Middle Eastern Fattoush Salad is a versatile and refreshing salad that can be made with just about any crunchy salad vegetables, but it is not Fattoush unless it is made with crispy fried or baked bread. Crisp, crunchy lettuce can be used but I quite like this salad as a change from lettuce salads. You can prepare the ingredients separately and then combine them all at the last minute so everything stays crisp.
The recipe usually has tomatoes in it but I didn’t have any this time.
Brush pita bread with oil and garlic
Start by toasting the flatbread:
2 large pita pocket breads
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
Brush each side of bread with combined oil and garlic, place bread on oven trays. Toast in 180C oven about 15 minutes or until crisp. Cool, then break into pieces.
Chop crisp vegetables and herbs
Prepare the vegetables and herbs:
2 small green cucumbers, thinly sliced
4 medium tomatoes, quartered
1 medium capsicum, chopped
6 spring onions, chopped
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
Combine cucumbers, tomatoes, capsicum, spring onions and herbs in a bowl. Just before serving, add bread and drizzle fattoush with dressing.
Use whatever combination of vegetables you have to create a wonderfully coloured dish: include crispy lettuce, radish, different coloured capsicums and tomatoes, pomegranate seeds.
Prepare the fattoush dressing
Dressing:
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup light olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp ground sweet paprika
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake well.
For this version I fried French bread in oil left over from sun dried tomatoes
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