Fattoush

The bread is fried and goes in at the last second, so it is still crisp when it reaches the table.

Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains lamb.

Ingredients

the bread

• 3 stale pita breads, torn into pieces
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, for frying
• 1 teaspoon sumac

the salad

• 1 cos lettuce, roughly cut
• a large handful of purslane, or lamb's lettuce
• 4 tomatoes, in wedges
• 1 cucumber, in half-moons
• 6 radishes, sliced
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• a handful of mint, torn
• a handful of parsley, chopped

the dressing

• 2 tablespoons sumac
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste with salt
• 120 ml olive oil
• salt

Method

1. THE BREAD IS FRIED AND GOES IN AT THE LAST SECOND, so it is still crisp when it reaches the table. Torn stale pita fried in olive oil until genuinely hard and golden, drained, and then scattered over the dressed salad as it is carried through -- not mixed in and left. Bread in a dressed salad has a working life of about two minutes before it starts to soften, and the whole point of this salad is the contrast between the crisp shards and the wet vegetables. Tossed in early it becomes a sodden bread pudding, which is a real dish and is not this one.
2. THE BREAD IS STALE BEFORE IT IS FRIED. Two or three days old. Fresh pita holds moisture, so it goes leathery in the pan rather than brittle, and then softens almost instantly in the salad. Stale bread fries dry and hard and survives the journey to the table.
3. SUMAC IS THE DOMINANT SEASONING AND THERE IS A LOT OF IT. Two tablespoons in the dressing and another over the fried bread. It is a dark red, fruity-sour spice and it is what makes this taste the way it does -- a fattoush with a pinch of it tastes merely lemony. It also dyes the bread and the dressing a dull purple-red, which is correct.
4. THE POMEGRANATE MOLASSES IS NOT OPTIONAL, AND IS ONE TABLESPOON. It brings a deep sour-sweetness underneath the bright lemon, and the two together are the difference between this dressing and a vinaigrette. More than a tablespoon and it turns syrupy and dark.
5. PURSLANE IF IT CAN BE FOUND, AND IT IS WORTH LOOKING. Thick, succulent, faintly sour leaves that hold their shape in dressing where lettuce wilts. Lamb's lettuce is the nearest substitute; a salad made only with cos is fine and flatter.
6. THE VEGETABLES ARE CUT LARGE AND ROUGH. Wedges of tomato, half-moons of cucumber, lettuce torn by hand. This is a chunky salad eaten with a fork, and finely diced vegetables make it a relish.
7. The pita torn into rough pieces and fried in the olive oil until GENUINELY HARD and golden. Drained on paper and dusted with 1 teaspoon of sumac.
8. The dressing whisked: the 2 tablespoons of sumac, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, garlic paste, olive oil and salt.
9. All the salad vegetables and herbs combined in a wide bowl, cut LARGE and rough.
10. The dressing poured over and turned through.
11. THE FRIED BREAD SCATTERED OVER AS IT GOES TO THE TABLE, not mixed in.
12. TESTED: the bread should still crunch in the first mouthful. If it is soft, it went in too early or was not fried hard enough.
13. Eaten at once.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Lebanon · All recipes