my favourite dish

When I try to think of my favourite dish, it’s not sticky toffee pudding (though it’s divine) or blue cheese (the orgasmic guilty pleasure) that comes to mind. No, it’s something far healthier but so alive with flavour it’s almost unreal. I had a hankering for it last night, and stopped off on the way home to pick up a cucumber, as it was the only ingredient I was missing.

Once home I headed straight for the kitchen, slicing that cucumber, scooping out the seeds, and then chopping finely. Into a bowl they went, covered with the juice of ¾ of a lemon. Next, I chopped up a few tomatoes (admittedly not at their best at this time of year, but I was on a mission.)

Out comes the food processor, ready to take on two generous handfuls of parsley and a smaller one of mint. With those lovely fragrant herbs added to the mix, I then added a couple of spices – salt, pepper and cumin.

Now actually, I could have stopped here and enjoyed what is a rather mouthwatering salad. But two ingredients more and I knew I’d be in seventh heaven. So in goes the crumbled feta and, once it has been softened with freshly boiled water and the remaining juice from the lemon, the bulgur wheat.

Tabbouleh. O ye of the mezze. It’s so amazing. I’ve got so much respect for this little dish-that-could. The flavours are so tangy, so light. Each spoonful is a joy for my entire mouth. (That might sound silly, but to me, it really means something, the fact that this dish awakens so many taste buds.)

I don’t think my recipe would match those of the Greeks and Turks that eat it regularly – for one, they don’t use feta. And I believe they use even more parsley than I do. (Which doesn’t surprise me – I actually wouldn’t mind eating parsley by the mouthful sometimes. And just to be clear, I mean flat-leaf parsley, not the curly variety.)

Eat it as a salad on its own (as I’m doing today for lunch) – or as a side dish with chicken (just grilled), fish (haddock with fresh thyme perhaps?), lamb (lean meatballs?) or beef. It’s perfect on a mezze plate with other Mediterranean classics like hummus, roasted aubergine, stuffed vine leaves, tzatziki… I could go on. And it’s healthy – my version doesn’t have a lick of olive oil, and to be honest, it doesn’t need it. It’s light for a reason. You must make it.

Here are the ingredients I use – and the quantities – to make two salads:

1 medium cucumber
3 tomatoes
2 large handfuls of parsley, stalks removed
1 small handful of mint, stalks removed
1 large lemon
1 tsp cumin
salt and black pepper
50 g feta
100 g dry bulgur wheat, soaked in freshly boiled water for thirty minutes, then rinsed with cold water

Tell me what you think...or what your favourite dish that's actually healthy is!