Tabbouleh, a Required Recipe

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Everybody needs a recipe for tabbouleh, the Middle Eastern bulgur and parsley salad that is part of any good mezze. (Bulgur: tiny, parboiled wheat that usually only needs to be soaked in hot water for a few minutes to prepare. Mezze: a spread of small dishes or appetizers that is a lot of fun to make and eat.)

Tabbouleh

Yields: 4 servings or so
Time to make: ~30 minutes

• 1 ¼ cup water
• 1 cup bulgur
• ½ cup parsley, minced
• 1 ½ tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 scallions, minced
• 2 tbsp. mint (optional)
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 cucumber, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Bring the water to a boil. Stir in the bulgur. Let the water return to a boil, then remove from the heat and cover. Let sit for 30 minutes without removing the lid. Drain. Toss with the remaining ingredients.

Hummus: Simple and Easy

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Hummus and other Middle Eastern/Mediterranean foods have become very popular lately, and with good reason. They are not only delicious, but usually chock full of things that are good for you, while low in fat. But I have to say that grocery stores and Mediterranean delis have a good scam going selling prepared hummus. If you have a food processor, it is dead easy to make it yourself, just the way you like it. And the cost of a can of chickpeas is much lower than the cost of a small tub of prepared hummus.

I love to keep hummus around for a quick lunch or snack. I’ll eat it on pita, regular bread, crostini or in a wrap with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber. It’s a great picnic food or a nice addition to a party spread. Hummus keeps for about a week in the refrigerator.

I don’t have a set recipe for making hummus. Each time I make it just a bit differently, experimenting with the amounts, spices and herbs. The following recipe provides suggested amounts, but taste and adjust as you go to your own preferences.

Quick tip: A recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated had an article on hummus. In it, they suggested processing the chickpeas and spices first, then adding the liquids separately through the feed tube. I tried this, and it resulted in a lighter, smoother hummus. While this step is not necessary, and you may want to omit it if you like your hummus chunkier, I include it below because it did improve the texture for me.

Hummus

Process together:

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• ½-1 tsp. cumin, or to taste
• pinch cayenne
• salt
• 1 tbsp. parsley

While the food processor is running, pour in:

• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. tahini blended with 2 tbsp. olive oil

If the hummus isn’t the desired consistency, add a few tablespoons water. Garnish with minced parsley, toasted sesame seeds and maybe a drizzle of olive oil.

Notes: Adjust amounts freely to your tastes. Some people like a good deal more tahini than I do, for instance. I have substituted other spices for the cumin with good results, such as smoked paprika. You may also want to add more garlic or parsley, use paprika instead of cayenne, or even throw in some roasted red peppers. There are no rules — or at least there shouldn’t be.

How to Make Rice Pilaf

Did you know that some parts of the world are currently experiencing food crises? A perfect storm of high energy prices, drought (possibly caused by climate change), increasing demand in countries like China and India, and usage of grains for biofuels instead of food is contributing to shortages of key staples like wheat, corn and rice. This has led to food riots in Haiti and Egypt. But food shortages also hit us close to home, as we see higher prices in the grocery store and some stores like Costco are even limiting how much rice customers can buy.

If rice is a staple in your diet, as it is for billions of people, this all adds up to some very bad news. In our household, we don’t eat rice very much, for the very specific reason that there are only two of us and I always have to make at least 5 servings of rice. It is very difficult to cut down the proportions of rice and water and still end up with well-cooked rice. So if we have to cut it out, we probably won’t miss it as much as we would bread or pasta, but wheat products are also getting more expensive. I guess we can always eat potatoes.

When I do make rice, however, I prefer making it pilaf-style. Rice pilaf originated in the Middle East but is the standard way to cook rice in Mediterranean and Latin American cuisines as well. Once learned, the pilaf method is a fairly foolproof way of achieving fluffy, moist rice, which is how I like it. Also, rice pilaf is a versatile recipe that can be augmented with all kinds of add-ins.

Rice pilaf with roasted zucchini and red peppers.

The important thing when cooking pilaf is to achieve the right proportion of rice and cooking liquid, usually water or chicken stock. I have tried many pilaf recipes, and I have had the best results with using 1½ cups of liquid per 1 cup of rice. This is not the same as the directions on the box, by the way. Technically, this makes 5 servings, although as a side dish, you can probably serve 6-8, depending on how much your guests like rice.

Here is the method:

Rice Pilaf

Time to make: ~30 minutes for white rice; 1 hour for brown rice
Yields: 5-6 servings

What you need:

• 2 tbsp. butter or olive oil
• 1 sm. onion, diced
• 1½ cups water, chicken stock or other cooking liquid
• 1 cup rice

1. Heat the oil or butter over medium.
2. Saute the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the rice and saute until coated in the fat and translucent, 1 minute.
4. Add the liquid, stir and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat to low and cover tightly.
6. Simmer until the liquid has evaporated, 15-18 minutes for white rice; brown rice takes quite a bit longer to cook, up to 45 minutes.
7. Remove the pot from the heat and fluff the rice with a fork; let the pot stand, covered, another 10 minutes.

Notes: Make pilaf more interesting. Here are some ideas. Add ground spices with the rice and stir to coat the grains. Add canned tomatoes and cook with the tomato liquid or use other liquids to vary the flavors. Stir in fresh herbs, grated cheese or cooked vegetables during the standing time. Make it a meal by mixing with cooked meat.

What do you do with leftover rice? I like to make fried rice for breakfast or lunch the next day.