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I will say over and over again how wonderful the agriculture potential of Lebanon is. Many, seeing this potential, have started successful projects like Gem Fruits. Tomatoes are a staple of the Lebanese kitchen but other than small grape tomatoes and your run-of-the-mill beefsteak tomato, I didn’t see much variety in the markets. Gem Fruits built poly-tunnels up in the mountains and imported heirloom tomato seeds and soon was offering a beautiful rainbow of cherry tomatoes, Green Zebras, Pink Berkeleys, Bull’s Hearts. I went to visit their farm and it was there that I was inspired to make this dish. Only February, still the tunnels were humid and warm for growing these lovely fruits, and the vines were heavy with green tomatoes just waiting to turn their various final shades. They gave me some as a gift and I went home to play, coming up with this twist on the Southern American classic with a distinctly Levantine flavor.
1 pound green tomatoes, sliced into ¼ inch slices
1 egg
¼ cup buttermilk
½ cup flour
1/3 cup fine semolina
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon zaatar spice mix
¼ cup tahini
juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 garlic clove, peeled and grated on microplane
olive oil for frying
edible flowers for garnish
Prepare three plates to bread your tomatoes. In the first combine the egg and buttermilk. In the second place the flour. In the third combine the semolina, salt, pepper, and zaatar. Dip the sliced tomatoes in each plate in the order above, coating the tomatoes well and evenly. Set them aside.
Make your tarator sauce by whisking together the tahini, lemon juice, water, cumin, and grated garlic clove. You might need some more water to thin to your liking but it should hold its shape and not be too thin.
Heat a frying pan over moderate heat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil in it and carefully place a few tomato slices. Brown until the coating is crispy and brown and the tomatoes are just warmed through.
To plate, Place a circle of the tarator sauce on your plate and stack the fried tomatoes on top. Drizzle more tarator on top if you’d like. I’m particularly fond of little edible flowers on this dish, if you can find them.
