Tabbouleh has long been a meze staple in the Middle East, but these days it can be found in the refrigerator case of virtually every American supermarket. Its brief (and healthful) ingredient list explains its popularity: Chopped fresh parsley and mint, tomatoes, onion, and bits of nutty bulgur are tossed with lemon and olive oil for a refreshing appetizer or side dish.
Bulgur is made by boiling, drying, and grinding wheat kernels, so it only needs to be reconstituted in cool water. But specific advice on how to prepare the grains is all over the map. We experimented with innumerable permutations of time and amount of water until we found the best of each. And instead of water, we used a combination of lemon juice and the water drained from our tomatoes, which we salted to draw out their liquid. Soaking the grains in a flavorful liquid only made sense for a salad that can taste washed out.
Next up, we found the optimal quantities of herbs that put the emphasis on the bright, peppery parsley but didn’t discount the lemony bulgur and refreshing mint. As for the rest of the salad, extra-virgin olive oil tempered the tart lemon juice, and a few chopped ripe tomatoes—salted to draw out their liquid—and sliced scallions rounded out the mix. A smidge of cayenne pepper along with the usual salt and pepper added zing. We added the mix-ins while the bulgur was still soaking, which allowed the whole lot time to mingle, resulting in a perfectly well-balanced dish.
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