Chilled tabbouleh soup

This refreshing soup from Sami Tamimi captures the flavours of tabbouleh but saves you the meticulous fine chopping required for the salad version.

Chilled tabbouleh soup. Credit: Ebury Books / Ola A. Smit

• serves

  4

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  5 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 120 g fine bulgur wheat (burgul)
• 300 ml boiling water
• 500 g tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 10 g fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 5 g fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp red pepper paste
• 1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped (80 g)
• 15 ml lemon juice
• ¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil, plus more for finishing
• ½ tsp Aleppo chilli flakes (or regular chilli flakes)
• ⅛ tsp ground allspice
• ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon

To serve

• 30 g cucumber, chopped into ½ cm dice
• 30 g red capsicum (pepper), chopped into ½cm dice
• 5 g fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 5 g fresh mint, finely shredded

Soaking time: 10 minutes.

Chilling time: at least 1 hour.

Instructions

1. Put 90 g of the bulgur into a medium bowl with the boiling water. Cover the bowl with a plate and set aside for about 10 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed.
2. Put the rest of the soup ingredients into a blender with 1 teaspoon of salt and blitz for 1–2 minutes, until completely smooth.
3. Pour into a bowl, add the soaked bulgur and taste the dish to adjust the seasoning.
4. Cover and refrigerate for an hour (or until ready to serve).
5. Meanwhile, put 2 teaspoons of olive oil into a small frying pan. Add the remaining 30 g of bulgur and fry over a medium–low heat for 3-4 minutes, until the bulgur is toasty and golden brown. Remove the pan from the heat, tip the bulgur on to a plate and set aside to cool down.
6. When ready to serve, ladle the soup into shallow bowls and garnish with the chopped cucumber and pepper, the toasted bulgur, the herbs and a final drizzle of olive oil.

This is an edited extracted from Boustany by Sami Tamimi (Ebury Press, $HB65.00). Photography by Ola O. Smit.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.