Among the many substantial salads I love to make is this Middle-Eastern Fattoush salad. With lots of chopped crunchy vegetables and herbs, a dynamic lemony-yogurt dressing spiked with a good dose of sumac, and toasted pita bread, it is one of my favourites. The most common vegetables used in this salad are cucumbers, radishes, red onions, scallions and tomatoes. I never deviate much from those but I do at times add pomegranate seeds or bits of crunchy romaine lettuce. Feel free to adjust the herbs to your taste — I prefer more parsley than mint, and sometimes I omit the fresh mint altogether and add a few dashes of dry mint instead. This salad is very versatile, it’s really hard to go wrong. Try and only use the small cucumbers (they come in packages at my supermarket) which are less watery and sweeter than the larger ones. Local and in season tomatoes are long gone now but don’t let that stop you from adding them; cherry tomatoes work perfectly and are sweet and delicious all year long. The dressing for fattoush doesn’t need to include yogurt, in fact most recipes don’t seem to add it, so do skip it if you wish. But inspired by the recipe in Ottolenghi and Tamimi’s Jerusalem I now love the cool creaminess it adds to the whole salad. Sumac, however, is a must here. It is a middle eastern zingy-lemony spice, ground into a powder from small red berries, which adds some serious flavour to the dressing. Worth seeking out for this salad, you should be able to find it at well-stocked grocery stores but if not, all Middle Eastern grocers will have it. I make my own crispy pita bread by baking it in the oven and then coating it in olive oil once it’s cooled (this prevents it from getting soggy when mixed with the dressing) but if you come across these pita chips, they honestly can’t be beat.
Ingredients
- For the pita chips:
- Two 8-inch white or whole wheat pita rounds
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt to taste
- For the dressing:
- 1/2 cup plain full-fat yogurt optional
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 large garlic clove grated or minced
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil*
- 1 Tablespoon ground sumac available in better supermarkets or Middle Eastern markets
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- For the salad:
- 1 medium tomato cut into half inch pieces, or 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
- 4-5 mini cucumbers peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into half-moons
- 4-6 radishes thinly sliced
- 1/2 small red onion finely chopped
- 4 scallions white and light green parts, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds optional
- 1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh mint leaves only
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place pitas on a large rimmed baking sheet and bake until dry and crisp, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely, then break into bite-size pieces. Place pita pieces in a medium bowl; pour oil over and toss to coat. Season pita to taste with salt.
- In a small bowl, whisk the yogurt, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, olive oil, sumac, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
- In a large serving bowl, stir together the salad ingredients. Drizzle the dressing over the top and toss to coat, adding more as needed.
- Add in the toasted pita pieces and gently toss again.
- Sprinkle with a pinch more sumac and salt if desired.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
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