Please Feast in Peace

Let simple meals like hummus and parsley salad bring us together.

With as many issues as there are causing division in the world, I believe that food should not be one of them. I learned to make hummus from a Middle Eastern friend when I was a teenager. Not until many years later did I realize that hummus could be such a hot topic with everyone claiming theirs is the best and the only way to do it. Certainly there are regional preferences across the Middle East and Mediterranean as well as variety among families from the same culture. So, if you already make hummus that your family enjoys, stick with it because delicious, simple meals bring us together.

Hummus in a shallow glass dish on a white platter with flatbread and a small light blue bowl filled with kalamata olives.  A lemon is in the foreground.  A yellow striped tea towel is in the background with a small white pitcher and head of garlic.

Making Hummus

You can start with cooking dried garbanzo beans (chickpeas) that you have soaked overnight. That’s a good idea if you want to make a lot of it. For a smaller portion, I think a drained can works just as well. Into the food processor goes:

  • a clove of garlic
  • about 2 Tablespoons of Tahini (sesame seed paste)
  • juice of one lemon
  • drained can of garbanzo beans
  • olive oil
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of cumin
  • splash of water

Starting with the garlic, put each ingredient in one at a time before running the food processor to incorporate ingredients. Do you like it thick or thin? Adjust the amount of liquid. Maybe you like a bit more tahini or lemon or garlic? Sometimes I add a little coriander or cardamom. Taste along the way (using a clean spoon each time) and create your own masterpiece. You will soon be cooking without a recipe.

You can even experiment with different beans. Surprisingly enough, I tried an edamame (soybean) hummus once that was fantastic. I watched a friend use lime juice instead of lemon and I even used a touch of rice vinegar once when I was out of fresh lemons. Yes, use what you have to create simple meals, my friends. Gain more confidence in cooking as you develop your intuition in the kitchen.

Tabouleh (Parsley Salad)

Tabouleh, or parsley salad also can be made with many variations…just as you will find it spelled differently, depending whom you are asking. Is it tabouleh, tabbouleh or tabouli? Let’s just call it parsley salad…Here’s how I learned, growing up among many Armenian families:

First, simmer the bulgur wheat and let it cool. Drain if necessary. Fluff with a fork and put it into the refrigerator. You might also use quinoa or barley or some other grain that you have in your pantry.

Pulse the food processor to chop the parsley a little at a time. You don’t want it to turn into mush. I would personally rather underchop than overchop.

parsley salad in a crystal bowl.  lemon, garlic, mortar and pestle in background

Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing

To make the dressing, crush a clove of garlic with salt using your mortar and pestle. Whisk in lemon juice and olive oil. In this case I decided to add a little dried coriander as well and a lot of dried mint because I didn’t have any fresh. If you have fresh mint, I would use about a third as much compared to the parsley. This is the basis for many healthy, homemade salad dressings.

Chop some tomatoes and green onion and cucumber if you have them. Toss everything together and enjoy a delicious, vegan, no-cook meal. Experiment with the ratio of vegetables to grain. This looks like the ratio that I grew up with and that my husband enjoys best. But I also like it with very little grain and without the mint. Sometimes I throw some feta cheese in there. Simple meals like this are so versatile.

Some may disagree, but I think tabouleh tastes even better the next day…

Ingredients:

  • bulgur
  • chopped parsley
  • chopped mint
  • chopped tomatoes
  • chopped green onions
  • chopped Persian cucumbers
  • crushed garlic
  • lemon juice
  • olive oil
  • salt

By the way, if you make it in the food processor and you wanted to do hummus the same day, start with the tabouleh first so that all you have to do is rinse the food processor before making the hummus. If you start with the hummus, you will have to wash and dry the work bowl before moving on to the parsley. Just a common sense tip…Let’s work smarter not harder.

For another simple meal featuring mint and lemon, please read Zingy Unstuffed Cabbage.

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