- 2 cups cauliflower bulgur*
- 1 1/2 bunches curly parsley, finely chopped*
- 15 large mint leaves, finely chopped
- 3 scallions (green onions), finely chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes, small dice
- 1/2 English cucumber, small dice
- 1/4 cup lemon juice, (approx 2 lemons)
- 1/3 to 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- sea salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Note: To make the cauliflower bulgur — which is just essentially the same as cauliflower rice, it just sounds more Lebanese — first, cut the head of cauliflower into smaller florets. Next, place the florets into a food processor and pulse a few times to break up the florets a bit. Continue to pulse a few more times or until the cauliflower resembles larger grains of rice or bulgur. Also, note that traditional bulgur can be used instead of cauliflower; however, the dish would no longer be considered grain-free.
To make the salad, simply combine together all of the ingredients and gently toss to combine. Lastly, taste for seasoning, adjusting the lemon, olive oil and/or salt and pepper as needed. If desired, the olive oil can be omitted but in that case, you would likely want to use a bit less lemon juice otherwise the salad will be far too tart. With that said, a traditional tabbouleh salad is made with olive oil, which does provide a lovely balance to the lemon juice and overall salad.
If preparing the salad ahead of time, it is best to keep all of the ingredients separate until you are ready to serve, this will prevent the salad from becoming water-logged and soggy. When you are close to serving, simply toss and season with salad.
Chef's Notes
Note that while this salad is great on its own, it also goes really well with a variety of other dishes and ingredients. For example, if you are looking to make this more into a whole meal, try serving it with some grilled or fried tofu that was marinated with this Harissa Paste (seriously, the paste is the BOMB!). We also like to top the Harissa Tofu with this Tahini Sauce and they are both super good friends with this Tabbouleh Salad. Okay, if we are talking “friends” well then we can’t forget Hummus, who plays really well with others :-)
If using traditional bulgur instead of cauliflower bulgur, place the bulgur into a bowl and cover with an inch of water and let sit for at least 20 minutes, or until it doubles in size.