Theoretically, this entry should’ve been made yesterday. But you see, when I made this tabouleh, it was 8:00 in the morning… At around 9:00 (I was running late, of course!), I just put it there on the corner of the table, without any other form of ceremony snapped a couple of pictures quick quick and then hit the road only to return very late in the evening. After spending well over 7 hours on the road, my bed was calling me big time and I didn’t feel like downloading pictures and writing a post… I figured the tabouleh would look just as good in the morning!
You see, it was my nephew’s birthday yesterday. He turned 4! For the occasion, my brother had organized a little party and asked everyone to bring something to eat. I chose to bring this delicious hummus, pita breads and tabouleh. I have enjoyed this wonderful salad many times before in my life, but had never made one myself, so I had to get a lot of inspiration from the Net. In doing so, I learned that bulgur doesn’t need to be cooked. To think that all this time I’ve been cooking it like I would rice. But really, you only need to let it soak in water. If you are in a hurry, you start it in in boiling water (2 parts water for 1 part bulgur) then let it sit, covered, for about 25 minutes. If you have more time on your hands, you just soak it in cold water for a couple of hours then drain it when it’s become nice and soft. It’s as simple as that. Now that I know how to properly make bulgur, I will be having it more often! And now that I know just how easy tabouleh is to make, I will be having that way more often too!
And my sister in law, she had made this chocolate cake, which was absolutely amazing. It was her first attempt at baking a cake from scratch and she did a pretty good job, really! Seriously, I could’ve sworn that cake had been made with whole wheat flour. It really had that “healthy” feeling to it. But apparently, she used all purpose unbleached flour, not whole wheat as I suspected she might have. The texture of that cake was so interesting. It was crumbly, yet super moist, smooth, yet chewy and sort of “grainy” like the feeling you get from bran, but very subtle… most interesting really. It seriously inspired me to try and make a healthy(ish) version of a chocolate cake… Of course, I ended up eating way too much of it. Well, I ended up eating way too much of everything, but at least, most of that “everything” was healthy!
Oh, and I also had this drink: a pisco sour. Now, that stuff is really good!!! A word of warning though, for someone like me, who doesn’t drink much (anymore), this is an extremely strong drink that has to be handled with care. I already felt tipsy after drinking only one! The drink is made from 3 parts pisco, 1 part lime juice, 1 part sugar, some egg whites and a bunch of ice cubes. Everything goes in the blender for a couple of minutes until it becomes foamy and served with a dash of Agostura bitters. Good stuff!
Making tabouleh couldn’t be easier!
Soak bulgur in cold water for a couple of hours; Drain well.
Chop all the vegetables super fine, mix all the ingredients together, let sit for a couple of hours if you can for the flavors to develop and enjoy!