Fattoush Salad
Recipe from Persiana by Sabrina Ghayour
If you have ever been to a Lebanese restaurant, two salads always feature on the menu – tabbouleh and, of course fattoush. While I love tabbouleh, fattoush feels more like a proper salad to me and has the added bonus of croutons or deep- fried pieces of bread. There is so much crunch to this salad and I believe this is what wins me over…. plus the fact that the simple dressing cuts through a heavy Middle Eastern meal beautifully.
Ingredients:
- 2 (perfectly stale) large pittas or khobs flatbreads (or any flatbread you like)
- 400g (14oz) cherry or baby plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 4 heads of Baby Gem or romaine lettuce, halved lengthways and roughly chopped
- 1 large cucumber, halved lengthways and cut into 1cam-(1/2in-) thick half moons
- 1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and cut into 2.5cm (1in) dice
- 1 green pepper, cored, deseeded and cut into 2.5cm (1in) dice
- 200g (7oz) radishes, trimmed and cut into quarters
- 1 bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced
- 1 x 20g packet of flat leaf parsley, leaves picked and finely chopped
- 1 x 20g packet of mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
- 1 heaped tbsp sumac, plus extra to garnish
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- Juice of 1 ½ lemons
- Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper.
Serves 6
Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas mark 6. Line a baking sheet with nonstick baking paper.
- Cut the pittas or flatbread roughly into 4cm (1 ½ in) squares and lay them on the baking sheet. Toast them in the oven for 15 minutes, or until they are dry and completely crunchy.
- Put all the salad ingredients into a large salad or mixing bowl and sprinkle over the sumac, olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt flakes and black pepper to taste. Toss the salad well, ensuring everything gets a good coating of dressing. Serve it piled high, topped with the toasted croutons and an extra sprinkle of sumac.
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