Fattoush – bursting with lime, the lebanese salad we all love

When we lived in Dubai, we used to love eating Fattoush as a snack. It tastes extremely fresh, and is much better than your ordinary salads thanks to the spices used. The sumac and lime combined result in a really strong sour flavour that perfectly complement the cucumber and tomatoes. Fattoush also tastes yum as a filling for pita pockets. Add some hummus, maybe a falafel and you’ve got a whole meal right there. Enjoy!

Recipe: Fattoush Salad

Ingredients

For the dressing

• 50ml olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried lime powder
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 teaspoons sumac
• salt to taste
• black peppercorns, freshly ground to taste

For the salad

• 1 pita bread, cut into 5cm length squares.
• 8 plum tomatoes, seeds removed, quartered
• half large cucumber, peeled, cut into thin 5cm strips
• 1 shallot, sliced
• (Optional) 8 radishes, sliced to same size as the cucumber
• 1 small Little Gem lettuce
• handful fresh mint leaves (or substitute for 1/4 teaspoon of dried mint flakes. Add the mint flakes to your dressing instead).

Cooking method

1. For the dressing, place the olive oil, lime powder, crushed garlic and sumac into a bowl. Mix them all together well.
2. Add salt and black pepper, we usually add about 1/4 teaspoon each. Cover dressing and keep in fridge until serving the salad. Dressing may be a little extra.
3. For the salad, place the pita bread pieces, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, shallot, little gem lettuce leaves and mint into a large bowl.
4. To serve, pour the dressing, to taste, over the salad and gently mix together to coat the salad evenly. Eat promptly after mixing in the dressing!