Tabbouleh & Olives ~ fresh and healthy!

Summer came early this year! Well, we had a hint of it last weekend and welcomed the hot temperatures with a barbecue! Since years this includes the best handmade sausages of a local butcher, grilled eggplants and champignons! But the best is our homemade family recipe of Tabbouleh & Olives ~ fresh and healthy!

So here comes our Tabbouleh family recipe:

Ingredients
(for 4 – 6 persons)

200g fine couscous
1 teaspoons vegetable broth
300 g water
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 lemons freshly squezzed
4 medium sized tomatoes, cut into 5 mm cubes
1 seedless cucumber, peeled, cored and finely diced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon grounded black pepper
1 tablespoon ground sumac*
1 tablespoon grounded cumin
2 bunch freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
1 bunch freshly chopped fresh mint

*Dried and grounded red berries from the sumac bush. A widely used, essential spice in the Middle Easterm and Mediterranean. Mainly used for marinades, dressings and dry rubs. It`s tart flavour reminds of vinegar or lemon.

Preparation

Put the couscous in a heatproof bowl and stir together with the vegetable broth.
Pour boiling water and cover the bowl either with a lid or a platic wrap.
Leave it for about 10 min, until the liquid is absorbed.

Add all other ingredients to the couscous and mix it thoroughly.

After tasting you can still add some lemon juiice, olive oil or some more of the spices.

We love it very fruity, so we mostly use more lemons!

And here the spiced and pimped olives – as we only had (boring) plain, seedless olives in our stock;-)

Ingredients
(for one glass or sealed packet)

1 glass of seedless, green olives (or black ones)
½ teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
1 pinch of coarse sea salt
1 pinch of ground sumac

Preparation

Just toss the olives with all the ingredients and they are ready to be served!

You can leave out the olive oil. It`s still very tasty!

The original tabbouleh is without cumcumber, but it makes the whole more juicy, so we always add it. Another advantage is, that it gets even better the next day – the flavours are enhancing overnight!

Sometimes we make Hummus,too, as a it goes perfectly with pita bread or the grilled eggplants.

However, finally we hope that you like our recipes and you will be delighted by the result!!!