quantity, on/with very fresh and attractive produce. So be it. I am a willing student.

Tabbouleh Salad is usually made with bulgar wheat or cracked wheat but quinoa and barley are good substitutes and easy to find at the supermarket, so they are in the ingredient list below. I refer to them as starches later in this recipe.

I made this salad using barley and it came out fine. I put in a bit too much lemon juice by being careless, but that is easy to correct the next time I make Tabbouleh Salad. One thing I do know ... the parsley flavor came roaring through, and that was expected and pleasant.

Tabbouleh Salad is unique and you can serve it well at a meal of grilled meats or seafood, along with a nice soft white wine (for taste contrast) like a buttery Chardonnay.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup of quinoa or barley

1 cup of chicken broth

2 tbsp. of fresh lemon juice

1 large bunch of flat leaf parsley, washed and dried

1 large bunch of mint, washed and dried

2 scallions

1 clove of garlic

2 medium size ripe tomatoes or about 20 small plum shaped salad tomatoes

1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1/2 teaspoon (or more) of sea salt

Ground black pepper, to taste

1/4 teaspoon of ground allspice (optional)

1 small Persian cucumber or part of an English cucumber (optional)

A few whole leaves of mint for garnish

Directions:

Rinse the quinoa or barley or wheat well in a sieve. Simmer it on very low heat, covered, according to directions, in a cup of chicken broth with 1/4 tsp. of salt and a small clove of crushed garlic.

Prepare the herbs and vegetables. Chop the parsley and the mint. You will need roughly 1 1/2 cups of packed chopped parsley and 1/2 cup of packed chopped mint for this amount of starch.

Slice the scallions thinly to equal a heaping 1/4 cup. Medium chop the tomatoes if they are whole; they will equal roughly 1 1/2 cups. If you are using plum shape salad tomatoes cut them in half lengthwise. Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise and then into thin slices.

Process the quinoa or barley or wheat. When it is done cooking, drain off any excess water and place it in the large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Toss to coat the grains. As you finish prepping the herbs and vegetables, add them to the bowl with the starch product, but reserve half of the the diced or sliced tomato to use for garnish.

Season and toss the salad. Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil and another 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and the optional allspice to the bowl. Toss everything together, then taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Garnish the salad. To serve, garnish the Tabbouleh Salad with the reserved tomato pieces and a few whole mint sprigs.

Serve at room temperature with crackers, fresh bread, or pita chips, along with a nice white wine.