Tabbouleh Salad with Couscous

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This delightful Tabbouleh Salad is such a joy to eat. It pairs exceptionally well with some beautiful roasted meats for a hearty dinner. The Tabbouleh Salad originates from Lebanon; a salad rich in beautiful herbs of Mint, Parsley and Cilantro paired with some sharp acidic notes of Lemon. It’s a lovely dish bursting with flavor and helps to cut through the fattiness of your favorite roasts meats

How to make a classic Tabbouleh Salad

The components of a Tabbouleh Salad are very traditional, and you don’t typically see many variations from this in typical Middle Eastern cooking. The core ingredients in a Tabbouleh Salad are the classic combination of Parsley, Cilantro, and Mint. These three herbs are all equally portions out into the salad, and roughly chopped to form the leafy green element of the Salad

The flavor that the combination of these three herbs produce is simply amazing. Intense, herbaceous aromas and flavors are what immediately hits you as soon as a good quality Tabbouleh Salad is in the area. It is important to use fresh Herbs and only cut them right before you’re about to serve the Salad. If you cut the herbs too early, they will begin to lose their flavor and aromas. So as a rule, always cut the herbs right before service

To cut or to tear Herbs?

There is an age-old theory that you must always tear your fresh herbs by hand, and never cut them using a knife. The theory goes that the metallic knife will somehow force the herbs to lose all of their flavors. I can tell you that this is not true, and tearing by hand or cutting will yield the exact same result. We’re fans of cutting with a knife, this way you can get more uniform and even pieces of the three herbs in this Tabbouleh Salad with Couscous dish

The classic Vegetable combination in a Tabbouleh Salad are Tomatoes, Cucumber, and Red Onion

This combination of vegetables is typical of a Tabbouleh Salad, and brings a wonderful flavor, body, and texture to the dish. Each vegetable plays a critical role in the Tabbouleh Salad and, like any other dish, should be good quality and ripe

The Tomato is where a subtle sweetness and acidity in the Salad lies. Tomato also gives a wonderful body to the salad, making it more of a hearty meal. You can use any kind of Tomatoes you like. We would simply recommend you use ripe Tomatoes that are packed full of flavor. Some good choices would be Roma Tomatoes, Heirloom Tomatoes, or Truss Tomatoes

The Cucumber and Red Onion add some vibrancy as well as a wonderful crunchy texture to the Salad. We recommend cutting the vegetables quite finely, so they don’t completely overpower the herbs in the dish. We also recommend cutting all of the vegetables into the same size. This uniformity will help with the overall texture of the dish, and ensure every bite has an equal amount of ingredients in it

How to prepare Couscous

Quite a traditional pairing for Tabbouleh Salad is to combine it with Couscous which adds much more heartiness to the meal. For this recipe we are using Pearl Couscous which is a lovely ingredient and so simple to prepare. Think of preparing Couscous in a similar method to how you would prepare rice; bring to boil 1 ½ cup of salted water with 1 cup of couscous. Boil until al-dente, approximately 8 – 10 minutes. For this recipe, leave to cool before combining with the salad as it is a cold served salad. That’s it! Easy

I remember eating Tabbouleh Salads as a kid at our local Lebanese restaurant. Which I guess at the time in the late 80’s / early 90’s was definitely a bit rarer to find around town. This restaurant who is unfortunately now long gone had these brilliant Tabbouleh Salads which were just overflowing with herbs and freshness. This recipe gets pretty close to replicating that beautiful salad

Tabbouleh Salad with Couscous Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup Pearl Couscous
• 1 ½ cups of Water
• 1 cup Parsley, chopped
• 1 cup Cilantro, chopped
• 1 cup Mint, chopped
• 1 Cucumber, deseeded and diced
• 2 Large Tomatoes, deseeded and diced
• ½ Red Onion, finely diced
• 4 tbsp. Olive Oil
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 1 tsp Red Chili Flakes
• Salt and Pepper
  
  

Instructions

1. Begin by making the couscous by bringing the Water to a boil in a saucepan. Add a tsp of Salt then add the Couscous and cook until al-dente which takes approximately 8 – 10 minutes. The Couscous should be tender but have a little bit of resistance and chew when eaten. Drain and set aside to cool
2. In a salad bowl combine the Olive Oil, Lemon, 1 tsp. Salt and ½ tsp. Pepper and whisk thoroughly
3. Add the Parsley, Cilantro and Mint into the salad bowl. Combine well to coat the herbs with the salad dressing
4. Finally, add the Cucumber, Tomatoes, Red Onion, Chili Flakes and Couscous into the salad. Toss Salad so all the ingredients are combined and then you’re ready to serve
   
   

Enjoy this lovely Salad on its own or pair it with this beautiful Roast Lamb recipe here to go all out on a middle eastern feast. What’s more, as always this recipe will likely give you some leftovers. Put some salad and lamb into some pita (or Tortilla) and make a fantastic Lamb Kebab! You can find our simple recipe here

If you enjoyed this Tabbouleh Salad with Couscous dish then we highly recommend you check out these recipes:

• Hearty Vegetable Soup
• Greek Pasta Salad
• Roast Vegetable Lentil Salad
• Spicy Kale Chips
  
  

Happy Cooking!