Fattoush (; also fattush, fatush, fattoosh, and fattouche) is a Levantine salad made from toasted or fried pieces of
khubz
Khubz (), alternatively transliterated as ''khoubz'', ''khobez'', ''khubez'', or ''khubooz'',), date=February 2022 is the usual word for "bread" in Standard Arabic and in many of the vernaculars.
Among the breads popular in Middle Eastern ...
(Arabic flat bread) combined with
mixed greens and other
vegetable
Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...
s, such as
radish
The radish (''Raphanus sativus'') is a flowering plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae. Its large taproot is commonly used as a root vegetable, although the entire plant is edible and its leaves are sometimes used as a leaf vegetable. Origina ...
es,
cucumber
The cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the family Cucurbitaceae that bears cylindrical to spherical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.[tomato
The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...]
es.
[Wright, 2003]
p. 241
/ref> Fattoush is popular among communities in the Levant
The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...
.
Etymology
''Fattūsh'' is derived from the Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
''fatt'' "crush" and the suffix of Turkic origin ''-ūsh''. Coining words this way was common in Levantine Arabic
Levantine Arabic, also called Shami (Endonym and exonym, autonym: or ), is an Varieties of Arabic, Arabic variety spoken in the Levant, namely in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and southern Turkey (historically only in Adana Prov ...
.
Ingredients
Fattoush belongs to the family of dishes known as ''fattat'' (plural of ''fatteh
Fatteh ( meaning ''crushed'' or ''crumbs'', also romanized as ''fette'', ''fetté'', ''fatta'' or ''fattah'')Patai, 1998, p. 98. is a dish eaten in the Levant and Egypt consisting of pieces of fresh, toasted, grilled, or fried flatbread covered w ...
''), which use stale flatbread as a base.[Claudia Roden, ''The New Book of Middle Eastern Food'', 2008, p. 74]
Fattoush includes vegetables and herbs varying by season and taste. The vegetables are cut into relatively large pieces compared to tabbouleh
Tabbouleh (), also transcribed tabouleh, tabbouli, tabouli, or taboulah, is a Levantine salad of finely chopped parsley, soaked bulgur, tomatoes, mint, and onion, seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and sweet pepper. Some variations a ...
which requires ingredients to be finely chopped. Sumac
Sumac or sumach ( , )—not to be confused with poison sumac—is any of the roughly 35 species of flowering plants in the genus ''Rhus'' (and related genera) of the cashew and mango tree family, Anacardiaceae. However, it is '' Rhus coriaria ...
is usually used to give fattoush its sour taste, while some recipes also add pomegranate molasses along with the sumac.
Variations
In Palestinian cuisine, fattoush is prepared by crushing garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...
, salt, chili pepper
Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...
(or any hot pepper), and fresh basil
Basil (, ; , ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' (, )), also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a hardiness (plants), tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" r ...
leaves together in a pestle and mortar, then mixing them with a generous amount of lemon juice
The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...
and tahini
Tahini () (, or in Iraq: (rashi-راشي)) is a Middle Eastern condiment (a seed butter) made from ground sesame seeds. The most common variety comes from hulled seeds, but unhulled ones can also be used; the latter variety is slightly bitter, ...
, and occasionally yogurt
Yogurt (; , from , ; also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to ...
. Bite-sized pieces of untoasted pita bread
Pita ( or ; ) or pitta (British English), also known as Arabic bread (, ), as Lebanese bread and as kmaj (from the Persian ''kumaj''), is a family of yeast- leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Levant ...
are dipped into this mixture to absorb the liquid. Vegetables are added afterward, and the dish is finished with olive oil
Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil.
It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...
. A distinctive feature of the Palestinian version is the inclusion of white onions, which are absent in the Lebanese version. In Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
, a similar method is followed, but jameed is used in place of the tahini mixture
See also
* Dakos
* Arabic salad
* List of bread dishes
This is a list of bread dishes and foods, which use bread as a primary ingredient. Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history it has been popular around the world and is one of ...
* List of hors d'oeuvre
This is a list of notable hors d'oeuvre, also referred to as appetizers or starters, which may be served either hot or cold. They are food items served before the main courses of a meal, and are also sometimes served at the dinner table as a part ...
* List of salads
Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes including green salads; vegetable salads; long beans; salads of pasta, legumes, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They often include vegetables and fruits.
...
* Panzanella
''Panzanella'' () or ''panmolle'' () is a Tuscan and Umbrian chopped salad of soaked stale bread, onions and tomatoes that is popular in the summer. It often includes cucumbers, sometimes basil and is dressed with olive oil and vinegar.
It is ...
, an Italian bread salad
References
Bibliography
*
Appetizers
Arab salads
Assyrian cuisine
Bread salads
Levantine cuisine
Lenten foods
Syrian cuisine
Lebanese cuisine
Iraqi cuisine
{{Arab-cuisine-stub