Tabbouleh is a classic Middle Eastern salad made with bulghur wheat. While the wheat is soaking, you have just enough time to chop the vegetables and herbs, and make the dressing. Serve with lavash or pitta bread.
Bulghur wheat is a good, low-fat source of starchy (complex) carbohydrate. Because it retains the particularly nutritious outer layers of the wheat grain, it contains useful amounts of B vitamins, particularly B1. * Goat's cheese is a tasty source of protein and calcium and lower in fat than cheeses such as Cheddar and Parmesan.
Use feta cheese instead of goat's cheese. * For an apricot tabbouleh side salad, mix the soaked bulghur wheat with the yellow pepper and red onion, plus 4 chopped celery sticks and 115 g (4 oz) snipped, ready-to-eat dried apricots (omit the other vegetables and the herbs, as well as the goat's cheese). Add ½ tsp ground cinnamon to the dressing. * For a spicy tabbouleh with chicken to serve 6, replace the goat's cheese with 2 cooked skinless boneless chicken breasts, about 280 g (10 oz) in total, cut into cubes. Mix the soaked bulghur wheat with the chicken, pepper, onion, carrot and parsley (omit the other vegetables and herbs). For the dressing, gently warm 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a small frying pan with 1 finely chopped garlic clove. Add ½–1 tsp each of ground cumin, ground coriander, dry mustard and curry powder, and continue cooking for 1 minute. Stir in 2 tbsp lemon juice and seasoning to taste. Pour the dressing over the salad and stir gently to combine. Garnish with sliced cucumber rounds.
B1, B6, B12, E, niacin * A, B2, C, folate, calcium, copper, iron * potassium