Lebanese Recipes for Healthy Post-Holiday Salads

The Mediterranean Diet is not your typical cut out this, add more of that diet. It's just the way people living in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea happen to eat on a regular basis. Fresh fruits and vegetables, grains and beans, a lot of fish and healthy oils are the staples of the diet. Adding in fresh herbs and spices provides a ton flavor to the dishes making them as delicious as they are healthy.

Salads in particular offer a lot of flavor punch with the added benefits of plenty of fiber and healthy fats. Although a salad recipe from Lebanon may sound exotic and difficult to make, they are super simple and don't require any obscure ingredients. Plus, you make the dressing yourself so you know exactly what's in it and limit those nasty additives and preservatives.

Try these healthy salad recipes with chicken or fish.

Lebanese Fatoush Salad

2-3 small or 1-2 large loaves of good, thin pita bread
1 tablespoon of dried mint
1 bunch of scallions
Juice of 2 lemons
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 head of lettuce or equivalent amount of leafy greens
1 large cucumber
1 small clove of garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place loaves of pita on oven racks and toast for 10-15 minutes until hard. Be careful not to burn the bread.

While the bread is toasting, cut up lettuce, scallions, and cucumber into small bite-sized pieces and place into a bowl.

When the bread is finished toasting, crush the loaves into small pieces over the salad. The pieces should be mostly bite-sized, but a few smaller pieces are fine too.

Mince the garlic with a microplane grater over the bowl. Add mint, crushing it finely by rubbing it between your hands. Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and combine all ingredients until the salad is evenly coated with the dressing.

Serving Tips

  1. Wait to dress the salad until just before serving so the bread doesn't get too soggy.
  2. If you don't plan to serve the salad all at once, make dressing in a separate container and keep pita chips in a separate bag. Top salad with pita chips and dressing just before serving.
  3. Use whole wheat pita for added fiber.

Lebanese Tabooleh Salad

½ cup fine bulgur (cracked wheat)
2 large bunches of flat leaf parsley
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 bunch scallions
½ bunch fresh mint
Juice of 2 lemons
½ cup of olive oil
Salt to taste

Place bulgur in a bowl and cover with water. Allow to soak for ½ hour.

Place parsley and mint in a food processor and process until chopped finely.

Quarter tomatoes and chop scallions into thin slices.

Drain bulgur and squeeze out excess water with your hands.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss well with lemon juice, olive oil, and salt to taste.

Serving Tips

  1. This salad is best served at room temperature.
    2. It tastes better the longer it sits, so combine all ingredients and allow to rest for ½-1 hour before serving.
    3. You can use any tomatoes you prefer, but grape tomatoes are sweeter and go very well with this salad.