Fattoush

Instructions

1. Wash all the vegetables and herbs and allow to dry well.
2. Finely dice the cucumber, tomatoes, capsicum and spring onions. It's important to keep a consistency of dice in this salad, I tend to dice them about 1.5 cm big. Slice the radishes into thick circles and then into matchsticks. Coarsely shred the cos lettuce and rocket and finely shred the cabbage.
3. Fill a deep frying pan quarter full of oil and place over high heat. Once the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium. While the oil is heating, open up the pieces of Lebanese bread into single rounds and roughly tear into medium sized pieces. Place 3 - 4 thick paper towels into a sieve over a bowl to soak up any excess oil that is left on the bread.
4. Once the oil is ready, add one piece of bread to the oil, rough side down, to test the timing and colour, keeping in mind, when you remove the bread from the oil, it continues to cook and brown so you need to know when to take it out. The colour of the bread should be golden when it leaves the oil and then usually darkens to a light brown once it's cooled down. Be mindful not to overcrowd the pan. Allow the bread to cool down and any excess oil to drip off.
5. For the dressing, place all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine well.
6. To assemble the fattoush, place all the chopped salad ingredients and herbs in a large bowl. Add dressing and half the pomegranate, then coarsely crush half the fried bread into the bowl. Gently toss with your hands until everything is well coated in the dressing. Scatter with the remaining pomegranate seeds and coarsely crush the remaining fried bread over the top. Serve immediately.