When my foodie friend Valerie posted a request for help making tabbouleh on our FB group site, I was reminded of how long it’s been since I made this at home.  Our local health food store sells Cedars tabbouleh in just the right size for me to have alone, and since no one else in the family shares my passion for this dish, that’s been my stand-in of late.

But – with plenty of Italian parsley, lemons, tomatoes and fresh mint in the fridge, all I needed was the bulghur grain to get this going today.  I found Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Red Bulgur at Stop & Shop

Coarser than the usual bulghur that requires only about 10 minutes to absorb liquid, this variety had to sit for an hour after I poured boiling water over it.  After an hour, one cup of bulghur with one cup of water looked like this – all the moisture fully absorbed, and nothing to drain.

While that was sitting and doing its thing, I prepared the other elements from the recipe on the package, since this variety of grain was a departure from my usual-

3 cups finely chopped parsley; 1/4 cup each finely chopped fresh mint and scallions; about 1-1/2 cups diced grape tomatoes, squeezed out to eliminate water and seeds; 1/2 tsp salt; 1/4 tsp each pepper and cumin; and 3 tbsp each fresh lemon juice and olive oil.  I left out the suggested diced cucumber since that’s always in our Greek salad.

It’s resting in the fridge now, as the flavors marry.  Then I’ll know whether it needs a bit more of lemon juice or salt:

Thanks, Valerie, for reminding me how quick and easy it is to assemble this bright-tasting and healthful side dish.

Update…tasted after it sat in the fridge for a few hours and found it needed another tbsp of lemon juice and a bit more salt.  Now it’s just right.