Tabbouleh: a classic Lebanese salad

Tabbouleh, tabouleh, tabouli... is a classic Lebanese salad. It makes a delicious substitute for a rice dish on a buffet table. Tabbouleh is very good with cold meat like lamb, or with smoked salmon.
You can switch some ingredients and try new combinations. I sometimes add raisins to my recipe: cover 1 tbsp raisins with hot water, let stand for about 10 minutes and add this to your tabouleh.

Serves 4
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: none - 2 hours in the fridge
Difficulty: *

Ingredients:
- 1 cup (175 g) whole wheat couscous (semolina)
- juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
- 2 shallots (or spring onions)
- 1 green pepper, seeded and sliced
- 2 large tomatoes, diced
- 2 tbsp almonds
- black Kalamata olives to garnish
- salt and ground black pepper

1. Put the couscous in a bowl, add cold water to cover, and let stand for at least 1 hour (up to 2 hours).

2. If there is excess water, spread the couscous on kitchen paper to dry it completely.

3. Place the couscous in a large bowl. Add the lemon juice, the oil and a little seasoning.
Allow to stand for 1 to 2 hours.

4. Add the chopped parsley and mint, shallots (or spring onions), green pepper, diced tomatoes, almonds and mix well.

5. Garnish with the black olives and serve. You can let stand in the fridge before serving, if needed.