A few years ago, when I was in southeastern Turkey working on my bookMediterranean Grains and Greens,我注意到女人不浸泡碾碎in water for some summer preparations. When I asked a Turkish friend about this, she let out a laugh. "In Turkey, no man would marry a woman who just used water! For cold bulgur dishes we always soak in tomato juice, onion juice, or fresh pressed and strained sour grape juice to flavor the bulgur first."
Ingredients
Serves 6: Makes 4 cups
Step 1
1. Place the bulgur in a fine sieve, rinse under cold running water, squeeze dry, and soak in the lemon juice for 45 minutes. Use a fork to fluff the bulgur.
Step 2
2. In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, scallions, cinnamon, and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Drizzle on the olive oil and toss. Fold in the bulgur,parsley, and mint and mix well. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally.
Step 3
3. Taste and correct the flavors with lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Serve with crisp inner leaves of romaine lettuce for scooping up the salad.
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Reviews (32)
Back to TopI have made this recipe at least two times and I love it! I was actually impressed that the lemon juice did do the job of softening the bulgar. I used to cook the bulgar in a rice cooker before I discovered this recipe. This recipe tastes just as good as my local Shwarma restaurant.
mangaba48
San Luis Potosi, Mexico
5/16/2017
I have made this probably a dozen times - I love this salad. I soak the bulghur in boiling water (found the lemon did not get it tender enough) and omit the cinnamon. Otherwise, I make it as written. Love it.
mcouch20
Los Gatos, CA
2/21/2015
I prefer lemon zest.
m4d4m
6/22/2014
People are making the strangest modifications to this recipe... Sardines instead of bulghur and maple syrup instead of olive oil? On what planet is that tabouli? Anyway, this was a good basic tabouli recipe. I made a double batch for a party and it disappeared. I had no idea I could just soak bulghur and not cook it. It worked out very well for me, but I actually rinsed it first and then went shopping, so by the time I had added the lemon juice it had been soaking in the leftover water for maybe an hour. I added the rest of the ingredients and extra salt at the end. Then I decided it wasn't right without cucumbers and added three lebanese cucumbers (double would be great, but I was being stingy). It is very time-consuming to chop all that parsley but I guess it's worth it if you love tabouli, and it's very healthy.
BlueMona
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
12/30/2013
How do you soak 1/2 of a cup of something in only 1/4 a cup of something??? The bulgur was super crunchy despite following all the instructions to the letter. I even tried to save it by adding the oil after 45 minutes were up (as some comments suggested) and letting THAT sit to see if it could help. I only ended up with lemony oily crunchy sludge. I had to toss it and cook quinoa to use at the last minute. Flavors and everything were great so I'd use the basic idea again...but I don't understand how I messed up the bulgur part when everyone else seemed to think it was great. FRUSTRATION.
roju
Portland, OR
8/8/2012
I used canned sardines instead of bulgur. The sardines made it too salty so I substituted maple syrup for the olive oil. Delicious!
Elephants_Gerald
Parma, OH
5/9/2012
First I had to go to whole foods to get the bulgar. Trader Joe's had none. Whole Foods didn't have fine..........only red bulgar. It still worked. I would use less bulgar(1/4 c and more parsley and mint. You could use what the recipe calls for in terms of the bulgar, but my choice is less. Make sure olive oil is fresh. Old olive oil makes it smell and taste awful. I ran out of the fresh organic Trader Joe's olive oil and had to use an older olive oil.(another brand).........not good. Recipe is lemony enough although I added 1 more tablespoon of fresh lemon. For ease of prepping: I put the parsley and mint in a mini cuisinart and let her go a few seconds..........easier than cutting everything. I would do this again for sure..........no need for as much bulgar. I used 1/2 onion in the cuisinart mini chopper instead of scallion. Maybe next time I will use shallots.
reallyroz
Fort Lee, NJ
4/19/2012
To make this gluten free I subbed the bulgur with cold cooked rice and added about a tablespoon of lemon juice to get the zing. I didn't have any scallions on hand so I use thinly sliced red onion. Delish! We'll be making this again for sure.
Fidissimus
12/6/2011
Instead of using bulgur, I used quinoa. The texture is great and it's loaded with protein. I left out the cinnamon, used vidalia onion instead of scallion and added garlic. Wonderful!
ikibbitz
3/6/2011
I wasn't overly impressed. I usually use some fresh garlic and red onions in my tabouli and I really missed them. The cinnamon gave me sort of a disappointing aftertaste. I really did like the lemon-soaked bulgar and and will keep that twist as I go back to my garlic/onion version.
kandie
1/28/2011
It's been 45 minutes and the bulger is still crunchy. That's despite the fact that I added the tomatoes and salt at the same time as the lemon juice to create the greatest amount of tasty liquid. Perhaps my bulger wasn't as fine as the author wanted. Hot water to start is so dependable!
gailsin
Vallejo, CA
1/10/2011
This was so good. I don't like the taste of the added cinnamon so next time i'll leave that out but overall it was delicious.
lab87
New York, NY
10/19/2010
I've made this many times, and it is one of the best taboulis I have ever had. Serve it alongside hummus, baba ghanoush, grape leaves and middle eastern pita bread for a real feast.
Brasileira1
New York, NY
7/9/2010
This was good but way too lemony for me. I used fresh lemons so that might have been why. Good basic recipe, though, and easily altered for taste.
Anonymous
Chicago, IL
7/27/2009
I made this to the recipe and it was delicious - very fresh and complimentary flavors.
Anonymous
Annapolis MD
7/8/2009
