Fattoush - Toasted Pitta Bread Vegetable Salad

Fattoush, the name sounds like a big hug. This is a Middle-Eastern salad made from mixed vegetables and toasted pitta ( or other flatbreads). It’s a really fantastic recipe, especially if you have left a few slices of pitta bread to dry out.

Traditionally it includes some combination purslane, radishes , tomato , lettuce , cucumber , onion , mint , sumac , pitta , salt , olive oil lemon juice. The recipe appears in 6 of the cookbooks on my shelf and other ingredients also include broad beans , peppers, feta , olives &  celery

I am getting  plenty of lovely salad vegetables in the vegebox and all the herbs from the garden are flourishing but the one authentic ingredient I don’t think you can do without are the crushed sumac berries . It’s hard to describe what this taste like it’s lemony and earthy all at the same time , I bought some online, thank Heavens for Ebay, since I cannot find it in any shops near me . I use it a lot sprinkled on fish or chicken for grilling.  I could eat bowls of this salad and probably will over the course of the summer.

My Fattoush

1. Roughly chop tomatoes, green peppers , red onion,  cucumber , kohlrabi.
2. Toast pitta bread until golden brown and break into small pieces
3. Finely chop fresh herbs sorrel, parsley and mint.
4. Mix everything together in a large bowl
5. Dres with lemon juice ,grated garlic ,salt & olive oil.
6. Finally sprinkle with sumac and stuff your face.

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