Fattoush

I remember the days in Lebanon when our garden and my grandmother's garden was full of all the vegetables and herbs. Rows after rows of magically grown greens, reds, and lemons on trees. My grandmother would pick out the vegetables straight from the soil and snip her herbs to make the perfect salad. FATTOUSH.

Fattoush is one of the more popular salads in Lebanon. It sides perfectly next to most dishes like kibbeh, BBQs, hummus, lamb rice, chicken rice, fish dishes, etc. But to be fair, it's a labor of love! Each home and city in Lebanon makes their fattoush a little unique to them. Below is just a guide of how we make our fattoush at home, but you can adapt the ingredients to make it to your taste.

Fattoush is best when the salad ingredients are finely minced. By that I mean: (eyeballing) a 1/2 inch on lettuce. 1/4 inch for tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper, radish. Fine mince for parsley, green onions, and red cabbage. Prepare your dressing first to allow time for the ingredients to marinate together.

I HIGHLY recommend investing in a vegetable dicer to make life easier.

Ingredients: serves: 4-5

Dressing:

4 tbsp Lemon juice, about 2 lemons

4 tbsp Olive Oil

3 tsp dried mint (fresh mint can also be used instead of dry, 1/4 cup)

2 tsp garlic, crushed

1 tsp salt

Salad:

2 heads ( about 5 cups) Roman Lettuce, chopped 1/2 inch

1/2 small ( about 1 cups) Red Cabbage, minced. Optional

2 (about 2 cups) vine tomatoes, diced small

2 (about 1 1/2 cup) cucumbers, diced small

4 small (1/2 cup) Radish, diced small. Optional

1 (1 cup) green pepper, diced small

5 (1/2 cup) green onions, minced

1/4 cups Parsley, minced

Toppings: (optional)

2 large pita bread, cut into cubes

1 tsp sumac

Directions:

Directions:

Prepare your dressing in a jar or a bowl and allow to sit on the side until you shop the vegetables.

If you make fattoush or salads often, I highly recommend investing in a vegetable chopper. It makes the dicing easier.

1. to a jar/bowl add squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, crushd garlic, dried mint and salt. Stir well and let it sit for at least 10 min.

2.Wash all the vegetables, peeling off stems/ ends, and drain from water to air dry.

3. Chop lettuce, finely sliced red cabbage (optional). Petite dice

tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and radish. Add to bowl.

4. Mince parsley, green onions, add to bowl.

5. Top with dressing and toss all ingredients in the bowl.

6. Cut pita bread into cubes, and fry in cooking oil on medium heat until slightly golden. Or place bread in toaster and break apart.

Sprinkle sumac on top fried bread and toss bread and sumac together.

Top salad with pita bread right before serving.