It’s hard to think of a summer meal that’s easier, quicker, and more nutritious than a tabouli (taboule, taboli, and so on) salad with mxed fruits and vegetables. The basic ingredients in tabouli are bulgur wheat, herbs (especially parsley and mint), lemon or lime juice, and extra-virgin olive oil. For lots of information about tabouli, here’s a link to Sunnyland Mills. a wholesale dealer.
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http://www.sunnylandmills.com/booklet-intro.html
Bulgur wheat is wheat berries that have been cleaned, parboiled, dried, ground up, and then sifted into particles of various sizes.
Here’s some general comment from Sunnyland about tabouli. “Although no one knows the exact date when tabbouleh first came on the scene, it was probably several thousand years ago. We do know that bulgur wheat was used by the ancients approximately 4,000 years ago. It probably didn't take long for them to figure out that the addition of parsley, spices, vegetables and other ingredients would make a very tasty and nutritious meal. In fact, tabbouleh could be considered the ideal food of the Mediterranean diet. It contains whole grain bulgur wheat, greens in the form of parsley, olive oil, spices, tomatoes and in some cases, cucumber. The fact that all these items are part of the Mediterranean diet only contributes to the fact that tabbouleh has been around for centuries and was probably passed down from family to family for generations.”
You can start from scratch with the bulgur, but I cheat by buying a box of Near East brand tabouli mix, which has a spice pack containing dried parsley and mint. Preparation is simple. Just empty the box and the spice pack intoa mixing bowl,adda cup of boiling water, and chill in the refrigerator for about half an hour.
Meanwhile, you can prepare the other ingredients. These vary from one time to the next, except that there’s always lemon or lime juice (1 to 2 Tbsp, depending on taste), olive oil (1 Tbsp), and chopped tomatoes. (I used 4 or 5 baby Romas, a bit bigger than grape tomatoes).
Last night, I used: half a can of 3 Diamond brang mandarin orange sections; half a small cucumber diced small (at this time of year check for bitterness, and omit if there’s an alum pucker); some chopped purple onion; 1/2 cup blueberries.
Other possibilities include chick peas, mixed dried beans, fresh soybeans, dried cranberrie, raisins, grapes, avocados, kalamata olives, roasted peppers,and so on.
After you've added everything to the bulgar wheat, return to the fridge for a couple of hours at least, or, preferably, overnight. You want the salad to be really chilled and the flavors to meld.
We are advised nowadays to eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, which is hard to doif you think in terms of single servings of peas,beans,and so on. Tabouli, being a potpourri dish, makes diversity easy, and themix of sweet and pungent flavors is good.
Yesterday the tabouli was accompanied by a “mini-entree,” by which I mean a meat dish using only a very small amount of meat, in this case half a skinless chicken breast, for two persons.
Here’s the recipe. Heat 2 tsp. grapeseed or canola oil, meanwhile slicing the chicken cross ways into pieces about 1/8” thick. Stir the chicken into the hot oil, reduce the heat, and add soy sauce and other Asiansauces--I used a bit of teriyaki sauce last night and a slight glaze of orange sauce. Cook forabout two minutes, then add 1/2 Tbsp. natural peanut butter. After another couple of minutes serve--it’s kind of a hybrid chicken satay.
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