Vegan MoFo 2019 Day 5

Millet ‘Tabbouleh’

It has definitely been salad weather here in Essex over the past weeks! Even today with a slightly soggy start, the sun is still trying to shine. So here’s another warm weather dish, a riff on the Middle Eastern tabbouleh. Mine isn’t even attempting authenticity, but rather inspired by the original dish. For example I use a lot less herb and lot more grain in this version. As this isn’t a traditional tabbouleh, I’m using millet grain. This makes it gluten free. But as feel free to substitute with whatever grain you fancy. For a grain free version, finely minced cauliflower would be a great replacement.

I included an optional preserved lemon in this salad which gives a great salty, sour tang. If you’re unfamiliar with these I recommend giving them a go. They can be added to salads and also cooked dishes like stews and tagines for an extra lemony bite.

This serves 4 easily but could probably stretch to more if part of a bigger meal and is also ideal for leftovers.

To 3 cups of cooked grain, add the following:

4 medium tomatoes diced

100g diced cucumber

3 tablespoons of chopped parsley

1 tablespoon chopped mint

Juice of 2 lemons

50g spring onions finely sliced

1 preserved lemon finely chopped (optional)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Season and mix gently until well combined. This dish is best if the flavours are left to develop for a few hours or even until the next day. We added beans in the form of hummus and felafels and bumped up the green quotient with some mixed salad leaves on the side.