Recipe to beat high blood pressure: tabbouleh with goat cheese

Tabbouleh is an incredibly healthy and tasty dish to eat, especially when you add in the tanginess of goat cheese. When you're trying to tackle high blood pressure, there are few better or tastier ways of doing so.

Tabbouleh is one of the most popular dishes in the Middle East and for good reason: it's delicious, simple to make and flexible enough to allow for many ingredient substitutions. Using bulgur wheat gives it a big nutritious kick, and the only thing to remember is to let it soak while you prepare the other ingredients.

Your preparation time should take about half an hour and this recipe for tabbouleh with goat cheese serves four.

Ingredients

Tabbouleh

• 1 and 1/4 cups bulgur wheat
• 1 yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
• 20 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 small cucumber, seeded and chopped
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 5 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
• 1 small fresh red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• 2/3 cup reduced-fat goat cheese, crumbled
• Dash of white or black pepper to taste

Dressing

• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

• Place the bulgur in a medium-sized mixing bowl and pour just enough boiling water over top of it so it's covered, then stir it thoroughly. Let it soak for 15 to 20 minutes.
• While the bulgur's soaking, make the dressing by whisking together the cumin, garlic and lemon juice in a small bowl.
• Once that's well blended, whisk in the olive oil.
• Drain the bulgur in a sieve and press out the excess water, then return it to its bowl.
• Add in the pepper, tomatoes, onion, cucumber, carrot, parsley, cilantro, mint and chilli.
• Pour the dressing over the top and season it with the pepper, mixing it gently so all the flavours are evenly distributed.

To serve this, take a radishes and lettuce leaves, and arrange the tabbouleh over top of the lettuce. Sprinkle goat cheese over top and garnish with radishes, and this delicious dish is ready to devour.