Quinoa Tabouli

Quinoa Tabouli is sunshine on a plate… in a bowl… or cradled in a lettuce leaf. Regardless of its vessel – you are eating sunshine!

The first time I had tabouli was at Dom’s house many years ago. I had never had it before and I certainly had never eaten salad out of a romaine leaf before. It changed the way I saw salad. And bowls. True story.

But even beyond the lovely presentation and experience of ‘double the crunch’ was the freshness of the mint and zip of the lemon that made me a fan forever.

This is definitely one of my mother-in-law, Mona’s, specialties. Her tabouli, which of course she makes very traditionally with the bulghur wheat, is perfect alongside her chickpea hummus, her baba ghannouj, her kibi and her shish kebab. I love how her parsley and cracked wheat salad just brightens up a plate, both visually and in flavor.

I had the idea to make this recipe after prepping 115 lemons for, you guessed it, a new batch of limoncello – but we’ll get to that another day. So yes, 115 lemons, which produced 5 quarts of fresh juice. What to do?

Tabouli.

And because I have three big bags of quinoa in my pantry…we went through a phase last summer…I had the idea to replace the bulghur with quinoa. The addition of this gluten-free grain gives rise to its health benefits, while still maintaining the deliciousness of the original recipe.

So Quinoa Tabouli it is!

The first thing you’ll do is prepare your quinoa according to the package. I used one cup of dry quinoa for this recipe.

While your quinoa is cooking, clean and chop the parsley, tomatoes, and onion. I used a food processor for the parsley. Very efficient!

Once cooked and cooled – transfer the quinoa and other chopped components to a large bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together ingredients for the dressing. Olive oil, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper. It’s that simple.

Pour over quinoa tabouli and toss to combine.

As I mentioned earlier – mint adds to the freshness of this dish. And rather than using fresh mint leaves, I mixed in dry mint when I added the dressing.

Refrigerate for a couple hours. Then serve chilled or at room temperature.

Buon Appetito!

Quinoa Tabouli

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• Author: Ciao Chow Bambina

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Ingredients

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• 1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed, drained and cooked according to package
• 2 cups fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 2 cups firm ripe tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped (about 5 medium-sized)
• 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tsp. dry mint (or 1/3 cup fresh mint leaves)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• leaves from 1 romaine lettuce heart

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Instructions

1. Combine quinoa and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for about 12 minutes or until all water is absorbed.
2. Rinse the parsley thoroughly, then drain in a strainer.
3. Remove and discard the thick stalks of parsley and chop it finely.
4. Transfer cooled quinoa and parsley to a large bowl.
5. Add chopped tomatoes and onions.
6. In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
7. Sprinkle dry mint on salad.
8. Pour dressing and toss to combine.
9. Refrigerate for a couple hours.
10. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

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(Recipe adapted from Maria Khalifé.)

Ciao!