Are you also tired of eating these same lettuce, or romaine day after day? or Do you often force yourself to eat salads every day? Moreover, who said only vegetables can be consumed as salads? Infact, fruits stand as a wonderful contrast to some bitter greens as they are sweet. So, ditch the old ways of eating greens and add some flavourful punch to your salad routine. Plus, nothing is better than a colourful, multi flavoured bowl of Salad that brightens up the table and keeps one fit too! And Fattoush Salad just falls right in the place.
This Fattoush Salad is an ‘everything summer bowl’, bursting with juicy tomatoes, perfect crunch of lettuce, cucumber, radishes and spring onions along with crispy pita croutons and fresh herbs. The emulsified zesty dressing helps the salad to come together with a distinct taste. As a successful salad dressing is a blessing in disguise! To balance this sharp zesty flavour, sweet Pomegranate seeds are added too! Finally, the salad is garnished with well-seasoned crunchy pita croutons at top. With all the ingredients combined, the texture comes out to be fantastic. It is truly versatile, vibrantly colourful, appealing and delicious. The salad makes one feel fully nourished and can be savoured as a side dish, or a proper meal. This big bountiful bowl of seasonal veggies is a go-to treat throughout the year.
Fattoush is a bread salad originated in Northern Lebanon. The word Fattoush is derived from an Arabic word Fatteh, that literally means, crumbs. So, Fattoush shines like the bright pole star among the other common elements of the meal.
Ingredients:
Bread:
2-3 thin Pita Bread
Vegetable oil for frying
Pinch of salt and black pepper
Salad:
4 cups whole Romaine lettuce( sliced into thin strips)
3 cups small Cucumber ( chopped into semi-circles)
1 ½ cup Plum Tomatoes ( chopped into cubes)
½ cup Spring onions ( sliced into rounds leaving out the dark green stem)
½ cup small Radishes ( thin-sliced)
2 tablespoon fresh Mint (thinly-sliced)
2 tablespoon Parsley (finely chopped)
4 tablespoon Pomegranate seeds
Bell pepper
Salad Dressing:
3 tablespoon Olive oil
3 tablespoon Pomegranate molasses
3 teaspoon sumac
1 teaspoon white vinegar
½ teaspoon Dried mint
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic
Squeezed juice of 1 big lemon
¼ lemon zest
Sugar (optional)
Method:
Fattoush Dressing:
In a bowl, add sumac followed by hot water. Let the ingredient bloom to activate the sumac flavour.
Take a lemon, and obtain ¼ lemon zest. Then acquire the juice while straining out the seeds and flesh.
Grate 1 garlic clove.
Mix the lemon juice and soaked sumac. Then add olive oil and pomegranate molasses.
In a grinder, add grated garlic, lemon zest, dried mint, salt, black pepper, and white vinegar. Blend all the ingredients to form a reddish-brown and sweetly-tangy dressing.
The dressing can be stored in an air-tight container upto 12-15 days.
Pita bread into Croutons :
Slice the Pita bread into small square pieces
In a frying pan, heat some olive oil and fry the bread slices, one-by-one, for 40-50 seconds and remove once golden and crisp.
Keep the fried slices onto a kitchen napkin to drain excess oil.
Season with salt and pepper while the slices are hot.
The bread can be reserved for 14 days in an airtight bag.
Assemble :
In a large bowl, add all the in-season vegetables.
Add the creamy Fattoush dressing. Mix through and through.
Put the salad on a plate, add the crunchy pita bread croutons, pomegranate seeds, mint and ground sumac.
Serve the delicious Fattoush Salad right away.
Gone are the days when Salad used to be a part of a boring diet. Present the Fabulous Fattoush Salad to your kids and your closed ones and keep them healthy and their tummies happy!