As you may have gathered from reading my previous posts, I just love this fattoush :) It’s so good! Even Oprah likes it – see the recipe printed here! It’s one of the first recipes in Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s Jerusalem, and it just makes you feel so healthy and good about yourself eating it! I love all the herbs and fresh ingredients. Each time I’ve made it so far I’ve been switching back and forth between using buttermilk and mixing greek yogurt with milk for the dressing (you have the option of either using 1 and 2/3 cups buttermilk or 1 cup greek yogurt and 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp milk) and I’ve been trying out different pitas. I tried wheat pita today but I think white pita works the best.  I also decided to add more tomatoes and radishes this time since I usually have a lot of left over dressing at the bottom after I’ve finished the salad.

The first step is of course getting all the ingredients – you need 2 large naans/pitas/flat bread, the greek yogurt and milk or buttermilk, 3 large tomatoes, 100g radishes, 3 Lebanese cucumbers, 2 green onions, 15g fresh mint, 1 tbsp dried mint, 2 cloves garlic (definitely worth it to invest in a garlic crusher. So glad I bought one at walgreens!), 3 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon (I invested in a lemon squeezer because I’ve realized that yes, fresh squeezed lemon juice is way better), 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp white wine or cider vinegar, 1.5 tsp salt, pepper, and sumac to garnish if you have it.

First, I tore up 2 large pitas and put them in this giant salad bowl that I just bought myself at Marshall’s (the best place to buy cheap good quality stuff! Hey, I’m still a grad student after all..)

Next, I chopped up the tomatoes. I decided to go for 4 tomatoes this time since I just love tomatoes. How pretty are they?

This is a pretty easy dish to make, you simply slowly add ingredients, layer by layer. Here is the pita with the tomatoes:

Next I chopped the Lebanese cucumbers (also called Persian cucumbers in stores, the small ones):

Then I added those to the tomatoes and pita:

Next I added the radishes. I found some really pretty ones at the Berkeley bowl.

Then I sliced up the radishes and added them to the salad bowl:

 

The next ingredient is green onions. There are varying opinions on how high to cut the onion up the green part. I usually cut off the roots and then go about half way up the green part.

Next I got to add the fresh herbs, which I think are what really make this salad.

After the herbs, I added two crushed garlic cloves, which is admittedly pretty garlicky. Next time I might add just one. Follow your taste buds on this one! Then add 1 tbsp dried mint, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tbsp white wine/cider vinegar, 1.5 tsp salt, and some pepper. The recipe calls for 3 tbsp lemon juice, and I definitely recommend investing in a squeezer and making it fresh. I bought one recently and I’m very happy with my purchase :)

Next toss all the ingredients together and it’s best to let this dish sit for a while and let the flavors meld.

 

Ingredients

• Scant 1 cup Greek yogurt plus 2 Tbsp. whole milk, or 1 cup buttermilk (replacing both yogurt and milk)
• 2 large stale Turkish flatbread/pita (9 ounces in total)
• 3 large tomatoes (13 ounces in total), cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 3 ounces radishes, thinly sliced
• 3 Lebanese or mini cucumbers (9 ounces in total), peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch dice
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 ounce fresh mint
• Scant 1 ounce flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
• 1 Tbsp. dried mint
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
• 2 Tbsp. cider or white wine vinegar
• 3/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. sumac or more to taste, to garnish