Tabbouleh Burrito!
We love good vegetarian mexican food. So it was no surprise that we were totally excited when Chipotle, the mexican restaurant opened close to us. Within the first month of their opening, we were there two or three times and every time, everyone ordered burritos. But soon the kids started getting uncomfortable with the large size of the wrap. So, we “mini-sized” it.Since we make rotis or phulkas (a whole wheat flat bread) often at home, we use it in place of tortillas. The smaller size makes it easier for kids. We replaced the sour cream with the regular homemade yogurt, it tastes so much better; and changing the ‘cilantro rice’, with ‘rice tabbouleh’ was totally accidental. Once, we happened to have some left over rice, and while googling to convert it into something exciting, came across the recipe for ‘tabbouleh’ (pronounced ta-boo-lee), a mediterranean salad, made with ‘bulghur wheat’. We replaced the bulghur wheat with the left over rice and it was an instant hit. We have tried the ‘tabbouleh’ with bulghur wheat, brown rice and quinoa and all of them taste so good. The cucumber, key lime, fresh mint and parsley leaves; with the olive oil, salt and pepper making it something not to be missed! I never knew parsley was this flavorful until I made this. Now, I wouldn’t change it for anything. I can go on talking about this rice forever…. it’s absolutely delicious! Nutritious and refreshing from all the fresh cucumber, mint, parsley, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, avocado, lime and the yogurt makes this burrito one of our favorites, and we end up making this almost once a week!
Please remember to soak the beans 6-8 hrs ahead. You can add finely chopped scallions (spring onions), carrots etc. to the rice; and salad greens to the burrito. There’s no end to the variations. Fun fact – if you think about a North Indian Meal with Rotis, Rice, Rajma (dish made with kidney beans) and Cucumber raita (cucumber in yogurt) the ingredients are almost the same; just that it took a different shape.
Rice Tabbouleh
2 cups of cooked rice (brown or white), cooled to room temperature
1 cucumber, finely chopped
1 bunch fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
juice from one key lime
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, adjust salt, pepper and lime to taste and keep aside.
Tabbouleh Burrito
2 cups Rice Tabbouleh
1 cup cooked Black Beans (made from 1/2 cup of dry beans)
1 cup Salsa
1 cup Guacamole
1 cup Plain or Greek yogurt
4-6 warm wholewheat phulkas or chapatis/rotis/tortillas
Soak half a cup of black beans for 6-8 hrs and pressure cook them with little bit of salt. I let it cook for about 6 whistles.
Make salsa with 4 tomatoes and half of a medium onion (recipe here).
Make guacamole with 2 avocados (recipe here).
You can add a little bit of salt and one green chili (finely chopped) to the yogurt if you like it spicy.
Wrapping it…..
It is better enjoyed as soon as it is made. If you leave it even for a few minutes, it becomes soggy and will fall apart. So keep everything ready at the table and make each wrap as and when everybody is ready to have.
Take one phulka on a plate. Place one or two spoonfuls of the rice in the middle (make sure the rice is not all the way to the sides). Over the rice place one spoon each of beans, salsa, guacamole and yogurt (in any order). Since there are various fillings, please don’t use too much of each, else it will be difficult to fold. Now fold the bottom and then the sides. For more on folding, see the pictures.
