Author Notes
This recipe has the potential to offend both charoset purists and tabbouleh purists, but combining the two is well worth the risk. After Passover this year, I had some leftover charoset (the Passover Charoset from Louisa Shafia's The New Persian Kitchen cookbook- it's the very best) and I needed a side dish for dinner. I had all the ingredients for tabbouleh (bulgur, lemon, and an herb garden) on hand, but no tomatoes, so I decided to mix the leftover charoset in instead. I used Ottolenghi's tabbouleh recipe from his Jerusalem cookbook as inspiration for this recipe. I love this tabbouleh even more than the traditional tomato-y one and hope you do too. —arielleclementine
Ingredients
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1/2 cup
bulgur wheat
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4
medjool dates, chopped fine
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1
crisp apple, chopped fine
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1
small shallot, chopped fine (about 1/4 cup)
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1/4 cup
walnuts, chopped fine
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1/4 cup
almonds, chopped fine
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1/4 cup
extra virgin olive oil
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1 tablespoon
honey
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1-2
lemons
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1/2 teaspoon
ground cinnamon
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1
large bunch flat leaf parsley (about 4 oz)
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1
small bunch mint (about 1 oz)
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kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
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Bring a quart of water to boil in a 2 qt saucepan with a lid. Stir the bulgur wheat and some kosher salt into the boiling water, cover, remove from the heat, and let sit for 10 minutes. Then, drain the bulgur into a fine mesh sieve and set the sieve over the pot so the bulgur can dry out and cool a bit.
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Meanwhile, combine the chopped dates, apple, shallot, walnuts, and almonds in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, honey, cinnamon, and the juice of one lemon and mix well. Add the drained bulgur and mix again.
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Shave the parsley leaves off the stems and chop them finely. Pull the mint leaves off their stems and chop them finely too. Toss gently into the bulgur/charoset mixture and season to taste with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and more lemon juice as desired.
I have always loved food. My favorite books as a kid always featured food (eg. The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies- so much candy!) and I loved cooking shows like Yan Can Cook and The Frugal Gourmet. I started cooking the Thanksgiving dinner for my family when I was 13 years old. I have food52 to thank for inspiring me to come up with my own recipes, as well as for introducing me to a community of fantastic cooks and their amazing recipes. I try my best to cook locally and seasonally, and I tend to prefer straightforward, simple recipes where the ingredients get to shine. I live in wonderful Austin, Texas with my husband, Andy (a video game programmer) and my son, Henry (an 8-month-old who loves to eat).
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