Tabbouleh

‘If you want to find a good husband, you’d better learn how to chop your parsley properly,’ Sami’s mother sternly cautioned his sister when she was a teenager. Indeed tabbouleh, as is not always understood in the West, is all about parsley. It is a key ingredient — both in this salad and in Palestinian cuisine in general — and it must be treated with respect and great deftness, as implied by Sami’s mum.