Tabbouleh

Rinse the bulgur in a sieve under cold water for a few seconds and drain it well. Cut the tomatoes into 5 mm dice with a very sharp knife and put them in a bowl with the bulgur and a good pinch of salt. Leave them for 15–20 minutes. The bulgur softens in the tomato juice, with no cooking and no extra water, while you prepare the herbs. Tomatoes that are firm and ripe give the cleanest dice and the least watery salad.

• tomato400 g
• fine bulgur15 g
• saltto taste

Wash the parsley and mint and dry them completely in a salad spinner, then spread them on a clean towel for a few minutes. Wet leaves turn to paste under the knife and dilute the dressing. Pick the parsley leaves from the thick stems, gather them into a tight bundle and chop them as finely as you can with a very sharp knife. Chop the mint leaves, and slice the spring onions into thin rounds. Do not use a food processor, which bruises the herbs and turns them dark.

• flat-leaf parsley300 g
• mint30 g
• spring onion4

Add the parsley, mint and spring onions to the tomatoes and bulgur, leaving behind any liquid that has pooled in the bowl. Stir the lemon juice, olive oil, allspice and a pinch of salt together, pour it over and toss gently with two forks. Taste it: it should be sharp with lemon and green with parsley, with the bulgur only a minor texture. Add more lemon or salt if it tastes flat. Pile it in a bowl and put lettuce leaves around it.

• flat-leaf parsley300 g
• mint30 g
• spring onion4
• tomato400 g
• fine bulgur15 g
• lemon juice60 mL
• olive oil4 tbsp
• allspice1 pinch
• saltto taste
• lettuceto taste