Hoppy Tabbouleh
Tabbouleh or tabouli is a vegetarian | vegan salad made with cracked wheat called bulgur. This wheat is cooked and cooled, then mixed with parsley, mint, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and mixed with a lemon olive oil dressing. It’s a staple in many Middle Eastern countries and is served alongside a variety of dishes. Hoppy Tabbouleh is my Beer Cuisine | Cooking with Beer riff on this staple recipe.
As tabbouleh is made with herbs like parsley and mint, the flavor of some hops, mimic these herb attributes. With lemon juice being a souring agent, in the dressing, that is mixed into this grain salad, hops can also play a roll in the flavor of the final recipe. I used dried hops, to bring the traditional flavors of citrus, while using an America IPA, to bring not just the citrus elements, but also the lower pH, that lemon juice would add to the salad. As the beer dressing isn’t cooked, the hop characters stay in balance, not intensifying as if the beer was cooked. This is especially important with an APA | IPA | DIPA, as brewers use a large amount of hops, in the boil, when brewing these beer styles, but in the whirlpool | hop back when chilling the wort, and dry hopping, as the beer ferments. These hop oils are very fragile and when exposed to heat, will become very bitter.
Adding crunch, texture and flavor, onions, tomatoes (in this version, I use sun-dried tomatoes for extra intensity and increased umami), garlic and extra virgin olive oil and combined with an IPA, to season this Hoppy Tabbouleh salad and create a delicious side dish, accompanying other Middle Eastern | Mediterranean dishes like Beer Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, Middle Eastern Falafel, Homemade Pita Beer Bread, Turkish Lamb Köfte with Stout, Middle Eastern Cucumber Salad, Za’atar Roasted Eggplant, and more recipes…
This recipe is a wonderful addition to a warm Summer feast, used to make a sandwich | shawarma, or used as a cold grain salad with other roasted | grilled vegetables.
Serves: 4 as a salad or 6 in a wrap | sandwich | shawarma
Adapted from BeerAdvocate Magazine: Cuisine à la Bière | Mar 2015 | Issue #98
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 - 6 people | 8 minute |
| Cook Time |
| 20 minute |
|
|
|
|
Hoppy Tabbouleh | tabouli is a vegetarian | vegan salad made with a cracked wheat called bulgur, dried hops, parsley, mint, onions, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and tossed in an IPA beer infused dressing.
|
- 2 cup water boiling
- 1 cup wheat, bulgur
- 1 teaspoon salt, kosher
- 4 each tomatoes, sun dried, chopped
- 1/2 each onion, red, peeled and minced
- 2 each garlic, cloves peeled and
- 2 cup parsley, Italian leaf washed, stems removed and minced
- 1/2 cup mint, washed, stems removed and minced
- 1 tablespoon hops, dried, cones, such as Centenial, Cascade or Amarillo, minced
- 3 tablespoon oil, olive, extra virgin,
- 3 tablespoon IPA such as
- 1 tablespoon vinegar, malt
- salt, sea to taste
- peppercorns, black freshly cracked to taste
- Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Just as it comes to a boil, whisk in the bulgur wheat, salt and sun-dried tomatoes. Bring the mixture back to a boil, turn off the heat, cover with a lid and let sit for 20 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed.
- Next, add the onion, garlic, parsley, mint and hops to a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside.
- In a small bowl, add the olive oil, IPA, malt vinegar and cracked pepper. Once the bulgur is done, fluff the wheat with a fork and add it to the parsley mixture. Pour over the IPA vinaigrette and toss to mix all the ingredients together. Taste and add salt, if needed. If the IPA you are using isn’t very citrusy, you can add 1 teaspoon of lemon | orange | tangerine juice to brighten the flavors of the salad. This salad can be made a day in advance and should be kept refrigerated until ready to serve.
More Middle Eastern Beer Cuisine Recipes:
More Mediterranean Beer Cuisine Recipes:
