Tabbouleh

Method

1. dice5 min
   seeded, over a bowl
   tomato + a pinch of the salt, catching every drop of juice — that juice is the only liquid the bulgur gets, and it is why the grain tastes of the salad instead of of water
2. rest15 min
   room temperature, covered
   dry bulgur + the collected tomato juice + lemon juice, stirred once; fine bulgur is already parboiled and cracked, so it swells cold in about a quarter hour and stays toothsome. Boiling it here is what turns tabbouleh into wet pilaf
3. mince10 min
   bone-dry herbs, sharpest knife
   parsley leaves and tender stems, gathered tight and cut in long strokes rather than chopped repeatedly. Wet parsley slides under the blade and bruises; a dull knife crushes the cell walls and the salad turns khaki and bitter within the hour. You want threads, not paste — this is the dish, and it should out-measure the grain roughly ten to one
4. mince3 min
   stacked leaves, one pass
   mint leaves, cut once and not revisited — mint oxidises black faster than any other herb in the bowl, so it is the last thing minced and it gets a single pass
5. mix2 min
   undressed
   minced parsley + mint + scallion + drained tomato + swollen bulgur, tossed with the fingers to keep the herbs loose rather than packed
6. season2 min
   immediately before serving
   + olive oil first, then remaining salt + black pepper + more lemon to taste. Oil before salt coats the leaves and slows the osmosis; salt alone on raw parsley draws water out within minutes and puddles the bowl. Taste for sourness last — the bulgur has already absorbed a third of the lemon you added