Fattoush

Ingredients

Bread

• 2pita breads
• 60 mlolive oil, for frying
• salt

Salad

• 4tomatoes, in chunks
• 2cucumbers, in chunks
• 1 bunchradishes, sliced
• 4spring onions
• 1green pepper
• 1large bunch purslane
• 1 bunchflat-leaf parsley
• 1 bunchmint
• 2cos lettuce hearts

Dressing

• 100 mlextra virgin olive oil
• juice of 2 lemons
• 2 tbsppomegranate molasses
• 2 tbspsumac
• 1 clovegarlic, crushed
• 1 tspsalt
• black pepper

Directions

1. Tear the pita into rough pieces and fry them in olive oil until deep golden and crisp, or bake them at 180°C (355°F) for 10 minutes.
2. Fry rather than bake if you can. Fried bread stays crisp against a wet dressing far longer, and this whole salad is a race against sogginess.
3. Drain the bread on a rack and salt it while it is still hot.
4. Cut all the vegetables into chunks rather than slices. This is a chopped salad and the pieces should be roughly the same size as the bread.
5. Use purslane if you can find it. Its lemony, slightly succulent leaves are what make a fattoush rather than a mixed salad, and it is worth going out of your way for.
6. Whisk the dressing ingredients together until emulsified.
7. Sumac and pomegranate molasses are both doing sour work and neither replaces the other. Sumac is bright and astringent; the molasses is deep and faintly sweet.
8. Toss the vegetables and herbs with the dressing.
9. Add the fried bread at the very last moment, toss once, and take it straight to the table.
10. Bread added early means bread gone soft, and half the pleasure is the shards still crackling in the bowl.
11. Scatter with extra sumac and serve.

Technique

• It is a peasant salad built to use up stale flatbread, which is why the bread is fried rather than fresh.
• Herbs by the bunch rather than the sprig. There should be as much green as there is vegetable.
• It does not keep even an hour. Dress it in front of the people eating it.

Substitutions

• Lamb’s lettuce or rocket in place of purslane, accepting that it is not the same.
• Extra lemon and a pinch of sugar if you have no pomegranate molasses.

Variations

• With the bread left in longer deliberately, which some households prefer soft.
• With cos lettuce alone, as a simpler everyday version.
• Without bread at all, which makes it a salatet khodra.

History

Peasant salad built to use up stale flatbread, sharpened with sumac and pomegranate molasses.

Frequently asked questions

What is Fattoush?

Fattoush is a salad & side from Lebanon: crisp salad with toasted pita shards, purslane and sumac dressing. Peasant salad built to use up stale flatbread, sharpened with sumac and pomegranate molasses.

How long does Fattoush take to make?

Fattoush takes 25 min of preparation and 10 min of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Fattoush?

Yes, within limits. Lamb’s lettuce or rocket in place of purslane, accepting that it is not the same. Extra lemon and a pinch of sugar if you have no pomegranate molasses.

What is the most important thing to get right in Fattoush?

Fry rather than bake if you can. Fried bread stays crisp against a wet dressing far longer, and this whole salad is a race against sogginess.