Tabouli Salad

The primary base is bulghur, a cooked, then dried
cracked wheat. If you can not find it, cook cracked wheat
as you would rice and cool it in the refrigerator.
1 cup bulghur
5 oz of oyster mushrooms
1 medium or ½ large cucumber
2 medium tomatoes
½ large green bell pepper
½ large red, yellow or orange bell pepper, any
decorations may determine this.
¼ cup chopped onions
lettuce, enough to line your bowl
1 large bunch of parsley
¼ cup of chopped garden mint
2-½ teaspoons salt
½ cup salad oil
½ cup lemon juice
½ teaspoon of black pepper (this should be fresh
ground - a mortar and pestle)
Cover the bulghur with 2-½ cups of cold water,
refrigerate for at least one hour.
Wash all vegetables. Wait until you are ready to use
the mushrooms, to wash them.
Chop the cucumber into small pieces cover with
water and add two teaspoons of salt, refrigerate.
Remove the stems (at lest the large, old ones)
from the parsley, mint and mushrooms.
Chop all vegetables into small pieces. Remember
to reserve any you will use for decorations.
Cut any decoration that you plan with a very
sharp knife. For mushrooms a sharp point is particularly
helpful.
Squeeze excess water out of the bulghur, drain
the cucumbers. If you plan to decorate, reserve some
bulghur to “frost” the main part of the salad.
Mix all vegetables with the bulghur.
Make the dressing by shaking the lemon juice,
oil, black pepper and ½ teaspoon of salt in a covered
bottle. Then mix with all other ingredients.
Line your serving bowl with lettuce, put the
salad in the center and serve; or if you are decorating,
smooth the salad out, “frost” it with the reserved
bulghur and add the decorations.