Tabbouleh

The boy thinks straight, white middle class people shouldn’t make Tabbouleh. I remind him we’re not straight, which stops him in his tracks. Besides, if he objects too strongly, he’s not getting any for his packed lunch for tomorrow.

1 cup couscous

1 cup weak chicken stock

1 large tomato

1 crook cucumber

1 spring onion

1 large bunch flat leaf parsley
1 small bunch mint

1 lemon

1 good glug of olive oil

Salt & pepper
1/4 tsp Baharat
1/2 tsp ground allspice

Make the couscous first. By all means use a bit of stock cube or whatever you have to hand. Pop equal amounts of couscous and water in a pan, bring it to the boil and then turn off the heat and allow it to rest for 5 minutes. Fluff it all up and let it cool.

Chop the veg up into dice. In the Middle East, all salad is chopped up this way. I guess it means every forkful has a good selection on it.

I start by tearing the parsley and mint by hand and then snipping with scissors. You want quite a lot as the salad is mainly herbs, dotted with couscous. When the said grain is cool, combine everything with the oil and lemon. I think a few grates of lemon zest would enhance it along with the salt and pepper. Add the Baharat and allspice. (Baharat is a spice mix that includes pepper, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, cardamom and nutmeg - sounds like Christmas but gives a really good bass note to stews and the like)

Give the boy a spoonful and see how he thinks it needs adjusting. Every cookbook in the last 5 years has suggested that the parsley to herb ratio should be vastly in favour of the green stuff. Time to accept this is no longer original – Tabbouleh is parsley plus other stuff. Black olives might be a good, if inauthentic, addition, as might be capers. 

Adjust the lemon juice or olive oil on the boy's advice (More lemon juice is more likely)

Parsley growing tip: Sow seeds on Good Friday as tradition has it that the parsley goes 9 times to the devil before it germinates. Seems to hold true for me.