Tabauli, my way

Bulgar-Pesto-Salad-AKA-Pesto-Tabouli-300x209With the summer supremely setting in, the stomach was asking for something cooler and lighter while I was relaxing at home in Mumbai. When in Korea we used to have the Tabauli very frequently from a guy from Middle east and I used to love it. The time was right to venture into it. I decided to give it an Indian touch without compromising on taste. Decided to give my 100% to it and made fresh basil pesto. Fresh basil is available in any supermarkets now in India, I got it from food bazaar for Rs 10 a packet which will make me four servings of fresh presto.

For the pesto :-
8-9 fresh basil leaves
2 full walnuts
1 tbsp curd
Juice of half lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic
Salt to taste
Grind all of this together to make it a coarse paste. (If you like dark green pesto, then do away with the curd and put some fresh ground pepper to give it that darkish shade)

1 cup fine bulgur (cracked wheat/dalia/lapsi)
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth or water (I took 1 cup water and put one Maggie Magic Cube in it, the vegetable broth is ready. You may make it fresh also.)
salt, to taste
1 large or 2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced

Bring the vegetable broth to a boil and add the bulgur. Remove from the heat and cover. Let it stand about 20 minutes until wheat is tender and water is absorbed.

Combine the bulgur with the pesto, tomatoes, and cucumber, and toss well. Season to taste with the remaining lemon juice and olive oil (if desired). Serve at room temperature or chilled, garnished with additional basil.

Believe me it is very easy to make, highly nutritional and gets licked away in no time :) My mom, dad and niece started by making faces and once it landed on their tongues they were the ones not ready to share it with anyone.  This can very easily be made into a main dish salad by adding chickpeas to the bulgar.

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