Tabbouleh, With a Guadeloupean Accent

Tabbouleh is one of the great summer salads: bulgur, a mountain of herbs, and a sharp lemon dressing. My twist comes from the dressing. Instead of the usual oil-heavy mix, Full Feast Sauce Créole steps in — bringing onion, herbs and vinegar into a dish normally built on parsley and lemon alone.

The result keeps everything you love about tabbouleh, with a savoury Creole depth underneath. It rests, it travels, it sits happily next to anything grilled — the definition of a summer table dish.

Recipe at a glance

• Cuisine: French Caribbean
• Prep: 20 minutes • Cook: 10 minutes • Rest: 15 minutes
• Serves: 4 as a side, 2 as a main
• Featured sauce: Full Feast Sauce Créole
• Heat level: Mild — gentle Creole warmth
• Diet: Vegan as written

What you’ll need

For the base:

• 150 g fine bulgur wheat
• 200 ml boiling water (or vegetable stock)

Vegetables and herbs:

• 1 small red onion, very finely diced
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and finely diced
• 2 large tomatoes, deseeded and finely diced
• ½ cucumber, deseeded and finely diced
• 30 g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 15 g mint leaves, finely chopped

For the dressing:

• 3 tbsp Full Feast Sauce Créole
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Zest of ½ lemon
• ½ tsp sea salt (adjust to taste — the Sauce Créole already carries salt)
• Freshly cracked black pepper

Method

1. Hydrate the bulgur. Place the bulgur in a heatproof bowl, pour over the boiling water or stock, cover, and leave for 15 minutes until tender and the liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and let it cool to room temperature.
2. Prep the vegetables. While the bulgur cools, finely dice the onion, pepper, tomato and cucumber. Deseeding the tomato and cucumber first is the key step here — it stops the salad turning watery.
3. Make the dressing. Whisk the Sauce Créole, olive oil, lemon juice and zest together until emulsified.
4. Combine. Add the diced vegetables and chopped herbs to the cooled bulgur. Pour over the dressing and toss thoroughly.
5. Rest. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes at room temperature (or chill for 30 minutes) before serving, so the bulgur absorbs the dressing.
6. Taste and adjust. Season with salt and pepper to taste, adding a touch more lemon juice if it needs brightening.

Chef’s notes

The rest is not optional — those 15 minutes are when the bulgur drinks in the dressing and the salad becomes one dish instead of ingredients in a bowl. And go easy on the salt at first: the Sauce Créole already brings its own seasoning.

Allergen note: contains cereals containing gluten (bulgur wheat, and Sauce Créole via barley vinegar). No dairy, egg, nut or shellfish ingredients.

Serving suggestion

Delicious on its own, or topped with grilled prawns or diced mango for a heartier, more tropical finish.

Final word from me

A good tabbouleh should taste like the herbs came first and the grain came second. Let it rest, taste it once more before it hits the table, and serve it with sunshine if you can arrange some.

JP