Fattoush

Fattoush is a simple salad made with traditional pita bread as a base on which the rest of the ingredients are built on. Pita bread is torn or cut into small bite-sized pieces, then toasted, grilled, or fried. It is then mixed with a variety of vegetables such as lettuce, radish, crunchy cucumbers, cherry tomatoes or regular tomatoes, peppers, onions, and (occasionally) garlic.

All ingredients are chopped and cut into pieces and mixed with a generous amount of herbs, most commonly mint and parsley. The final touch to this authentic salad is the dressing, usually made with olive oil, lemon juice, and pomegranate syrup. The key ingredient, next to the crunchy pita bread, is sumac - a spice commonly used in the Levantine area.

Sumac can be added to the dressing, and it is usually sprinkled on top of a prepared salad. It gives the dish a slightly tart taste and zest, which perfectly matches with the gentle flavors and aromas of fresh herbs and vegetables. The original fattoush is highly versatile, and other common additions may include crisp pomegranate seeds, olives, yogurt, and feta cheese.

It is one of the most famous salads frequently eaten in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq. This refreshing salad belongs to a group of dishes popularly called fattat, which use the stale pita, or any other flatbread, as the star ingredient.