Wild Zaatar salad
July 21, 2010 • Category: Salads
Wild zaatar, aka zaatar barrey or wild, is a variety of zaatar (oregano) found on the Lebanese countryside; not to be confused with the zaatar mix sold in stores as a dry spice mixture; this zaatar is eaten with chopped onions and olive oil as a mezze item; pungent and velvety-textured, it is very popular; here I combined it with the large tomatoes that are called here jabalyeh, meaning from the mountains; in the US, these tomatoes are called heirloom tomatoes.
To make this salad, slice some tomatoes and combine with the zaatar, some olives, chopped white onion, sumac and a drizzle of olive oil.
Comments
26 Comments • Comments Feed
Christine @ Fresh says:
This heirloom tomato salad looks so refreshing. I am sure the zaatar adds a pleasing fresh herb flavor.
On July 21, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Eva says:
Thank u for publishing the armenian beoreg
On July 21, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Priya says:
Heard about zaatar mix, but wild zaatar in salad looks very interesting..
On July 21, 2010 at 12:57 pm
melrose says:
I haven’t seen such tomatoes for ages…great!
On July 21, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Anita says:
Just love love this salad, my favorite flavors. And I have to say that if they made perfume out of the zaatar, I would wear it! The best aroma ever. 🙂
On July 21, 2010 at 1:35 pm
SYLVIA says:
Leave it to Joumana to have the bright ideas, this salad has distinctively flavors, and taste of Beirut. What a tasty and a healthy clean salad, with a burst of freshness, almost like a bed spread of zaatar over the tomatoes, and creating aroma, the sumac comes through with its personality, you wont be able to help yourself. This will make it part of the regular salad rotation at our house. Bravo!
On July 21, 2010 at 2:16 pm
deana says:
I love the look of the zatar… but can you substitute regular oregano for it??
On July 21, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Susan says:
I love a simple fresh, tomato salad with fresh herbs. What a lovely salad!
On July 21, 2010 at 3:36 pm
Magic of Spice says:
What a lovely and unique salad, so fresh and light…
On July 21, 2010 at 4:13 pm
sweetlife says:
great salad, the tomatoes are goregous..
sweetlife
On July 21, 2010 at 4:26 pm
FOODESSA says:
I’ve been using the Zaatar mix on a few appetixers lately…and now I find out I can get the simple herb which I could use like my Italian oregano…alright…a small light bulb moment ;o)
Ciao for now and flavourful wishes,
Claudia
On July 21, 2010 at 6:49 pm
peter says:
I’ve never heard of this genus of oregano but I’d love to try it. Mountain herbs are the most pungent…a good thing in my books.
On July 21, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Pauline says:
This herb looks much like the marjoram in my garden (it also grows wild all around here and the pinky-purple flowers are brightening the hedgerows right now). I wouldn’t have thought of using so much with a tomato salad but I’ll try this because it looks so pretty! I wonder if I might find zaatar at an Arab grocery
in Paris…
On July 22, 2010 at 1:23 am
Joanne says:
I never knew that zaatar was just oregano! Good to know. I love the simplicity of this recipe…perfect for the tasty and juicy tomatoes of summer.
On July 22, 2010 at 4:57 am
brian_in_gib says:
Hi Joumana. wild oregano! yum. how about some chopped garlic in there too?
brian
On July 22, 2010 at 6:27 am
I Sicilian says:
Truly the taste of the Mediterranean. Beautiful pic by the way
On July 22, 2010 at 6:48 am
Sushma Mallya says:
Nice salad…
On July 22, 2010 at 7:56 am
Koek! says:
Oh my. Yes, yes, yes. I am going to make that – can i use ordinary origano?
Robyn
On July 22, 2010 at 9:27 am
Joumana says:
@Koek!and @Deana: Ordinary oregano: do you like it? if so, sure! I would try it.
@Brian: I omitted garlic but it is added of course, mashed with salt; thanks for reminding me!
On July 22, 2010 at 10:59 am
Lentil Breakdown says:
I bought Sumac in Turkey and someone gave me some zaatar mix here and I have tried neither yet. Ok. Here goes. I’m going in.
On July 22, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Amy @ cookbookmaniac says:
I have only recently been exposed to the dry spice mix za’atar. I had no idea that this version exists. thank you for showing me 🙂
On July 25, 2010 at 12:49 am
OysterCulture says:
I can only imagine how delicious this salad is, love the fresh herbs and tomatoes – this is summer! This is good!
On July 27, 2010 at 6:09 am
Sophie says:
That zaatar salad sings to me!!
Stunning & lovely food!
On July 27, 2010 at 10:33 am
Dana says:
What I wouldn’t give for some fresh zaatar!! This salad takes me back to my youth! Absolutely love it!
On April 6, 2011 at 11:42 pm
Lela says:
Sounds delicious! I thought is made from thyme rather than oregano, although wild oregano can be used as an alternative.
On July 20, 2014 at 5:02 am
Joumana says:
@Lela: and I was told (or read somewhere) that wild thyme is also called oregano; besides, there are so many varieties of wild oregano or thyme, or zaatar, it gets pretty confusing! 🙂
On July 20, 2014 at 11:20 am