Middle Eastern Tabouli Salad

This wonderfully delicious Middle Eastern Tabouli Salad along with a lettuce salad and cooked green beans, broccoli, asparagus, or Brussel sprouts makes a simple, filling, nutrient-dense, plant-based meal.

The texture and secret of this dish are in the finely chopped vegetables. Leave your veggies too coarse and you won’t get the same effect. So maintain patience while you chop and give them a small dice.

I always like to choose my own tomatoes in the store. If by chance I have tomatoes on the list and my husband or daughter shop for me, I am sure to remind them to choose very red firm tomatoes. So be sure your tomatoes are firm. Nothing worse to me than a tomato that’s less than red and one that’s also soft.

Sometimes cucumber skins are left intact when used for dipping. Not so in this dish. The skins can be bitter, so be sure to peel your cucumbers.

Once when we were in Panama, I was in Heaven because absolutely every restaurant had tabouli on their menu. I had it every single time we went out to eat. Sometimes I even had it for lunch and for dinner, both. It was so blessed good.

Traditional Middle Eastern tabbouleh (spelled many different ways) is more parsley, less bulgur. The American version is more bulgur, less parsley. Use your own judgment as to proportions.

I have taken liberty with this dish and added cranberries and pecans.