Tabbouleh

This is a classic, 100% authentic Syrian salad. It is typically very time consuming when made for a large family, but thanks to my friend, the food processor, the prep time is chopped in half ;)

Some people add lettuce or finely chopped cucumbers, but I've just listed the basic traditional recipe. Feel free to experiement! I've made this with spinach instead of parsley, and you can barely taste the difference :)

Ingredients

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-1/4 cup bulghur #1

-juice of 2 lemons

-2 large tomatoes, chopped finely

-4 green onions, chopped finely

-2 bunches of American parsley (if chopping in a food processor)  or Italian parsley (if chopping by hand)

-2 tablespoons dried mint (or fresh)

-1 teaspoon paprika (for color)

-salt to taste

-2-3 tablespoons olive oil

optional:
-1 cup finely diced cucumber

Assembly

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-Combine bulghur and lemon juice in a bowl. Let the bulghur soak up the lemon juice for about 30-45 minutes.

-Add the tomatoes, green onions on top of the bulghur mix. This lets the juice from the tomatoes be soaked into the bulghur

-Soak the parsley in water, and then drain and rinse. Repeat this process 3 times or until your water is clean. Once it is clean and well drained, place in batches into the food processor. Chop by pulsing in 3 second intervals until the parsley is finely chopped. Be careful not to turn it into mush. (Alternatively, you can use Italian parsley and finely chop by hand with a sharp knife. Either works :)

-Place chopped parsley on top of the tomatoes and green onions. Add 2-3 tablespoons olive oil, mint, salt and dash of paprika. Add optional cucumber. Toss together and serve!