Greek Salad with Hummus & Lebneh

This Greek salad is hearty enough to serve as a main course but light enough to compliment another dish like falafel or Mediterranean grilled chicken. This recipe is simply a guideline. Use whatever is in season and gets you excited about salad.

View Instructions

Vegetarian:

Yes

Vegan:

Gluten Free:

Yes

Sugar Free:

Yes

Inroduction

About this Recipe

By: Meredith Newell

The base of this salad is hummus and lebneh. You can choose to make these from scratch or purchase remade versions from the grocer. Lebneh is strained and seasoned yogurt, but you can skip the straining and simply season if you are short on time.

Ingredients

For Lebneh

32 oz Full-fat plain greek yogurt
or prepared lebneh
1 whole lemon Juice and Zest
2 tsp Minced Garlic
1 tsp each salt & Pepper

For Salad

4 cups Lettuce of Choice (I like to mix butter and red leaf), tear into bite-sized pieces
2 cups Fresh Tomato (Whatever smells like a tomato, vary the colors and sizes if you want to be fancy),
cut into bite-size
1/2 onion Red Onion, thinly sliced
1 cucumber Medium Cucumber, thinly sliced
1 cup, mixed Fresh Herbs (Mint, thyme, basil) Leaves removed from stems
1/2 cup Kalamata olives (buy the ones in a jar, pitted. Whole or pieces are fine)
1/2 cup Feta Cheese (I like to buy the brick and cut it myself, but you can buy crumbles of you prefer)
4 tbsp Pumpkin or Sunflower Seeds, toasted
2 tbsp Balsamic Dressing or Red Wine Vinegar and Olive Oil (you can add this each time you eat a serving to preserve the lettuce)
2 tbsp Za’atar Seasoning (Most grocers have this now, but Carol’s market on North or Willow Creek on Main in GJ do too)
1 pinch Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1

For Lebneh: You can stir salt, lemon zest (1 tablespoon), lemon juice, garlic and pepper directly into the container and set aside. Traditionally, you would then strain that yogurt through three layers of cheese cloth to remove whey and any excess fluid, but greek yogurt is somewhat dry, so that step isn’t necessary.

Step 2

For Salad: After you’ve chopped, torn and sliced all of your ingredients, toss them together in a bowl and sprinkle with dressing, za’atar and salt and pepper. Or hold the dressing and add it as you go if you plan to eat the salad over the course of a few days.

Step 3

To Serve: Put about 1/2 cup of (each) lebneh and hummus on your plate and layer salad on top.

Step 4

To Eat: Remember about 30% of digestion relies on you being in a relaxed state when you eat. That means, sit down, do no other work than chewing. Start with a moment of gratitude for all of the people and natural processes that brought this food to your table. Enjoy!