The name of this recipe happens to contain two words that I have to look up every time I want to spell them. I can never remember if couscous is one or two (one) words and tabbouleh is just impossible for me to remember. So, couscous tabbouleh is kind of a spelling nightmare, but the recipe is so good I’ll give it a shot.
Fortunately, Google knows me well so when I type “Tabbuollehhh” it tells me what I need to know in only a mildly condescending way. (“Did you mean tabula A fool like you?”)
While you can use any number of grains for this recipe (or classic bulgur which is what’s usually on the tabbouleh), I think couscous makes a wonderful base for this salad.
If you want to use something like quinoa (an equally weird word to spell), just find all the couscous instances in this couscous dip recipe and replace them with quinoa. Complete a deal!
What is tabula traditionally?
Traditionally, tabbouleh is made with wheat bulgur as a base and then lots of fresh herbs and vegetables are mixed in. The most important part of a good tabola is actually the fresh parsley. A traditional tabbouleh will have almost equal parts of parsley and bulgur.
I toned down the parsley a bit for this version and added some mint as well.
Cooking the couscous for this salad
This time I used couscous, but I made this stuff with wheat grains, quinoa and even rice pilaf.
Couscous actually has a very similar appearance and texture to traditional bulgur so it works really well.
Couscous is as easy as cooking. You should always check the cooking instructions for your specific type because it may vary slightly, but basically you just add one cup of water for every cup of dried couscous to the pot and bring it to a boil.
Throw in a little butter (maybe a tablespoon) and a pinch of salt. After the water boils, stir in the couscous, cover the pot and turn off the heat.
Five minutes later, you’ll have this light, fluffy couscous that you can use for all sorts of things.
Lemon garlic sauce
This salad has a very simple dressing. It really only has three ingredients (garlic, olive oil, lemon) but this may be the most important part of the tabbouleh.
It is easy to prepare. Crush a clove of garlic in a bowl with a fork and then add the lemon juice.
Whisk in the olive oil to combine the sauce and you should end up with this bright yellow sauce that will be quite acidic and delicious.
You may not want (or need) all the sauce so just pour it in a bowl and save it for later.
Adding the vegetables and herbs
In my opinion there are only two requirements for a good tableau. First, some fresh vegetables like tomatoes or cucumbers.
Second, a metric ton of fresh herbs, most importantly flat parsley, but mint also helps.
Just seed and peel the cucumber and then dice it. If you can find them, the mini cucumbers are nice in this salad too.
For the tomato you can use larger vine-ripened tomatoes, roughly chopped or use about a cup of cherry tomatoes that you can quarter.
Then throw it all together.
Add the sauce in small portions. I ended up using all of mine, but you might want to use less. Remember it’s always easier to add more later.
Season the couscous tabbouleh with salt and pepper and you are set!
What to serve with this couscous tabbouleh
This couscous tabbouleh can be served as a side dish to any number of dishes (baked falafel perhaps) or it can be a meal on its own.
Served with warm pita bread, it makes a fantastic light lunch.
It’s also a great side to any grilled recipe like this grilled chicken or maybe even a whole grilled fish would be a wonderful combination.
This couscous dip salad works great in the summer. That plus some lemonade and some sweet would make a really good picnic.
It’s not heavy at all and has lots of bright, fresh summer flavors.
It takes less than twenty minutes to throw together and that’s twenty minutes well spent.
My couscous tabbouleh recipe
Couscous tabbouleh
A simple tabbouleh recipe made with couscous and lots of fresh vegetables and herbs. Light and fresh and perfect for a healthy lunch!
- 1 ½ cups couscous Cooked according to the package
- ¼ Goblet lemon juice
- ¼ Goblet Olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic ground
- 1 A large cucumber Peeled, seeded, chopped
- 1 Goblet Chopped tomatoes
- ⅔ Goblet Fresh parsley ground
- ½ Goblet Fresh mint ground
- salt and pepper
- Pita to serve
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Cook couscous according to the package. This usually involves bringing 1 cup of water for every cup of uncooked couscous to a boil in a pot along with a tablespoon of butter and a pinch of salt. After boiling, stir in couscous, turn off the heat and let sit covered for about 5 minutes. Then fluff with a fork.
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Add lemon juice to a bowl and mash in garlic. Then whisk in olive oil to create a sauce.
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Add two-three tablespoons of sauce to the prepared couscous and mix to combine.
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Peel and seed cucumber and dice. Add to couscous.
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Grind parsley and mint and mix into the couscous. Drizzle the rest of the dressing over the mixture and season the whole salad with salt and pepper. Stir in tomatoes last.
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Or serve as a side dish or with pita bread.
dose: 1bowlCalories: 264KKLCarbohydrates: 38Gprotein: 7GFat: 10GSaturated fat: 1GPolyunsaturated fat: 1GUnsaturated fat: 7Gsodium: 68mgpotassium: 288mgfiber: 3GSugar: 2Gvitamin: 804IUVitamin C: 20mgcalcium: 51mgiron: 2mg
did you do that?
Take a picture and tag @macheesmo So I can see your work.
