Yorakar
Submitted by Dactyl
A Star Trek spin on classic tabbouleh: fluffy bulgur (aka quadrotriticale) tossed with cucumber, tomatoes, green onions, fresh parsley, mint, lemon juice, and olive oil. Boldly go where no grain salad has gone before.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
30 minREADY
45 minTrekkies and tabbouleh lovers, this one’s for you.
Yorakar takes the bones of a classic Middle Eastern grain salad and gives it a Starfleet-worthy name. The “quadrotriticale” referenced here is a real-world hybrid grain that got its fame from the classic Trek episode “The Trouble with Tribbles," but regular bulgur wheat works just as well on Earth.
The salad itself is pure tabbouleh at heart: cooked bulgur cooled and fluffed, then tossed with diced cucumber, chunky tomatoes, sliced green onions, loads of fresh parsley, and bright hits of mint. A generous pour of lemon juice and olive oil brings it all together into something refreshing, herbaceous, and endlessly snackable.
Pro Tips
- Spread the cooked bulgur on the sides of a wide bowl to cool it fast. Warm grain wilts the vegetables and makes everything soggy.
- Break up any clumps with a fork before adding vegetables. You want loose, fluffy grains, not a sticky mass.
- Use the full half cup of parsley. Tabbouleh is meant to be a herb salad with grain, not the other way around.
- Let it sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes after mixing so the lemon and oil soak into the bulgur.
Ingredients
Directions
Bring 2 cups water to a boil in the saucepan and slowly pour in the quadrotriticale (or bulgur) so that the water keeps on boiling.
Reduce the heat and simmer with the lid on for about 10 minutes, or until the water is all absorbed.
Then take off the lid and cook for a few minutes more, stirring constantly, to dry it out a bit.
Spread it on the sides and bottom of a large salad bowl so it can cool more quickly and put it in the refrigerator to chill it.
Meanwhile peel and dice the cucumber, discarding the seeded center part if it is not firm.
Clean and slice the green onions into ⅛ inch pieces, including abut 3 inch of the green tops.
Cut the core out of the tomatoes and cut them into ½ inch chunks.
Wash and chop the parsley.
Chop the mint or the pepper, if you are using one of them.
When the wheat is cool, break it up with a fork until it is loose and there are no chunks more than ½ inch in size.
Add the vegetables to it and mix, then add the salt and pepper, lemon juice (or vinegar), and the olive oil.
Mix again thoroughly.
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