I love the freshness of a beautiful taboulleh, and it was something that I really missed when we first went gluten-free. I’ve always had a herb garden, and parsley is an absolute staple. It’s a shame really that it’s mostly used as a garnish rather than a vegetable in it’s own right, as it’s bright, fresh flavour can lift any dish. In addition, it’s an excellent source of both vitamin C and iron.
So when the garden is bursting with homegrown tomatoes, and parsley is a-plenty, it’s just screaming out to make a big bowl of taboulleh. Because I couldn’t use burghul (cracked wheat) anymore, I decided to give quinoa a go and see how it turned out. What do you know, it worked brilliantly! It’s not as starchy and stodgy as rice, and isn’t in big pieces like gluten-free pasta (which tends to go quite hard when it’s cold), it was a perfect match!
Drizzled with some fruity olive oil and a splash of fresh lemon juice, this is a gorgeous salad to brighten up a barbeque, or to have with some lamb kofta and a big dollop of coconut yoghurt (infused with garlic and a bit more parsley).
Taboulleh
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa rinsed well and drained
- 3 cups parsley, fresh firmly packed, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp mint, fresh finely chopped
- 1 tbsp lemon verbena, fresh optional - finely chopped
- 3 green onions finely sliced
- 2 tomato diced
- 1 cucumber seeds removed and diced
- 1 lemon juiced and zested
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Bring 1 litre of water to the boil in a pot and add the drained quinoa.
- Cook for 15 minutes, then drain well.
- Cool to room temperature.
- Combine cooled quinoa and remaining ingredients in a bowl and toss to combine thoroughly.
