TikTok's Take On Fattoush Is Deliciously Modern

Fattoush is a salad that often accompanies Middle Eastern dishes on the dinner table. Instead of croutons, pieces of pita that are crushed up and fried often adorn the top of the dish. But if you're looking to shake things up with the way you eat this food, the internet has invented a new, fun way to enjoy fattoush. 

TikTok user Yumna, also known as Feel Good Foodie, shared her recipe in a video. She begins by dicing up the vegetables into tiny, bite-sized pieces. She then combines lettuce, tomato, cabbage, cucumber, green peppers, onion, radishes, and parsley into a bowl, and mixes it all together.

Instead of grabbing a fork to eat your salad, Yumna sliced up some pita bread into triangles, seasoned them, and placed them in the oven to crisp up. Once the bread has achieves a chip-like consistency, Yumna demonstrates how she uses the pita chips as a vehicle to scoop up the salad — "like a chip and salsa situation."

In the comments of the video and on her website, Yumna shared her recipe for the salad dressing. The dressing employs olive oil, lemon juice, mint, pomegranate molasses, and various seasonings to add a little extra flavor to the chopped vegetables. She shared that this is a family favorite during Ramadan, but it also pairs well with other dishes any time of the year.

@feelgoodfoodie

Chopped fattoush salad with pita chips for dipping instead of topping! 🥗 #ramadanrecipes #fattoush #fattoushsalad #arabictiktok

♬ original sound – Feel Good Foodie

Plenty of commenters were excited about the new take on the classic recipe. Some noted that they already loved the salad, and were intrigued by the idea of eating it in a different way. One commenter chimed in that they "could eat it every day," and Yumna replied in agreement.

While the standard fattoush salad recipe typically cuts up the vegetables with a knife, this nuanced take on the dish requires things to be diced a little more finely. (Think of it as a Lebanese version of pico de gallo.) These smaller pieces will make the scooping easier, so you can get a bite of every veggie in the dish.

The salad's name is derived from an Arabic term meaning "crumbs," since the salad is meant to be comprised of vegetables and bread from other dishes. One commenter on Yumna's Instagram post of the same video shared that part of the reason they loved fattoush was that they loved being able to use up leftover vegetables in their fridge.

One major difference between Yumna's recipe versus the traditional version is the preparation of the pita bread. Traditional fattoush fries the slices of bread and then tops the salad with them. Yumna opts to coat the bread pieces in seasoning before baking them for a little bit of a lighter bite. No matter how you serve it, the pita is an essential part of the fattoush experience.

If you're a fan of fattoush and you want to try changing up the ways you enjoy your side dish, try scooping some salad onto pita chips next time you grab a bite.