Chicken Shawarma with Fattoush Salad
Yummy and VERY easy. I didn’t put the tomatoes on our pitas, because we were already having a lot of tomatoes in the salad, in fact, Girl dumped her bowl of salad ONTO her pita and ate it that way.
For the fattoush, I adapted a recipe for “chopped vegetable salad” that was in the same issue of Cooking Light, but changed it around so much that it really wasn’t the same, so here’s my version:
Fattoush
2 cups chopped cucumber
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup halved grape tomatoes
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
(The original recipe also called for some chopped green bell pepper, but I didn’t have any on hand. It would have been a nice addition, so I’ll add some next time. Maybe some garlic, too?)
Gently fold all above ingredients to combine. In a small, separate bowl, whisk together:
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Pour over salad and toss gently to combine.
Toss in 2 cups coarsely crushed pita chips (recommended: Stacy’s brand, from Costco) and 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp of ground sumac powder (If you can find it. Try Kalustyan’s, if you’re determined to find some.) and toss salad gently again to combine. Sprinkle a little more sumac on top. Serve immediately, before the pita chips get soggy. If you’re not serving it right away, reserve the pita chips separately until ready to serve.
I would like to try this, but I cannot get tahini here. Is there a subsitute that you know of?
The sauce was good, but wasn’t absolutely crucial in the recipe. You could leave it out or spice up the yogurt with some garlic and other seasonings, instead. You could try subbing cashew butter or peanut butter, but it will change the taste. You could add a little drizzle of toasted sesame oil, too, if you can find it, to add some sesame flavor back in.
But, if you really wanted to do it right (and wanted to have some tahini on hand later for making hummus & baba ghanouj), and can find sesame seeds in bulk, you can make your own:
http://www.recipezaar.com/Homemade-Tahini-92742
I’d be happy to send you some tahini and/or sesame oil, if you’d like. It would have to be the jarred stuff, so won’t be as good as fresh tahini, but would still be better than nothing (or peanut butter).