Fattoush Salad, An Herbal Treat

Ilona

Mediterranean flavors are added to the usual salad ingredients to create something special that may be new to you. (Or may be a favorite, if you happen to be Lebanese.) This Middle Eastern chopped salad combines the exotic with the familiar and uses fresh herbs from your garden.
Perennial plants from your herb garden like mint and thyme, with oregano and the exotic sumac, are tossed with fresh salad veggies. What makes this salad especially tasty is the Middle Eastern version of croutons: the freshly toasted or pan-fried pita bread which soaks up the flavorful dressing and contrasts with the chopped vegetables.

If you grow your own vegetables, Fattoush is a delight to make and combines most of those from a spring garden. Herb gardens provide many of the additions, including garlic, which is quite easy to grow (although it needs to have been started the year before) . Only the Zaatar blend may be necessary to buy, since most of us don’t harvest and dry Sumac!

Fattoush salad

Fattoush Salad

Delicious Lebanese chopped salad with herb accents
Prep Time 45 minutes
Course Salad
Cuisine Mediterranean
Servings 4
Calories 264 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 2 medium cucumbers
  • 2 tomatoes chopped
  • 2 red bell peppers
  • 1 large red onion
  • 3 green onions
  • ¼  cup parsley chopped
  • 2 tbsp mint chopped
  • fresh thyme and oregano leaves optional
  • 2-4 flatbread or pita toasted

Dressing

  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice plus zest from 1 lemon
  • 2 garlic cloves crushed
  • 1 tsp honey OR pomegranate molasses
  • 1 tsp zaatar seasoning or sumac
  • ½ tsp salt salt
  • fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions
 

For Salad

  • Wash, prepare and chop all the veggies into bite?size pieces. Wash, then spin-dry the herbs and chop. Place in a large bowl. Save the flatbread/pita for serving time.

Dressing

  • Put all the dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake. Pour over the salad, stir, and let stand for at least 30 minutes at room temperature.

To Serve

  •  Before serving, sprinkle with extra zaatar, tear the flatbread or toasted pita bread into bite?size chunks and fold into the salad.

Notes

If you like, you can pan fry the pita bread by cutting into bite-size triangles and frying in olive oil; salt and pepper to taste before adding to salad.
Radishes can be added to the salad.
Purchase  Pomegranate molasses online or in Middle Eastern grocery. Zaatar seasoning in the spice section of your grocery or online.

 

Pomegranate Molasses

Pomegranate molasses is simply the juice of the pomegranate fruit cooked down to a thick consistancy. Sometimes it is sweetened and flavored with lemon juice. You can make your own or purchase this one on Amazon.

 

Make Your Own

What if you would like to make your own Pomegranate molasses?

 

 

Zaatar Spice

What if you’d like to make your own Za’atar mix from scratch?

 

 

donationDonate the cost of a coffee through Paypal for the work of publishing these pages. Please support my writing and webmaster efforts.
Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Please consider supporting this site.

Shop shrubs at Nature Hills

Related Posts

Savory Cheesy Zucchini Muffins

Savory Cheesy Zucchini Muffins

Muffins are quickbreads that you can whip up easily, and when zucchini is ready for harvesting there is always a need for good recipes to enjoy it.

Fried Squash Blossoms

Fried Squash Blossoms

If you grow squash, try this recipe for a taste treat from the blossoms. Squash Blossoms Just one plant of Zucchini ( or Courgettes) results in lots...

Lavender Tea Cookies

Lavender Tea Cookies

Like most lavender cooky recipes they were a shortbread based recipe. This one should yield a very nice result with the extra of rose flavored icing.

Salad Days

The spring brings fantastic new salad greens to the table. All those seeds which are planted when...

Ilona Erwin, author

Meet the Author

Ilona

I started working on this website beginning in 1998, when it was part of "Ilona's Reflecting Pool". Since then I've branched out into a number of online endeavors and work at writing lots of content for my sites. The work on "Ilona's Garden" remains my primary site and is dedicated to home gardener's success.