Name: Home Kitchen Chicken Tawook Salad with Lemon Sumac Dressing
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 1 tablespoon ground sumac; 1/4 cup olive oil; kosher salt (to taste); coarsely ground black pepper (to taste); 3 pocket-less pitas (cut into triangles); olive oil spray; kosher salt; 1 large romaine lettuce (chopped); 1 large head red leaf lettuce (chopped); 1 cup sliced purple cabbage; 2 carrots (grated or julienned); 1 tablespoon chopped parsley; 1 tablespoon chopped dill; 1 cup sliced red onion; 1/2 english cucumber (sliced into half moons); 6 Campari tomatoes (sliced into wedges); 1 recipe shish tawook; 1 cup lebanese garlic sauce (for serving)

This chicken tawook salad is an exact replica of the one I order from my regular Middle Eastern restaurant.

Two of my sisters, Kelly and Julie turned me on to this salad and it’s so unbelievably satisfying. It has a rainbow of vegetables and the warm chicken pieces on top with the cool salad is my absolute go-to thing. It’s simply SO DEEPLY GOOD! I think part of it has something to do with the standout dressing and the other part is that garlic sauce. And of course the toasty pita pieces are too shabby either.

Since there is not a La Marsa in Virginia where Kelly lives, 9 times out of 10 we order it when she’s in town. Usually whomever is closest to the restaurant picks up the order and in no time we are all blissfully drunk on chicken shawarma wraps, chicken tawook salad and garlic sauce.

Since I’ve done so much talking about Chicken Tawook last week, I decided to share with you my recipe for my go-to way to consume it.

The Salad Breakdown: Leafy salad greens, carrots, cabbage, fresh dill and parsley, cucumber, onions, tomato, broken pieces of toasted pita and grilled pieces of chicken tawook. A dollop of that memorable garlic sauce and a drizzle of lemon sumac dressing seals the deal.

To Make The Lemon Sumac Dressing Gather:

sumac
kosher salt
black pepper
lemon juice
olive oil

If making my fattoush salad, then I grate in a 1/2 to a whole garlic clove. This salad does NOT need any more garlic so that’s why I left it out.

Freshly squeeze a large lemon to get 2 tablespoons of juice, give or take.

Into a small glass jar or container with a tight fitted lid; add in 1 heaping tablespoon of ground sumac berries. I get mine from Penzey’s Spices.

Season with two pinches of kosher salt and coarse black pepper. This is done to taste and I don’t use precise measurements.

Pour the lemon juice through a strainer to catch the seeds…

…and then add 1/4 cup of olive oil

Then secure the lid. #saladdressingart <—- it’s trending. 😉

And shake until combined.

For the salad, I toss together chopped romaine, red leaf lettuce, carrots and cabbage…

Fresh dill and parsley (A regular here fresh herbs in my salad!)…

And of course, the toasted pita pieces.

I then plate up the salad. Because we all like different toppings in my house, to my bowl/plate I add cucumber, onions, tomato and the pieces of grilled chicken tawook. THEN I add a dollop of garlic sauce and pour a little of that amazeballs (sorry, do people even say that anymore? Did they genuinely ever?) dressing over top.

Toss the salad together so the garlic sauce mixes with the dressing and coats everything in this creamy luxuriousness.

This is the salad of summer 2k16.

Enjoy! And if you give this dish a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!