Hyatt Regency’s Chef Barakat: Tabbouleh Recipe

Tabbouleh is an Arabic parsley salad with scattered grains of bulgur wheat  – a quick-cooking  form of whole wheat . It vies with hummus, falafel and meat shawarmas as the most famous Arab foods to have migrated out of the Middle East. In the Arab World, especially in its home of Syria and Lebanon, the salad is usually made as part of the mezze table.

Chef Barakat shares his recipe for the perfect tabbouleh. Firstly, remember that parsley is the star of the show and as such it needs to be treated with care. You need a lot of it, and this recipe calls for 500g which is about four large bunches. He advises to wash the parsley after it has been cut so that it doesn’t bruise. Essentially you need to finely slice the parsley and not chop it, so that it does not get mushy.

The recipe uses a very small amount of mint leaves just to add ‘menthol’ flavour without detracting from the pepperiness of the parsley. Even more delicate than parsley, it needs stripping from its stems, and then gently sliced. Again, mint should be washed after it has been cut.

Tomatoes should be ripe and juicy. Chef Barakat removes the seeds and drains the juice off before adding them to the salad.

Bulgur wheat is a key ingredient. Use the fine variety found in the loose spices section at Shoppers Supermarket.

This salad is fresh and light and is a perfect accompaniment to all your grilled meats.

You will need:

500g parsley (flat- leaf) finely sliced
250g tomatoes (de-seeded, chopped and juice drained off)
100g onions (chopped)
50g fresh mint (finely sliced)
50g fine bulgur wheat
50ml lemon juice
50ml olive oil
Salt (to taste)
Black pepper (to taste)

What to do:

1. Mix parsley, mint and onions.
2. Add bulgur wheat and leave in the herb mixture for 5 minutes.
3. Add chopped tomatoes, lemon juice, olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. Serve with grilled meats and pitta bread.