Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Number of servings: 4-6
Difficulty of preparation: easy
Type of food: main dish
utensil: knife
Cuisine: Moroccan
INGREDIENTS
80g couscous
1 cucumber
100 g tomatoes
½ chili pepper
½ lemon
4 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch of parsley
1 bunch of coriander
1 bunch of mint
1 tsp. zira
salt
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
STEP 1.
Pour couscous in a bowl, add salt, stir and pour boiling water over it (boiling water should cover grits by half a centimeter). Cover with cling film or lid and leave for 5 minutes.
STEP 2
Wash the greens, dry well with paper towels. Finely chop the cilantro along with the top of the stem. If the parsley is not young, separate the leaves from the stems and finely chop. Mint leaves also separate from the stems and finely chop. Transfer the herbs to a bowl. Cut the tomatoes and cucumbers into small cubes. Add to the bowl with the greens. Finely chop chili peppers and add to vegetables and greens. Toast the zirah in a dry pan. Pour into a mortar and pulverize.
STEP 3
Stir the cooked couscous together well. Mix couscous, vegetables and herbs in a bowl. Season with lemon juice and olive oil. Stir in the cumin and salt. Leave the tabbouleh to marinate for about 10-15 minutes, then serve.
My tips and tricks:
The main ingredients in tabbouleh are a variety of greens and couscous, or grits. Don’t be surprised, you’ll see in the recipe that cilantro should be cut along with the stem: the cilantro stems contain even more flavor than the leaves. You can experiment with the vegetables in the salad, and it’s better to add seasonal vegetables. It can even be radishes or celery stalks, for example. I like to put whole pomegranate seeds in the tabbouleh. If you don’t have couscous, you can just replace it with bulgur, quinoa or cooked millet. Most importantly, always dress the salad with lemon juice and the best olive oil you have in your kitchen.