tabbouleh ..... to suit an average indian palate...

 An average Indian would hesitate to eat soaked (read uncooked) dalia in a salad . So this salad , a middle eastern healthy recipe of tabbouleh, has been adapted to suit an Indian kitchen .

The daliya is soaked for 15 minutes or so and then steamed lightly (i microwave for a minute per serving) , cooled down , fluffed up with a fork and a dash of olive oil and mixed up with the other things . And that makes the daliya palatable for the average nosy Indain foodie.

And friends please do not mind the overload of pictures here. The celery i am growing makes me so happy that i end up clicking pictures while cleaning it , chopping it and then chomping it...

Freshly plucked ribs of celery , they have such a nice crunch . The flavor is unbeatable . I would advice you all to grow celery in containers or pots , from seeds it grows very easily and you can pluck the ribs whenever required and more stalks grow from inside...

I never throw the leaves away , use all of it . I substituted parsley with celery as i have lots of celery right now ... Nothing can beat fresh herbs...
Imagine the crunch and the flavor it brings to the salad....

Is it an overdose of chopping. I love chopping the vegetables i like to cook with. healthy cooking requires a lot of chopping and you better learn to love this part ...

I added some mung sprouts too . I want a richly textured salad always . So the glutinous chewy texture of the steamed daliya is complemented by varied crunchy textures of other things....chopped onions , chopped celery , mung sprouts and chopped green chilly.

I normally add some chopped nuts too but i was making this salad and talking over phone so just forgot to add the chopped almonds kept for it.

Add any chopped nuts , roasted or raw . Just as you like it.

The dressing is a simple thing to rustle up....lemon juice , olive oil, garlic , green or red chilly , mustard powder , salt n pepper ...

let's see the proportions...

for one serving ...as i like it..


2 tbsp of dry daliya soaked for 15 minutes
3/4 cup of mung sprouts
1 cup of chopped celery (tightly packed)
1/3 cup of finely chopped onions
dressing...
1/4 tsp of garlic chopped
green or red chilly to taste chopped or paste
( i used a red chilly n garlic paste here)
1-2 tbsp of lemon juice
2 tsp of olive oil
1/2 tsp of yellow mustard powder
1/2 tsp of pepper powder
salt to taste

Mix the dressing ingredients together and then mix with all the pther ingredients at the time of serving . The daliya soaks the seasoning like magic . You would know when you have it...

I hope it becomes your favorite way of eating some raw food.....well try the soaked daliya sometime later...and use your favorite greens here , the freshest possible...

Have it for any meal ...breakfast , lunch or dinner .... you would be happy to have found it.

Enjoy..