Fattoush – that tasty Middle-Eastern salad of chopped vegetables and bread – is worth eating just for the opportunity to say it. “What’s for dinner, mum?” “Fattoush – we’re having fattoush tonight.”
I’ve made several versions of fattoush over the years, all of which call for the bread to be toasted or fried. The fattoush recipe in Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem cookbook is a bit different.
The bread is not cooked, for one thing. And instead of the usual olive oil and lemon juice, the salad is tossed with a yogurt-based dressing.
I love the way the dressing soaks into the bread, softening it and leaving it to the vegetables to deliver the crunch.
Fattoush
(serves 4)
- 250ml Greek yogurt
- 125ml milk
- 4 white pitta breads, torn into pieces
- 250g baby plum tomatoes, quartered
- 100g radishes, thinly sliced
- 1 English cucumber, diced
- 3 green onions, sliced crosswise
- 1 small bunch parsley, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- juice of half a lemon
- 3 Tb olive oil
- 1 Tb cider vinegar
- 1 Tb zahatar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- sumac to garnish
- Whisk the yogurt and milk together. Set aside for at least an hour.
- Toss the bread with the yogurt mixture. Add the tomatoes, radishes, cucumber, green onion, parsley and mint and toss again.
- Whisk together the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, cider vinegar, zahatar, salt and pepper. Pour over the salad, and give it another toss.
- Leave the salad for ten minutes, to allow the bread to soften and the flavours to mingle.
- Adjust the seasoning, sprinkle with sumac and serve.
Ten More Bites 
Not much “ottolenging” in this house….wish I had your adventurous spirit in the kitchen, Andrea! My mouth waters reading the recipes but the minute I see an unknown ingredient, I panic and return to my old basics! Zahatar and sumac? Hope everyone is well! No baby yet…
We’re certainly privileged living in London when it comes to food and sourcing ingredients. And you’re a fabulous cook — we’ve had some lovely meals round yours over the years, including the first quiche I ever ate. You brought that to the New Years extravaganza I recall…
Just not sure what zahatar is but does it ever read like a tasty salad
Thanks Wade! Instead of the zahatar, you could substitute oregano, which is similar…