Fattoush Salad – A delicious summer salad with crispy pitta bread, feta cheese and a lemon, mint and sumac dressing.
Alright, before I start I have a confession. I’ve never tried an “authentic” fattoush salad. I came across a description one day and thought it sounded yummy so I’ve made it up based on that alone.
According to Wikipedia a Fattoush Salad is… “a Levantine bread salad made from toasted or fried pieces of pitta bread combined with mixed greens and other vegetables … sumac is usually used to give fattoush its sour taste”.
Admittedly I could have called this “Lettuce, cucumber, tomato and feta salad with a lemon, mint and sumac dressing” but in all honesty I thought that was a bit of a mouthful. As with my korma paste, I decided that it contains enough of the core ingredients that it would be OK. At least after my rather long confession, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.
Anyway, authentic or not this salad is delicious. It’s important that you know now that I’m not a big fan of salad, they just don’t fill me up. However, the addition of the toasted pitta makes this feel much more like a meal and the dressing is (sorry if I sound a little over confident) the best salad dressing I’ve ever tasted. I’m currently busy writing a list of other things I can pour it over. Family members who are even less salad lovers than me also enjoyed it.
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Fattoush Salad
INGREDIENTS
- 30 g round lettuce - A few leaves
- 60 g cherry tomatoes - about 6 tomatoes
- 60 g cucumber - about 6 slices
- 1 pitta bread
- 40 g feta cheese
For the dressing
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ tbsp cider vinegar
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ½ clove of garlic
- A few mint leaves
- 1 tsp sumac
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cut your pitta bread into large pieces and toast - I cook mine in the oven for 10 minutes at 220ºC/200ºC fan until it is crispy, but you could also toast it under the grill or in a toaster if you prefer.
- While the pitta is toasting make your dressing. Finely chop a few mint leaves and crush the garlic (½ clove).
- Mix 2 tbsp (½ lemon) lemon juice, ½ tbsp cider vinegar, 1 tsp olive oil, chopped mint and crushed garlic in a small dish. Season with salt.
- Prepare the salad by tearing the lettuce leaves (approx. 3 leaves) into large pieces. Chop the cucumber (60g) into slices and cut each slice in half. Slice the cherry tomatoes (60g) in half. Chop the feta (40g) into 1cm cubes.
- Once the pitta has toasted add all the ingredients to a bowl and toss so that the salad is coated in the dressing.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free-From…
- Vegetarian
- Egg-Free
- Nut-Free
- Soy-Free
- Corn-Free
The ingredients for this recipe are commonly available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.
To make this salad gluten-free then simply substitute the pitta bread for a gluten-free version.
To make this salad dairy-free/vegan then omit the feta cheese.
PAULINE says
Hello,
I’ve just come across your super site and am looking forward to having this salad. I assume the sumac is just mixed in with the dressing ingredients? Can’t wait to try this dressing.
Charlotte Oates says
Yes, that’s right. I hope you enjoy it.
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says
Sometimes the traditional and simple recipes, concentrating on the ingredients are the best.
Thanks for linking up to #extraveg
Charlotte Oates says
I suspect that’s why they stick around for so long!
Howie Fox says
Woah! I’m a huge salad fan and claiming that this is the best salad dressing you ever had made me curious! Copy pasted the ingredients and will report back 😀
Thanks!
Charlotte Oates says
I’m scared now!! I’m not a huge salad fan (as you can tell from the number of salads v sweet things in my recipe index) so there may be lots of dressings that I’ve never even tried, but this is definitely one of my favourites. I hope you enjoy it.
Mel says
I’d never heard of Fattoush salad until… well, just now! That’s the kind of stuff I love, thought. It would be perfect on a warm Saturday lunchtime. Nice, tasty and quick; that’s what I love most!
Charlotte Oates says
I hadn’t either until I came across the description a few weeks ago. Since starting this blog I’m finding so many things I’ve not tried before.
Sally Akins says
This looks great – I love salads, and this looks like the sort of thing I’d love for a summer lunch. Yum!!
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Sally. It does make a lovely summer lunch when the sun’s shining.
Mandy says
This looks and sounds really delicious, I’m with you on the “as long as it contains some of the main ingredients” philosophy – that’s how great dishes are made! #recipeoftheweek
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Mandy. I’m glad I’m not the only one who goes with the “as long as it contains some of the main ingredients” approach. I’d imagine that these things evolve so much over time that most people wouldn’t know what an authentic one tasted like anyway. I always think that main thing is that it tastes good.
Clementine Buttercup says
I’m loving the new background to your pics. New domain name with a completely new feel!
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Clementine. I’m glad you like the background. I wasn’t sure about changing it as it’s pretty uncommon for images to have any kind of border on blogs, but I thought it helped everything look a bit tidier and like they all belonged together.