Macrobiotic Brown Rice Salad (a modified version of Tabbouli)

Brown Rice Salad (a macrobiotic modified version of Tabbouli)

This is my absolute favorite salad! I owe the inspiration to a cooking class given by the macrobiotic community  in Lebanon. Putting it on macrobiotic terms, it is the perfect example of a yin/yang unity, for in my opinion,  this is the ultimate east-meets-west dish in the kitchen, the site where soy sauce and lemon juice have their marriage made in heaven.

But I wouldn’t really call it a Japanese tabbouli anyway. You’ll have to try it in order to really know what I mean.

So this gem of a salad comes courtesy of Mariam Nour, who passed it on to me during a cooking class she was giving back in 2002. The funny part is that I did not get to sample the salad during the class, as I had to leave early; and although Mariam packed some for me in a little takeaway box, my friend took it and gobbled it all up by herself, leaving my drooling behind. However, I’m a no-quitter when it comes to good-looking food, as I refused to give up, insisting on making the salad by myself and trying it out at home the next day. It looked so tempting that I HAD to try it.

And I was right.

After the first spoonful, I knew instantly that I would never look at cold brown rice the same way ever again.

Or tabbouli…

The fresh tartness of the lemon juice/shoyu/olive oil blended explosively with every grain of brown rice rolling under my palate. And add to that sensual experience the sonorous crunchiness of the sunflower seeds, carrot, and radish cubes.

Clearly, this salad turned out to be way more than a pretty face, and never does it fail to show up at our dining table whenever we have friends over (who, for good measure, make sure to “pre-order” it from me before they come !).

And the grass is  always greener on the other side…of parsley. This salad is super-rich with vitamin K, with each serving providing about 380% daily value, 50% each of vitamins A and C, 25% manganese, and 20% vitamin E—just to name a few!

Ingredients (serves 8-10):

3 Bunches of parsley, finely chopped

1 cup of cooked (and refrigerated) brown rice

1 small onion, minced

1 diced carrot

5 medium or small radishes, diced

½ cup of sunflower seeds

1/3 cup tamari or shoyu (soy sauce)

1/3 cup olive oil

½ cup fresh lemon juice

Directions: Just mix everything and enjoy to the max! It is also best served with lettuce leaves.

You’re just gonna love it!

Roula