Greetings Gastronauts! This is Keef Cooks,
I'm Keef and today I'm going to show you
how to do a really simple, really tasty
Middle Eastern salad - tabouleh
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Now when we lived in Dubai,
we practically lived on this stuff.
There was always tabbouleh
on the table along with Hummus and
Moutabal and stuff like that, and we
just fell in love with it. It's a really
amazing salad - it's really healthy -
really clean - really fresh and tasty. I am
not Mr. Salad Eater - you know, you know that
but I do love this stuff. And so when we
came back to Europe we were a bit astonished
to see tabbouleh in the shops - it was beige
with flecks of green - it was mostly cracked
wheat (burgul) and the one we were used
to is like the Lebanese style, which is,
y'know, it's bursting with fresh herbs,
parsley, mint and tomatoes and onion
And little beige flecks of
burgul, but not, y'know, not
overwhelming - it was just there to give
it a bit of body. Anyway so that's rubbish
- European tabbouleh is rubbish - forget about it.
I'm going to show you how to make
tabbouleh that you will actually enjoy - so
let's do it!
So, ingredients for the tabbouleh - I've got
some fresh flat leaf parsley, fresh mint
a couple of tablespoons of bulgur which is
also known as burghul or cracked wheat -
a small onion, juice of a lemon, a couple of
tomatoes and some good oil - olive oil for
preference. So the first thing we need to
do is soak the cracked wheat in lemon
juice. Squeezing me lemon and I forgot to
mention this this recipe isn't really...
it's not about weight. It's about
proportions. So you want about twice as
much parsley as you have mint and the
burgul, about the same quantity as you
have mint and, y'know,
stuff like that. So we'll just pop the...
just pop the cracked wheat, burgul, into
the lemon juice and let that sit for
about 15 minutes. A bit of a pip in there
- get out! - I'll let that sit for about 15
minutes - it will swell up a little bit
and soften. And while the wheat is
soaking, give your mint and parsley a
good old wash, and then chop them as
finely as you can - there's no need to
actually take the leaves off the stems
- the stems are pretty tasty as well and
they won't kill you.
Choppity chop chop chop chop chop.
So there's the mint and
here's the parsley.
I'll just pop
that in there using the back of the
knife - not the blade. Now you want to peel
and chop yer onion - again as finely as you can.
So there's the chopped onions
- whack those in and now chop the tomatoes
- again quite finely.
And there's the
tomatoes all chopped up. Throw those in
as well and... Right, we're nearly done.
Big wooden stirry thing. So there's the
cracked wheat, the burgul, the bulgur -
it's absorbed all the lemon juice so
that can all go in, and the oil and
a wee pinch of salt and just stir that all together.
Oh yeah and admire the colors - red, green,
white... and beige. Well it's been a long
time since I had tabbouleh - I'd forgotten
how wonderful it was - let's have a tastipoo
Mmm, hmm, hmm yeah it's good but it kind
of tastes a bit raw - I know it is raw - but it
it needs a little while for the flavours to
kind of get to know each other and to
mellow. So stick that in the fridge - well
cover it in plastic film, then stick it
in the fridge for a couple hours, and then
it will be fantastic. Promise!
OK, time for a taste test...
Got my tabbouleh, got my food stylist tomato
and a bit of nice homemade fresh-baked
flatbread. Yeah! So...
I wonder...
Nah, I can't open the pocket in this - I don't
know how they do it with actual
pitta bread but anyway.
Mmm mmm mmmm
Yeah, that's great
really zingy and fresh and... oh lovely.
And, unlike a dressed lettuce-based salad,
that will keep in the fridge for three,
four, five days, no problem. And it just
gets better. So, easy to make, delicious,
why not.
And that's that, I hope you enjoyed it.
Now please do the usual - likes, shares,
comments, subscriptions, donations,
patronage - all that good stuff.
Or just some of it! And thank you for watching
and see you next time.
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