Since I can’t stand myself when I waste good food, I had to come up with something that would use cilantro (they sell it in bunches too large for my salsa recipe). I also wanted to use up the leftover salsa.
It’s like Tex-Mex Tabouli. I don’t like that name, though, so my quick and easy bulgur salad that uses up leftover cilantro shall be known as
Variation on a Theme of Tabouli**
You’ll need–
1 cup each of
- bulgar wheat
- boiling water
- chopped cilantro leaves (if you have less than a cup, use what you have);
about 1/4 cup each of
- olive oil
- freshly-squeezed lime juice (it must be fresh!)
- salsa
Put it all together:
- Pour the boiling water over the bulgur wheat, cover and let rest for 1/2 an hour.
- Stir in the chopped cilantro and salsa, add most of the olive oil and lime juice, stir and taste.
- Add more of whatever your tongue says it needs — a little more lime? some salt and/or pepper? Maybe some chopped black olives? Crumbled queso fresco?
Yum! It makes about 5 cups of salad (6-10 servings, depending on appetites and whether its a main course or a side)
Let it rest for a while in the refrigerator and it will taste even better.
Now you can feel virtuous for having made use of the leftover cilantro which might have been (gasp!) wasted.
**I borrowed my blog title from Rachmaninoff’s composition Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, which has 20-something variations.