Deluxe Taboule

Taboule is one of those foods that my husband and I could eat every day and probably would if it didn't rely so much on a vast amount of chopping, the freshness of its ingredients, and had to be made fresh as it goes pretty soggy over a couple of days.

Taboule can go extremely simple - chopped tomatoes and bulgur, cucumber and bulgur - so it can be made even when you don't have all of your favorite ingredients. The three things you must always have, though, are bulgur wheat, lemons, and olive oil. Apart from that, the combination of ingredients is up to you.

We occassionally have a happy confluence of ingredients at hand, and that is when we can throw them all in for a world-class taboule-fest. So I bring you our version of a deluxe, chock-a-block taboule:

• 1 or 2 cups bulgur, minimally soaked to soften (I have recently discovered it does not have to be soaked in hot water from the kettle - any temperature water will do, and may determine the length of time that it soaks, which is never very much as it is, particularly as you will be adding some very wet ingredients that will continue the softening process)
• as many diced tomatoes as you can handle
• 1 or 2 diced cucumbers (I will always and forever buy English cucumbers, not only because they were what I was raised with, but because they have a more delicate flavor, and do not overwhelm the eater with enormous seeds)
  

Chuck these wet ingredients on top of the presoaked bulgur first, and add a hefty swig of olive oil and the juice of a lemon and a shake of salt to taste.

Then add the fragrant green things - parsley, scallions, and mint. You can add an entire bunch of parsley - I always chop it using the kitchen shears, like I'm giving the bunch a haircut. It's effective.

And voila! A delicious salad.