Fattoush
Chopped salad built around fried pita and sumac. The bread goes in at the table so it is still crisp when you eat it.
- Prep
- 20m
- Cook
- 8m
- Waiting
- 10m
- Total
- 38m
- Serves
- 4
- Effort
- Easy
Method
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 3 tbsp | Whisk until the molasses dissolves 3m | Toss the vegetables with the dressing and leave 10 minutes 12m The rest draws a little juice out of the tomatoes, which thins the dressing to the right consistency. | Fold the pita through at the table 2m Thirty seconds of contact is right. Any longer and you have made fattoush-flavoured porridge. | |
| 1 tbsp | ||||
| 5 tbsp | ||||
| 1 small clove | ||||
| 2 tsp | ||||
| 3/4 tsp | ||||
| 300 g | ||||
| 1 | ||||
| 6 | ||||
| 1 heart | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| a large handful | ||||
| a small handful | ||||
| 2 | Fry the torn pita in shallow oil until it stops bubbling 8m The bubbling is water leaving the bread. When it goes quiet, the pieces are dry and will stay crisp. | |||
| 4 tbsp | ||||
| a pinch | ||||
-
Whisk until the molasses dissolves
3m- lemon juice 3 tbsp
- pomegranate molasses 1 tbsp
- extra virgin olive oil 5 tbsp
- garlic 1 small clove
- sumac 2 tsp
- fine salt 3/4 tsp
-
Toss the vegetables with the dressing and leave 10 minutes
12m- from 1 Whisk until the molasses dissolves
- ripe tomatoes 300 g
- cucumber 1
- radishes 6
- cos lettuce 1 heart
- spring onions 3
- flat-leaf parsley a large handful
- mint a small handful
The rest draws a little juice out of the tomatoes, which thins the dressing to the right consistency.
-
Fry the torn pita in shallow oil until it stops bubbling
8m- pita bread 2
- olive oil 4 tbsp
- fine salt a pinch
The bubbling is water leaving the bread. When it goes quiet, the pieces are dry and will stay crisp.
-
Fold the pita through at the table
2m- from 2 Toss the vegetables with the dressing and leave 10 minutes
- from 3 Fry the torn pita in shallow oil until it stops bubbling
Thirty seconds of contact is right. Any longer and you have made fattoush-flavoured porridge.
Sumac and the sour question
Sumac is a dried, ground drupe carrying malic and citric acid on a fruity, slightly tannic base. It brings sourness without liquid, which is exactly what a salad already full of tomato and cucumber water needs. Pomegranate molasses does the same job from the other direction — reduced juice, so the acidity arrives with sugar and body attached, and the dressing clings.
Frying the bread rather than toasting it seals the crumb with oil, so it resists the dressing for a couple of minutes instead of a couple of seconds.
Notes
- Good sumac is deep maroon and slightly damp. Brick-red dust has been cut with salt.
- Tear the lettuce; a knife bruises the ribs and they weep.
- Fry the bread hours ahead if you like. It keeps crisp in an open bowl.