Have you ever prepared Lebanese fattoush salad? A very tasty salad from all over the Middle East, changing its ingredients according to the season. Essential to enjoy the Arab salad is to complete it with bread, as the Arabic name fattoush literally means soaked bread.
“The fattoush salad originates from Lebanon, and it is said that it was created during the civil war of 1840 on Mount Lebanon, when many Christians took refuge in the city of Zahle, where they were welcomed by the Sar Al-Skaf and Al-Fattoush families. The hosts offered them meat and poultry, but the refugees preferred to abstain to respect Lent fasting rules. So they gave them salads to eat with bread.“
This salad is consumed at all Middle Eastern tables, from Syria to Jordan, in Egypt and also in Israel.
Yotam Ottolenghi, the great Israeli chef, writes about fattoush:
“All over the city, at any time of day, the most probable thing for a Jerusalemite is to eat a plate of freshly sliced vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, seasoned with oil and lemon, to accompany any meal.
The most famous variant is the Arab one, for which leftover pita is used, grilled or fried.“
Then you need parsley and mint and a hint of sumac, a typical Middle Eastern spice.
Since I discovered sumac, I often use it to flavor Middle Eastern dishes because its sour taste goes great even as a substitute for lemon.
Moreover, sumac is a spice with many properties, even said to be anti-aging, alongside having diuretic, antibacterial, antipyretic, and anti-inflammatory effects. It also has a very beautiful reddish color that embellishes the plate.
I had also prepared Lebanese bread so nothing better than to include it in this tasty Lebanese fattoush salad.
Naturally, since it’s winter, I used steamed broccoli florets instead of cucumbers, added radishes, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, shallots, and dressed everything with lemon, oil, pepper, salt.
I accompanied it with a mint-flavored vegan yogurt sauce.
If you want to prepare a Middle Eastern dinner, I also recommend
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- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Steam
- Cuisine: Lebanese
Ingredients
- 8 cherry tomatoes
- 4 radishes
- 2 bunches mixed greens
- 2 shallots
- 8 broccoli (florets)
- 1 teaspoon mint (chopped)
- 1 teaspoon chopped parsley
- to taste lemon juice
- to taste sea salt
- to taste sumac
- 2 pita bread (toasted in pieces)
Tools
- Bowls
Steps
Clean the broccoli florets if it’s winter (or cut the cucumber if it’s summer), wash them, and steam for ten minutes. Set aside.
Wash and cut the cherry tomatoes and thinly slice the shallots and radishes, then place in a bowl with the lettuce.
Prepare the vinaigrette with the juice of half a lemon, oil, sumac, and pepper. Also chop mint and parsley. Cut the pita bread into chunks and toast in a pan until crispy.
Dress the vegetables with the vinaigrette, sprinkle with parsley, mint, and add the bread.
Lebanese fattoush salad should be consumed on the same day.
