Fattoush

The name shares a root with fatteh: fatta means to break bread by hand. Day-old or fresh flatbread is fried in olive oil and scattered over the chopped vegetables at the last moment, and the plate goes straight to the table. A fattoush that waits goes soft. This is a salad meant to be eaten while the bread still cracks.

What is in it

Tomato, cucumber, lettuce, spring onion, mint and parsley, dressed with lemon, olive oil and sumac. The sourness comes from the sumac, and so does the red cast across the plate. The herb that marks the Damascus version is purslane; out of season, rocket takes its place. Some households add pomegranate molasses, others none at all.

When it is eaten

A summer plate. During Ramadan it sits on the iftar table whatever the season, because sour and cool is the first thing anyone wants after a fast. It also turns up inside the mezze round, and ordering it with kebab is common.

How to order it

You can ask for the bread to be added at the last minute; some places assemble the plate in advance and let it stand. There is no meat in it, but the frying fat is sometimes clarified butter rather than oil, so it is worth asking. One plate is enough beside mezze for two or three.