Wild Zaatar salad

July 21, 2010  •  Category:

 

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

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  1. Christine @ Fresh says:

    This heirloom tomato salad looks so refreshing. I am sure the zaatar adds a pleasing fresh herb flavor.

  2. Eva says:

    Thank u for publishing the armenian beoreg

  3. Priya says:

    Heard about zaatar mix, but wild zaatar in salad looks very interesting..

  4. melrose says:

    I haven’t seen such tomatoes for ages…great!

  5. 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. 🙂

  6. 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!

  7. deana says:

    I love the look of the zatar… but can you substitute regular oregano for it??

  8. Susan says:

    I love a simple fresh, tomato salad with fresh herbs. What a lovely salad!

  9. Magic of Spice says:

    What a lovely and unique salad, so fresh and light…

  10. sweetlife says:

    great salad, the tomatoes are goregous..

    sweetlife

  11. 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

  12. 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.

  13. 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…

  14. 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.

  15. brian_in_gib says:

    Hi Joumana. wild oregano! yum. how about some chopped garlic in there too?
    brian

  16. I Sicilian says:

    Truly the taste of the Mediterranean. Beautiful pic by the way

  17. Koek! says:

    Oh my. Yes, yes, yes. I am going to make that – can i use ordinary origano?
    Robyn

    • 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!

  18. 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.

  19. 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 🙂

  20. OysterCulture says:

    I can only imagine how delicious this salad is, love the fresh herbs and tomatoes – this is summer! This is good!

  21. Sophie says:

    That zaatar salad sings to me!!

    Stunning & lovely food!

  22. Dana says:

    What I wouldn’t give for some fresh zaatar!! This salad takes me back to my youth! Absolutely love it!

  23. Lela says:

    Sounds delicious! I thought is made from thyme rather than oregano, although wild oregano can be used as an alternative.

    • 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! 🙂

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