Tabbouleh with a Twist

Tabbouleh is a traditional dish that finds its origin in Syria and Lebanon. It's normally made with bulgur, parsley, mint, tomato, spring onion, lemon juice and olive oil, but I've kind of mixed a few dishes together in this one, because I couldn't remember a certain recipe and couldn't be bothered looking for it in my umpteen cook books, heaps of recipes torn out of magazines or folders with recipes that are stored in my computer. It tastes good though, I've just had this, trust me.

I love cooking with bulgur. It's usually made of durum wheat and it has more nutritional value than white rice or couscous. This recipe is quick and easy and delish! It looks great if you put it in a whole, cooked bell pepper, but don't ask me how you eat it without spilling. I only took a picture of the mixture in the bell pepper. After the thing fell of the plate five times, I took the bell pepper, chopped it up and mixed it in with the rest...

Kitchen utensils

• oven
• small cooking pan
• small pan
• chopping board
• knife

Ingredients (to serve 4)

• 4 large sized red bell peppers (green should taste nice too, but haven't tried it)
• 100 grams/3,5 ounces uncooked bulgur
• 1 courgette (zucchini for my Australian, Italian and American readers), cut in tiny blocks
• 200 grams/7 ounces (soy) feta cheese (I use Apetina Feta light. It has 10 percent fat, and doesn't contain rennet), crumbled
• fresh mint
• fresh coriander (cilantro for the Americans, trust me, it's all the same, what's in a name anyway?)
• lemon juice
• olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped

Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius (356 Fahrenheit). Boil bulgur as indicated on pack. Should take about ten minutes. In the meantime, put a little oil in a pan to cook garlic and courgette (zucchini) for about ten minutes. Slice the top of the bell peppers and clean the insides. Put them in preheated oven for about 7 minutes till they are cooked (top included). Put bulgur, garlic, courgette, chopped mint and coriander in a bowl, mix in with the feta cheese and a bit of lemon juice. Scoop into bell pepper, and put the little top back on.