Fattoush

Fattoush is a Levantine salad made from several garden vegetables and toasted or fried pieces of pita bread. Fattoush salad allows cooks to use seasonal produce by mixing different vegetables and herbs according to taste, and also to make use of pitas that have gone stale. The vegetables are cut into relatively large pieces compared to Tabbouleh which requires ingredients to be finely chopped. Sumac is usually used to give Fattoush its sour taste.

Bread is kept in a basket or a nylon bag, and small pieces always accumulate at the bottom of it. The salad known as fattoush makes use of them and prevents their waste.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup olive oil
2 pieces of lebanese bread, quartered
500 gm grape tomatoes or small cherry tomatoes, halved
2 lebanese cucumbers, finely chopped
1½ cups loosely packed flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
1½ cups loosely packed mint leaves, coarsely chopped
1 red capsicum, seeded and finely chopped
4 radishes, halved and thinly sliced
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp sumac
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice

METHOD

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and, when hot, add half the Lebanese bread and fry until golden, then drain on absorbent paper. Repeat with remaining bread.

2. Combine tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, mint, capsicum, radishes and green onions in a large bowl and stir to combine. Coarsely break Lebanese bread, toss with vegetable mixture, then sprinkle over sumac, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice, and mix gently to combine. Serve immediately.