Recipe: Tabouli (Couscous Salad)

Tabouli is one of my favorite summer salads. If you can be patient and wait for really good, ripe tomatoes the results will be so much better, but if you can’t just use the best ones you can find. It’s easy to make and this will serve about 4:

Tabouli (Couscous Salad)

• 1 cup couscous (rinsed)
• 1-2 medium sized tomatoes, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
• ¾ cup parsley, chopped
• ¾ cup mint, chopped
• 1-2 lemons
• ½ cup good olive oil
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl add the rinsed couscous and ¼ cup of water and let stand for 30 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

While the couscous is soaking, chop the tomatoes, onion, parsley and mint. Add to the bowl with the couscous. Add the juice of ½ lemon, the olive oil, allspice, salt and pepper. Mix well. Taste and add more lemon, allspice and salt to taste. Serve and enjoy!

My verdict:

Usually the hardest thing is waiting until the tomatoes are good. I’ve also made it with yellow tomatoes, which looks pretty and is equally delicious!! I prefer mine with a lot of mint (sometimes exclusively mint), lemon and allspice which is why you should keep mixing and tasting. Depending on your tomatoes, this may be a little dry, so now I always chop them on a cutting board, so I can capture all the juice. You can use a food processor to chop everything (and I do if I’m feeling really lazy) but it’s easy enough to chop it all while the couscous is soaking and you’ll get more consistent pieces. The machine can make the onions and tomatoes into mush too quickly! Often in the summer, this and a large ice tea is what you’ll find me eating for lunch.