Fatteh, Syrian-style
This Fatteh recipe features spiced ground beef, toasted pita, whole chickpeas and a garlicky chickpea sauce.
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 300kcal
Ingredients
Bottom layer
- 3 Lebanese-style pita breads toasted in the oven until golden brown, then cooled and broken into bite-sized pieces (see recipe below)
Middle layer
- 800 grams canned, cooked chickpeas (half will be used for the sauce, the other half for layering)
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 2 tbsp Greek yogurt
- 4 cloves garlic divided, 2 for the chickpeas and 2 for the sauce
- 1 large lemon or 2 small lemons
Top layer
- 600 g ground beef or ground lamb
- 3-4 tbsp 7-spice a spice mix found in most Middle Eastern shops
- salt and pepper
For the toppings
- cumin
- Aleppo pepper
- pine nuts lightly toasted
- fresh parsley chopped
- fresh pomegranate
Instructions
For the pita bread
- Place the pita, whole, in the oven at 180 C until it becomes golden brown and nicely toasted. Keep your eye on it because it can burn very suddently! This step only takes a couple of minutes.
- Let it cool on the counter, then break it up with your hands into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
For the meat
- Put a large saucepan on medium heat. Add some olive oil or vegetable oil, then add the meat and the 7-spice. Season with salt and pepper. Cook the meat until it's nicely browned. Taste and feel free to add more 7-spice or salt and pepper according to taste.
For the chickpeas
- Take all of the chickpeas and rinse them thoroughly in a colander until the water is no longer frothy.
- Place them in a pot, cover with water, and add the 2 garlic cloves, some salt, and a pinch of cumin. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.
- Drain the chickpeas (but make sure to keep the water!) and then divide them into 2. Set half aside.
- Use the remaining half of the chickpeas to make the hummus-style sauce. In a food processor: combine the chickpeas, 2 remaining cloves of garlic, tahini, Greek yogurt, the juice of the 1 large or 2 small lemons, plus salt and pepper to taste. Blend and then add the reserved chickpea cooking water until the sauce reaches a consistency that's slightly thinner than hummus. The taste should be similar to hummus but the consistency should be more sauce-like and less dip/spread like.
To assemble
- Add one later of toasted pita bread to the bottom of the dish.
- Cover the bread with the chickpea sauce.
- Add the whole chickpeas on top. (Remember to make sure they're not too hot!)
- Finally, add the spiced meat.
- Top with a sprinkling of cumin, Aleppo pepper, and all the toppings you like: chopped parsley or mint, pomegranate, toasted pine nuts, etc. You can also drizzle some melted butter or ghee on top just before serving, because hey, why not.