Parsley and Jicama Bulgur Salad

Parsley and Jicama Bulgur Salad

Tabbouleh Variations

He cooks, she eats, they blog.  That's the core of what we're doing here, and here's a simple recipe that I tossed together (literally, hah) for Christa for a late lunch today while she is out on the slopes.

I like tabbouleh because there is no end to the variety of ingredients that you can add to a cold bulgur wheat salad.  It travels very well, it's easy to make and store beforehand, and it's a handy way to utilize leftover vegetables that you may have laying around from some other project.  For this particular variation, which serves two, you will need the following:

• 1/2 cup bulgur wheat
• 1 large bunch parsley
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1/3 cup of lemon juice
• 1/2 cup of diced jicama 
• 1/3 cup of good olive oil
• salt/pepper

1. Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water over the wheat and let sit for about an hour.  The wheat will absorb all of the water and then cool down to room temperature while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. Dice the tomatoes and jicama.  Toss them with salt, pepper, and the lemon juice in a large bowl.  I was able to get all of this juice out of a single monstrosity of a lemon - you may or many not need more than one.
3. Pick all of the leaves off of the parsley and reserve the stems for another project (I save them to put into smoothies, but that's up to you).  Shred the leaves coarsely by hand and then fold them into the other vegetables.
4. Toss the cooled bulgur wheat into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and toss around to coat well with the lemon juice.  Let this sit for a few minutes, as the wheat will absorb the juice very well right now, but not so well once it is coated in oil.
5. Before serving, drizzle the olive oil over the salad while you toss to stir.  Feel free to add less or more as you see fit.  The oil gives body and substance to the dish along with great depth of flavor, and plays well with the bright acidity of the lemon.  Finish with salt and pepper to taste.

I packed this up as a complete lunch with two hard boiled eggs and a little bit of crystallized ginger, as you can see below.  Protip: peel the eggs* if you are going to pack them for a lunch; the recipient will have a much easier time dealing with them when it is time to eat.

I don't have my camera with me today, so here's a low resolution cell-phone shot.  Not exactly food porn, but I want to include some kind of visual here for you:

These divided containers are really great

*Peeling hard boiled eggs:  We like to boil them a dozen at a time and store in the fridge for easy snacking later on.  The easiest way to peel an egg out of the fridge is to put it in a coffee mug and pour boiling water over it.  Let it sit there for just a minute - the temperature change will cause the shell to expand slightly and pull the shell membrane away from the egg white.  Peeling it while the shell is warm is very easy, and you won't spend 5 minutes picking little bits of stuff shell off of your eggs later on when it's time to eat them on the go.