United Arab Emirates – Fattoush

by Reshaeel Nisar

Introduction

Fattoush is one of the local and popular cuisines of United Arab Emirates and it is served in different restaurants of United Arab Emirates. This dish is made up of vegetables due to which it has healthy and nutritious advantages for our body. It contains many vegetables such as cucumber, tomatoes and Radish. It can also be prepared by onion, garlic etc. It is a simple as well as easy dish which you can easily make at home. It can be prepared with in few minutes if you can cut vegetables fast. People from United Arab Emirates likes this dish not just because of its taste but due to its healthy advantages. Fattoush can be served with Levantine bread or whole wheat pita bread. This dish is a kind of salad which is enrich with different flavors. Fattoush is a healthy dish due to the presence of vegetables in it, so I would like to suggest you to make this dish and give it to your children. As I’ve given the steps to make it at home. You just have to follow these steps and your delicious Fattoush is ready.

Vegetarian Dish

There are many vegetarian dishes in the world but with the excessive use of meat and chicken, the use of vegetables in our diet has lessen. So I would like to tell you first that vegetarian dishes means the dish which is made up of vegetables. So Fattoush is a vegetarian dish as it is made of vegetables like cucumber and tomatoes etc. This dish has a great taste and also healthy in diet because it contains nutrition and fiber in it.

Healthy and nutritious facts

As I’ve mentioned multiple time above that Fattoush is a delicious as well as healthy dish because of the presence of vegetable in it. This dish is eaten by Arabs in large amount because of its healthy features. one cup of Fattoush contains many nutrition which are as follows:

• Fat: 10 g
• protein: 1.9 g
• carbohydrates: 16 g
• calories: 159

History and traditional explanation

When we talk about the history of this dish first of all I would like to tell you that this dish is originated from Northern Lebanon. It is a kind of bread salad which is liked by many people in past and in present as well. For making this dish more tastier, Lebanese farmers have done many efforts. They fry leftover pita scraps in an olive oil to increase its taste and add more flavor to it. It is an Arabic dish and the word Fattaush is also an Arabic word which means to crush. The reason of this dish popularity lies in how healthy it is and how easily it can be made.

Ingredients

• (Cucumber) 2-3
• (Tomatoes) 2
• Olive oil 1 tsp
• (Coriander) ½ cup
• (Mint) 3-4 tbs
• (Salt) 1-2
• (Capsicum) 1
• Iceberg lettuce ½
• (Radish) ½
• Whole wheat pita bread 1-2

Pinch Salad Dressing

• (Garlic) chopped 1Olive oil ½ Cup
• Lemon juice 1/3 Cup
• Sumac or lemon zest 1 tbs
• (Salt) ½ tsp or to taste

Steps to make

• Take a bowl and then first peel 2-3 cucumbers and cut in cubic shape and add it in the bowl.

• After peeling cucumbers now deseed two tomatoes and cut into cubic shape and add it in the bowl.

• And take 1 capsicum and again deseed it and cut into cubic shape and add this too in the bowl.

• Now cut 1/2 iceberg lettuce, 1/2 cup coriander, 3-4 tsp mint leaves, 1/2 radish and add them in the bowl.

• After that take 1-2 whole wheat pita bread and cut it into pieces and add it in the frying pan, add 1 tsp olive oil and 1-2 pinch of salt, on it and toast it on low flame or bake at 180 C for 10 minutes until it changes its color to brown.

• After toasting it add it in the above bowl.

For dressing salad

• Take a jug, and add 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1/2 tsp salt, one chopped garlic and 1 tsp lemon zest, mix it well and pour the mixture in squeeze bottle.

• In bowl, where you’ve added all vegetables, bran pita bread now add salad dressing in it too, and mix well.

Time required

Preparing Time

You just need 20 minutes for preparing this salad

Cooking time

15 minutes is enough for cooking this dish at home.

Serving time

It just takes only 5 minutes for serving this dish.

Additional Information

Cuisine

It is a local cuisine of United Arab Emirates

Advantages

It is dish made up of vegetables so it is healthy and contains nutrition for the growth of our body.

Cooking level

Cooking level of this dish is as easy as you think. This is a dish which can be made by anyone. It is simple and easy.

Serve

You can serve this dish to only 4-5 people.