When we did our Israeli dinner a couple of weeks ago, we surely needed salad. With all the richness from the lamb and sides, I was looking forward to fattoush. I have another fattoush on my blog – it’s called Syrian Pita Bread Salad. And it’s a favorite of mine (from my friend Joanne) that I’ve been loving for over 20 years – mostly because of the greens and the lemon juice dressing. But this fattoush is altogether different because it’s about the veggies.
In some Middle Eastern cultures, a fattoush salad is mostly about the BREAD. In others it’s more about the GREENS with the bread almost as a garnish (and that’s what the Syrian Pita Bread Salad is). In this salad, it’s all about the VEGETABLES. In the cookbook, Jerusalem: A Cookbook
In some previous post I know I mentioned that when we visited Egypt in 1997 (we were IN the Valley of the Kings a mere 2 days before the massacre there . . . wow, was God ever looking out after us on that trip!), and then for 3 weeks in Turkey, we both enjoyed (yet got tired of) the breakfasts offered to us: platters of tomato wedges, big blocks of very salty Feta cheese, bread (pita, rolls or bagels) and hard boiled eggs. And little bowls or shakers of the herb mixture za’atar. That’s when I first tried za’atar and liked the lemony taste (from the sumac in it). So, I learned how important tomatoes are, for sure. Middle Easterners [it seems to me] eat tomatoes 365 days a year – not an altogether bad thing, but I think I’d get tired of it if I ate it daily at one or more meals.
Anyway, this salad – is a predominantly vegetable salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes), with an ample amount of stale flatbread, herbs (mint and sumac) and soaked with a yogurt and buttermilk dressing. The dressing contains both lemon juice and vinegar, and olive oil is drizzled all over the top before serving. It sounds complicated, but it’s not. My friend Cherrie made this, and she tossed it just before serving.
What’s GOOD: I liked the yogurt-buttermilk dressing. I liked how it soaked into the bread, but not completely, so there was still some crunch (wouldn’t have been, though, with the left overs, so make only what you know you’ll eat). I liked all the fresh veggies. I liked the mint. Would I make it again? Maybe, but I know I’d probably fix the Syrian Pita Bread Salad first. The two salads are hard to compare because this one is so vegetable-centric and the Syrian one is greens-centric. So it’s like comparing apples and oranges.
What’s NOT: there are a lot of ingredients, for sure. But once you get everything all ready, it’s easy to put it together at the last minute. It just needs 10 minutes sit. And if your tomatoes are not at their peak, this salad would be lacking in flavor.
printer-friendly CutePDF
MasterCook 5+ file and MasterCook 14 file
* Exported from MasterCook *
Na’ama’s Fattoush Salad
Recipe By: Jerusalem: A Cookbook, by Ottolenghi and Tamimi
Serving Size: 6
1 cup Greek yogurt, full-fat — (scant) 200 g
3/4 cup whole milk — plus 2 tbsp (Or use 1 2/3 cups regular buttermilk to replace both yogurt and milk above)
2 large flatbread — stale Turkish flatbread or naan (9 oz /250 g in total)
3 large tomatoes — (13 oz / 380 g in total), cut into 2/3-inch / 1.5cm dice
3 1/2 ounces radishes — 100 g radishes, thinly sliced
9 ounces Lebanese cucumbers — or mini cucumbers (9 oz / 250 g in total), peeled and chopped into 2/3-inch / 1.5cm dice
2 green onions — thinly sliced
1/2 cup fresh mint — 15 g fresh mint
3/8 cup flat-leaf parsley — 25 g, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon dried mint
2 cloves garlic — crushed
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil — 60 ml, plus extra to drizzle
2 tablespoons cider vinegar — or white wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sumac — or more to taste, to garnish
1. If using yogurt and milk, start at least 3 hours and up to a day in advance by placing both in a bowl. Whisk well and leave in a cool place or in the fridge until bubbles form on the surface. What you get is a kind of homemade buttermilk, but less sour.
2. Tear the bread into bite-size pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the yogurt mixture, followed by the rest of the ingredients, mix well, and leave for 10 minutes for all the flavors to combine. Taste for seasonings.
3. Spoon the fattoush into serving bowls, drizzle with some olive oil, and garnish generously with sumac.
Per Serving: 233 Calories; 15g Fat (57.8% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 19g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 11mg Cholesterol; 665mg Sodium.