Tabule salad: the Turkish way with bulgur, lemon and mint

Ask for tabule in a café in Beirut and you get a green salad: a mountain of chopped parsley with a few grains of bulgur hiding in it. Ask for tabule at a family lunch in İzmir and you get something closer to a grain salad, where the bulgur is the base and the herbs are generous but not in charge. Neither is wrong. They are two neighbours cooking the same idea with different instincts, and the Turkish one happens to be the version I grew up eating on spring afternoons, spooned next to grilled fish or a plate of stuffed vine leaves.

This is how I make it now in Lisbon, where the parsley at the market comes in bunches the size of a small tree and the lemons still have their leaves on. It is a fresh, sharp, filling salad that takes about half an hour, most of which is chopping.

How Turkish tabule differs from its cousins

People mix up three salads, so here they are side by side. The amounts are rough proportions by volume once everything is in the bowl.

The line between Turkish tabule and kısır is the one that confuses people most. Kısır is kneaded with red pepper paste and tomato paste until every grain turns red, then dressed with pomegranate molasses. Tabule stays pale and clean. The bulgur is softened with water and lemon, then tossed with the herbs rather than worked by hand. You taste parsley, mint and lemon first, and the grain carries them.

Choosing and softening the bulgur

Use fine bulgur, the kind sold for kısır and köfte, which looks almost like coarse semolina. Coarse bulgur is for pilaf and will make the salad chewy and heavy. If you only have coarse, you can still make it, but give it a short simmer first (see the guide to cooking bulgur) and let it cool completely.

Fine bulgur needs no cooking at all. You pour liquid over it and wait. The question is how much liquid, and here is the ratio I keep coming back to after many soggy and many crunchy bowls:

• 170 g (1 cup) fine bulgur
• 150 ml just-boiled water
• 30 ml lemon juice (2 tbsp)

That is a little under one part liquid to one part grain by volume. It looks too dry when you pour it in. Cover the bowl with a plate and leave it for 15 minutes, and the grains will swell and stay separate. Press a few between your fingers: they should be tender with a faint bite, not mushy and not gritty. If they are still hard in the centre, sprinkle over another tablespoon of hot water and cover again for five minutes.

Adding some lemon juice to the soaking liquid is a small habit worth keeping. The grain drinks it in, so the sourness runs through the whole salad instead of sitting on the surface.

The herbs: how to chop without bruising

The parsley should be flat-leaf. Curly parsley is fine in a pinch, but it is tougher and holds water in its frills. Wash the bunches well, then dry them properly: spin them, or roll them in a clean tea towel and leave them on the counter while the bulgur soaks. Wet herbs make a wet salad.

Use a sharp knife and chop with long, rocking strokes. A blunt knife or a food processor crushes the leaves and turns them dark and juicy. I pick the leaves off the thickest stalks, but the thin upper stems are tender and full of flavour, so they go in.

Mint is the second voice. Fresh mint leaves, chopped just before mixing, plus a teaspoon of dried mint, which has a deeper, slightly dusty taste that Turkish cooks like in salads. If your fresh mint is very strong, use a little less.

Tomatoes, cucumber and onion

Tabule is a spring and summer salad, and it is only as good as its tomatoes. Dice them small, about the size of a chickpea, and let them sit in a sieve with a pinch of salt for ten minutes so the extra juice drips away. Keep the juice: a spoonful in the dressing is lovely.

Cucumber is optional in many homes. I add one small one, seeded and diced, because it keeps the salad cool and crisp. Spring onions are better than raw red onion here, sliced thinly with most of their green. A long, mild green pepper, the kind sold as çarliston or sivri at Turkish markets, adds a fresh bite if you can find one.

The dressing and the timing

The dressing is simply good olive oil, lemon juice, salt, dried mint and a little pul biber (the mild, oily red pepper flakes). Some cooks add a teaspoon of pomegranate molasses for depth. I like it, but go lightly or you drift towards kısır.

Mix the bulgur and dressing first, then fold in the vegetables and herbs at the end. The herbs wilt once they meet salt and acid, so tabule is at its best within an hour or two of dressing. If you are cooking ahead, keep the softened bulgur, the chopped vegetables and the herbs in separate containers in the fridge and combine them just before the meal.

Recipe

Turkish tabule with bulgur, lemon and mint

Serves 6 as a side or meze, 4 as a light lunch

Prep

30 min

Cook

0 min

Rest

15 min

Total

45 min

Amounts in

cups & spoons grams & ml

Bulgur

• 1 cup170 g fine bulgur
• 2/3 cup150 ml just-boiled water
• 2 tbsp30 ml lemon juice

Salad

• 2 large bunches120 g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 small bunch20 g fresh mint leaves, chopped
• 3 medium3 medium ripe tomatoes, finely diced and drained
• 1 small1 small cucumber, seeded and diced
• 55 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 11 long mild green pepper, finely chopped (optional)

Dressing

• 1/3 cup80 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp45 ml lemon juice
• 1 tsp1 tsp dried mint
• 1/2 tsp1/2 tsp pul biber (mild red pepper flakes)
• 1 tsp6 g fine salt, or to taste

Method

1. Put the bulgur in a wide bowl, pour over the just-boiled water and 2 tbsp lemon juice, stir once, cover with a plate and leave for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, toss the diced tomatoes with a pinch of salt and leave them in a sieve over a bowl to drain.
3. Wash and dry the parsley and mint thoroughly, then chop them finely with a sharp knife.
4. Fluff the bulgur with a fork and test a few grains; they should be tender with a slight bite. If still hard, add 1 tbsp hot water and cover for 5 minutes more.
5. Whisk the olive oil, remaining lemon juice, dried mint, pul biber and salt in a small bowl, adding a spoonful of the tomato juice.
6. Pour the dressing over the bulgur and mix well with a fork, breaking up any clumps.
7. Add the tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions and green pepper and fold together.
8. Fold in the parsley and mint last, taste, and adjust with more salt or lemon. Serve within 2 hours.

Cook's notes

• To prepare ahead, keep the soaked bulgur, chopped vegetables and herbs in separate covered containers in the fridge for up to a day and mix just before serving.
• For a gluten-free table, the same dressing and herbs work with cooked and cooled quinoa.

Making it for a crowd

Tabule scales easily, but the chopping does not. For a table of 18, triple everything: 510 g (3 cups) fine bulgur, 450 ml water and 90 ml lemon juice for soaking. That is about six large bunches of parsley, which takes one person roughly 25 minutes to wash, dry and chop well. Split the herbs between two cooks, or wash and dry them the evening before, wrap them loosely in a towel and keep them in the fridge. Dress the salad in two batches so the first half does not sit wilting while you finish the second.

Variations from different kitchens

• Add a handful of chopped walnuts for a richer salad that holds better on a buffet.
• Swap half the lemon juice for a teaspoon of pomegranate molasses in the dressing.
• In late summer, add a small bunch of chopped purslane (semizotu) along with the parsley.
• For a gluten-free version, use cooked and cooled quinoa instead of bulgur; the quinoa salad works on the same lines.

What to eat it with

Tabule belongs on a meze table next to stuffed vine leaves, white cheese, olives and warm bread. It is good with grilled chicken, lamb chops or a whole grilled fish, where its lemon and parsley cut through the smoke. For a simple lunch I eat a bowl of it with a boiled egg, a few green olives and a wedge of crumbly cheese on the side. The next day, if any is left, it goes into a wrap with leftover köfte, which is reason enough to make a full batch.