WeekTable
Menu
Plan my week
AI-generated photograph: Fattoush piled high in a wide white bowl, green lettuce and herbs, red cherry tomatoes, pink radish slices and golden pitta shards, crisp chickpeas and ruby pomegranate seeds on top, dusted with dark red sumac

Home · Recipes · Fattoush salad with crispy chickpeas

Mediterranean and Middle Eastern · Lunch

Fattoush salad with crispy chickpeas

toasted pitta · crisp chickpeas · sumac and pomegranate

AI-generated photograph

A crunchy Lebanese bread salad of crisp lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes and herbs with golden toasted pitta and spiced chickpeas, all tossed in a sharp lemon and pomegranate dressing.

Contains: cereals containing gluten, as written. This recipe contains gluten, from the pitta bread. Some pitta breads also contain sesame or soya, and some pomegranate molasses contains sulphites, so check those packets.

Ingredients

  • 2 large pitta breads
  • 2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil, for the pitta and chickpeas
  • 1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry
  • 2 teaspoons sumac (a dark red, lemony spice), divided
  • 1 romaine lettuce, shredded
  • Half a cucumber, chopped
  • 250g cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 6 radishes, thinly sliced
  • 4 spring onions, sliced
  • A small bunch of fresh mint (about 15g), leaves picked
  • A small bunch of flat-leaf parsley (about 30g), roughly chopped
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 3 tablespoons (45ml) extra virgin olive oil, for the dressing
  • 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses (a thick, sweet and sour syrup)
  • 1 small garlic clove, crushed
  • Half a teaspoon salt
  • Seeds from half a pomegranate (optional)

Plan a week with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes

Let's cook

  1. Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan). Tear the pitta into bite-sized pieces, toss them on a baking tray with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden and crisp. Watch them closely at the end.
  2. Meanwhile, heat the rest of the olive oil in a frying pan on a medium-high heat. Add the chickpeas and fry for 8 to 10 minutes, shaking the pan, until they are golden and crisp on the outside. Sprinkle over 1 teaspoon of the sumac and a pinch of salt, then tip them onto a plate.
  3. Make the dressing. In a jar or small bowl, mix the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, pomegranate molasses, garlic, salt and the rest of the sumac.
  4. Put the lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, radishes, spring onions, mint and parsley in a large bowl.
  5. Just before eating, pour the dressing over the salad and toss well. Add the toasted pitta and most of the chickpeas and toss again, gently.
  6. Pile onto plates and top with the rest of the chickpeas and the pomegranate seeds, if using. Eat straight away, while the pitta is still crunchy.

Tips

  • Dry the chickpeas well with kitchen paper: wet chickpeas steam instead of crisping.
  • Dress the salad at the last minute, or the pitta goes soft.
  • Sumac and pomegranate molasses are sold in most big supermarkets, in the spice rack and world foods aisle.

Swaps

  • No pomegranate molasses: use 1 teaspoon honey and an extra squeeze of lemon (honey is not vegan).
  • Gluten free: use gluten-free pitta or wraps, toasted the same way.
  • More filling: add 200g grilled halloumi, sliced (halloumi contains milk).

More in the Middle Eastern meal plan

Our own recipe. The photograph is AI-generated.

From the same kitchen

What goes with it.

The Middle Eastern meal plan