Tabbouleh – a Way to Use Parsley
If somebody had told me, when I was a child, that years later I would not only eat but enjoy a salad in which parsley was the main ingredient, I would have never believed them.
My mother added chopped parsley to many soups and sauces, and I didn’t like it.
In truth, I didn’t understand why she was doing it. So when I started cooking myself, I would always omit that – unnecessary in my opinion – ingredient.
However, I have always known that parsley was a good source of Vitamin C.
I did a bit of research and was very surprised to find out that parsley is in truth an excellent source of this vitamin. 100g of this herb will provide you with 160% of Recommended Daily Intake of Vitamin C.
In comparison, 100g of lemon (which has always been considered the best source) satisfies only 64% of RDI.
Additionally, parsley is also an excellent source of Vitamin K (1562%!) and A (53%).
Tabbouleh – a Salad that Changed My Approach to Parsley
You probably will ask now “how on earth am I going to eat so much parsley?”.
One solution is to include this herb in all possible dishes, even in small amounts. At the end of the day, they will all add up.
The other option is to make Tabbouleh, a salad that completely changed my approach to parsley. I tried it a few years ago in a Lebanese restaurant. And I was surprised how delicious a parsley salad could be.
Tabbouleh requires a lot of chopping, so a good, sharp knife is very useful. But other than that the salad preparation is very straightforward.
You can serve Tabbouleh along with other mezze (meze) like hummus, olives, baba ghanoush, falafel. But it also tastes great with grilled or roasted meat and fish.
P.S. If you would like your Tabbouleh to be even healthier, try to make it with quinoa and serve it with halloumi cheese like in this recipe.
Tabbouleh – Healthy Parsley Salad [vegan/vegetarian]
Ingredients
- 2 bunches parsley leaves only, weighing approx. 40g
- 1 handful mint leaves
- 300 g tomatoes (approx. 2 pieces)
- 1 shallot
- 5 tbsp couscous
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lemon (juice)
- salt and pepper.
Instructions
- Rinse and dry the parsley and mint leaves very well. I dry them in a salad spinner.
- On a big board, chop them very finely and transfer to a bowl.
- Chop the tomatoes and the shallot finely and put into the bowl with the parsley, add the couscous, stir and leave for 20 minutes.
- Add the olive oil, lemon juice, seasoning and give it a stir.
