Tabbouleh

Steps

1. Dice5 min
   seeded, over a bowl
   • bulgur
   • tomato
   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
   • lemon
   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
   • flat-leaf parsley
   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
   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
   • scallion
   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
   • black pepper
   + 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