Lebanese Fattoush with Sumac
INDIAN · INDIA

Lebanese Fattoush with Sumac

فتوشSalad

A salad built on contradiction: shattered crisp bread, cool juicy vegetables and a dusting of tart sumac that tastes like lemon and smoke at once. It has to be dressed at the last second, or the bread weeps.

Total
30 min
Heat
0/5
Serves
4

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Flavour profile

Heat
Funk
Acid
Richness
Umami
  • Crunchy
  • Fresh
  • Herby
  • Sour

The real deal

Region
Levantine, eaten from Beirut to Damascus; fattoush is a Lebanese and Syrian staple.
Technique
Toasted or fried stale flatbread broken over the salad, and the dressing built on sumac with no clash of dairy.
We kept
No lettuce, pure sumac and pomegranate molasses dressing, and the bread folded in within a minute of serving.

Ingredients

4 Serves

bread

  • 2 · day-old, torn
  • 7 tbsp

Dressing

  • 2 tbsp
  • 1 tsp
  • 1 tbsp
  • 3 tbsp · freshly squeezed
  • 1 clove · crushed
  • 1 tsp

salad

  • 400 g · ripe, cut into wedges
  • 3 · half-moons
  • 6 · thinly sliced
  • 4 · sliced on the bias
  • 1 bunch · leaves picked, coarsely chopped
  • 1 bunch · leaves picked, torn
  • 80 g · optional · thick stems trimmed
  • 1 · optional · thinly sliced

Method

  1. Tear into rough bite-sized pieces. Toss with 3 tbsp and spread on a tray. Toast or shallow-fry until deep gold and brittle, about 7 min, turning once. They should shatter when pressed, not bend.

    Stale bread crisps better than fresh; if the pitta is soft, dry it in a low oven for a few minutes first.

  2. Whisk 2 tbsp , 1 tbsp , 3 tbsp , the crushed and 1 tsp with the remaining 4 tbsp . Taste: it should be sharply sour with a dusty, faintly smoky sumac edge, not sweet.

    Pomegranate molasses brands vary wildly in sweetness; add it in two goes and stop when the dressing tastes tart, not syrupy.

  3. Cut into wedges, into thick half-moons and into thin coins. Slice on the bias and into thin strips.

  4. Pick the leaves from and ; keep them coarse, do not shred them to dust. Trim and tear if using.

  5. Tip the tomatoes, cucumber, radish, spring onion and pepper into a wide bowl, scatter over the herbs and pour on sumac dressing. Toss hard with your hands, squeezing a little so the juices and sumac start to bleed. Fold in crisp bread at the very last second.

    Dress and eat within a couple of minutes: the bread drinks the dressing and goes soft fast.

  6. Slide into a shallow dish, dust the top with the remaining and serve immediately, with extra flatbread on the side for scooping.

    Sumac loses its punch once dressed, so the final dusting is not optional.

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