The cracked wheat food used in kibbeh and tabbouleh is bulgur. It is made from wheat groats that are parboiled, dried, dehulled, and cracked into different grades.
Bulgur has a light, nutty flavor and cooks quickly because it has already been partially cooked during production. Fine bulgur can often be softened simply by soaking it, while coarser grades are used in pilafs, soups, stuffings, and grain salads. In Lebanese cuisine, it helps give kibbeh its characteristic grain-and-meat texture and forms part of the traditional tabbouleh mixture.
Tabbouleh is often misunderstood outside the Levant as a bulgur-heavy grain salad. Lebanese and Syrian versions generally use much more finely chopped parsley than bulgur, with tomato, mint, onion, lemon juice, and olive oil. Regional and diaspora recipes can reverse those proportions.
Bulgur is ancient Middle Eastern food. Food historian Gil Marks dates it to about 4000 BC, and it was later carried into North America by Armenian, Syrian, and Jewish immigrants. It is distinct from couscous, farro, and freekeh, which are processed or prepared differently.