Tabouleh (also known as tabbouleh) is a Middle Eastern salad – refreshing, nutritious, and easy to make.

Last week, I had an opportunity to teach a cooking class to a group of medical students at TCU School of Medicine. Tabolueh with Chickpeas is one of the four recipes I shared and showed how a classic tabouleh can be adapted into a complete dish. Tabouleh is a grain-based refreshing salad made with bulgur wheat, fresh herbs, tomatoes, lemon juice, and olive oil. It is typically eaten as a side dish but with an addition of a protein like chickpeas (or any beans/lentils), you can make it into a balanced, plant-forward meal.

There are regional variations of tabouleh, where Lebanese & Syrian tabouleh is heavy on the parsley while Turkish & Armenian tabouleh is bulgur heavy. Depending on your preference and ingredients you have on hand, I am confident that you can adapt the tabouleh recipe to your liking.

I often make meal-worthy salads using my lunch-box chickpea salad recipe with a tabouleh twist so its hearty, nutritious, and flexible with the ingredients. A balanced salad has 3 main components – hearty grains like bulgur, farro, quinoa // protein from lentils/beans like chickpeas, cannelini beans, lentils // lots of fresh veggies and herbs like tomatoes, onion, cucumber, bell peppers, parsley, mint. The seasoning is simple mix of olive oil, lemon juice (or some acid), salt, and pepper.

 

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The recipe I am sharing below makes servings of 4 lunch-size salad or 6-8 servings of side salad. The recipe can be made ahead and enjoyed within 2-3 days.

Tabolueh with Chickpeas

Ingredients

• 1 cup bulgur wheat

• 2 cups water

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas

• 1.5 cup finely chopped fresh parsley (a large bunch of fresh parsley)

• 4 leaves of fresh mint

• 3 large tomatoes

• 2 spring onions (can use 1 small onion chopped)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 tablespoon lemon juice

• salt & black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Rinse the bulgur with cold water, and add it to a pan together with 2 cups of water. Cook until tender, then drain and rise again with cold water. Add the cooked bulgur to a large bowl.

2. Add chickpeas to the bulgur along with finely chopped parsley, mint, tomatoes, green onions.

3. Season with salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice, adding more to taste if needed. Serve cold.

4. Store the leftover in the fridge for 2-3 days.

If you are new to the world of grains and beans, I highly suggest reading the following posts:

• Legumes 101

• Basics of Cooking Legumes

• 29 Healthy Legume Recipes