When it comes to spinach salad, in my mind, the lemonier the better. This is another Lebanese classic and whilst it doesn't receive as much attention as its famous cousins fattoush and tabbouleh, it's still a star of the salad world in my mind. Spinach leaves can handle bold flavours like sumac and onion so you don't need to be too precious with them. This salad also contains the flavours of spinach fatayer which are coming soon to the blog I promise. As with all salads you need to taste and adjust before serving and work with what you have.
Salad dressings in Lebanon mostly comprise the golden trio of lemon, olive oil and salt though sometimes apple vinegar is also used. I'm not really a fan of vinegar in my salads as I feel they overpower the leaves, though that's just a personal preference. If you love vinegar then by all means use it. Try and source some sumac from a Lebanese relative or friend if you have one as sometimes the sumac sold in supermarkets is old and brown rather than being a vibrant dark red. I chopped a tiny fraction of a small onion into extremely thin ribbons just to balance out the lemon. The walnuts are optional but give the overall flavour an amazing depth. This salad can be paired perfectly with savoury dishes such as mujadara or even batata harra.
Lebanese Spinach Salad
Spinach salad with sumac and walnuts
Ingredients
- 100 g of spinach
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- ⅛ of small onion approx 1 tbsp
- ½ lemon juiced
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of sumac
- salt to taste approx ½ tsp
- small handful walnuts crumbled by hand
Instructions
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Wash and roughly chop the spinach
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Chop the tomatoes and add to the spinach
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Take a small fraction of an onion and slice into very thin ribbons
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Add a good sprinkle of sumac along with the olive oil and salt
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Taste and check the seasoning, adjust if necessary
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Crumble a few walnuts on top by hand before serving
Let us know how it went