By Reem Kassis, The New York Times
When Salam Dakkak was growing up in Jordan, dinner didn’t end when the plates were cleared. It simply transformed.
Her mother would take whatever remained — a spinach stew, a lentil soup, even sautéed vegetables — and tear up old bread, reheat the dish, pour it on top and finish it all with a cool yogurt sauce and some fried nuts. “It wasn’t just leftovers,” Dakkak said. “It was a brand-new meal.”
That meal had a name: fatteh.
Long before appearing on restaurant menus or Instagram feeds, fatteh, from the Arabic verb fatta (to break or tear), was a tradition across Arab households, a generous layered dish that breathes new life into food.
Today, Dakkak, 62, the chef-owner of Bait Maryam in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, serves fatteh at her Levantine restaurant in the classic chickpea-and-yogurt style and in countless other interpretations — some she even helped pioneer. Msakhan, the Palestinian dish of roast chicken with sumac and onions, was, according to her, first served as fatteh in her restaurant.
“The point is to not waste food,” Dakkak said. “Whatever you have leftover, you repurpose, you make beautiful, you add some new elements and then — ya allah — just try how delicious it becomes.”
“People are turning everything into fatteh,” said Sawsan Daana, a Kuwait-based Palestinian chef and founder of Matbakhi.
Online, you’ll find rich, refined, even theatrical versions of the dish. But at its heart is always an unchanged structure: crispy bread, topped with something warm (legumes, vegetables or meats, and in more traditional iterations, rice), something cooling (a yogurt or chili-lemon sauce), and a crunchy element (fried nuts, pomegranate seeds or more toasted bread). Once you have these few elements, you can assemble a different version every night or pull it together in minutes when company comes over.
But, despite all that, fatteh hasn’t quite caught on with home cooks in the United States. “A lot of foods like fatteh, mulukhiyah, bamieh — any of these foods we grew up eating at home — they are a lot less popular in restaurants,” said Ahmad Alzahabi, 28, a Michigan-based Syrian content creator, who added that restaurants help introduce Americans to foods they’d eventually want to make in their own kitchens.
For restaurants, it can be a matter of execution. “It’s a dish that needs to be prepared and eaten right away — the hot and cold, the soft and crunch, those elements have to come together just right,” said Philippe Massoud, the chef-owner of Ilili in New York and Washington, D.C., who has occasionally served fatteh over the years. “So you have to prepare and serve it last, and eat it first.” This has made fatteh impractical for him to keep on regular rotation.
But that hasn’t deterred others. At Oleana Restaurant and Moona in Cambridge, Massachusetts, fatteh is always on the menu and one of their top sellers. “I fear our customers will launch a revolution if we remove it,” said Mohamad El Zein, the owner of Moona, laughing.
Still, where fatteh always shines is at home. It’s an economical, adaptable and endlessly forgiving blueprint, filling without being fussy and impressive without trying too hard, the kind of meal that makes use of what’s on hand but still feels like a feast.
Or, as Dakkak said: “Fatteh is not just one dish, it’s a format. It can be anything.”
Chickpea Fatteh (Crispy Pita, Chickpeas and Yogurt)
Chickpea fatteh. Layers of toasted pita, chickpeas and yogurt sauce, this fatteh is full of creamy-crunchy, warm-cool layers. Food styled by Samantha Seneviratne. (Julia Gartland, The New York Times)Every family has its own way of making chickpea fatteh, but the layers of toasted pita, chickpeas and yogurt sauce always deliver a contrast of creamy and crunchy, warm and cool, sharp and earthy. This version, adapted from Sawsan Daana, the Palestinian chef of Matbakhi restaurant in Kuwait City, includes a layer of hummus in addition to the whole chickpeas, as is typical in Amman, Jordan, as well as in Jerusalem, where she was born. Lebanese and Syrian versions skip the hummus and lean more heavily on tahini in the yogurt sauce (see tip). Whichever route you take, this impressive dish is far easier to pull off than it looks, since the steps are straightforward and many ingredients repeat. If you like, you can prep everything but the toppings one or two days in advance and assemble when ready to serve.
By Reem Kassis
Yield: 4 servings (as a main course) or 8 servings (as part of a spread)
Total time: About 1 hour
Ingredients
For the pita chips:
4 ounces pita bread (about 2 pita), cut into 3/4-inch squares 2 tablespoons olive oil SaltFor the chickpeas and hummus (see tip):
2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin Fine sea salt 1/4 cup tahiniFor the garlic sauce:
2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice 2 garlic cloves 1 green chile, such as jalapeño, serrano or Anaheim, seeded and roughly chopped 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon olive oilFor the yogurt sauce:
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (regular or Greek) 2 teaspoons tahini 1/2 to 1 very small garlic clove, finely grated 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon saltFor the toppings:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 2 to 3 tablespoons pine nuts or slivered almonds 1 tablespoon butter (if making the meat topping) 1/2 pound boneless beef or lamb (optional); preferably a tender cut such as sirloin, fillet or ribeye, cut into small bite-size cubes Pomegranate seeds (optional), for garnish Chopped parsley or other herbs (optional), for garnishPreparation
1. Make the pita chips: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toss pita squares with the olive oil and a pinch of salt. Spread on a baking sheet and bake, turning occasionally, until crisp and golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool. (Pita chips can be made up to 1 week ahead and stored in an airtight container.)
2. Make the simmered chickpeas: Place the chickpeas into a small saucepan and add enough water to cover by about an inch. Add the cumin and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil on medium heat. Lower to a bare simmer until ready to serve.
3. Next, make the garlic sauce: Use an immersion blender or mini food processor to purée the lemon juice, garlic, green chile and salt, then stir in the oil. (Alternatively, use a mortar and pestle or a chef’s knife to mash or finely chop the garlic, green chile and salt, then stir in the lemon juice and olive oil.)
4. To make the hummus, using a slotted spoon, transfer 1 cup of the simmered chickpeas to a large liquid measuring cup (if using the immersion blender) or to a mini food processor. Add tahini, ¼ cup of the warm cooking liquid from the chickpeas, 2 teaspoons of the garlic sauce and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Blend until smooth and creamy, with a thin spreadable consistency that is slightly looser than traditional hummus. If it appears too thick, add more of the chickpea cooking liquid, 1 tablespoon at a time.
5. Make the yogurt sauce: Stir together the yogurt, tahini, garlic and salt in a small bowl until combined. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
6. Right before assembling, prepare the toppings: Heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium and toast the pine nuts, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. If making the meat topping, melt the butter in the same pan, add the beef and cook over medium-high, stirring, until cooked through and just starting to brown, 3 to 5 to minutes.
7. To assemble, spread the pita chips on a serving platter. Spoon half of the garlic sauce on top. Using a slotted spoon, drain the remaining chickpeas well and scatter over the pita. Spread the hummus on top, then spoon on the yogurt sauce. If you’ve made the meat topping, add it now, along with the pine nuts, pomegranate seeds and herbs, if using. Finish with the remaining garlic sauce. Serve immediately.
Tips
If using thick pita bread, split into two halves before cutting into squares. You could also replace the pita bread with flour tortillas or roti, or, in a real pinch, use store-bought pita chips. (If using pita chips, there’s no need to toast.)
If you’re short on time, you can use store-bought hummus, though results will vary depending on the brand’s flavor and quality. In that case, omit one can of chickpeas. Many versions of chickpea fatteh omit the hummus layer and instead increase the tahini in the yogurt sauce. The flavor difference is subtle. To omit the hummus, adjust the yogurt sauce as follows: Increase the tahini to 3/4 cup, add 2 tablespoons lemon juice and use an additional 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Eggplant Fatteh (Crispy Pita, Eggplant and Yogurt)
Eggplant fatteh. Fatteh is an ideal way to repurpose leftovers — and a stellar dish on its own. Food styled by Samantha Seneviratne. (Julia Gartland, The New York Times)There’s no single way to make eggplant fatteh, a layered dish of crispy pita, tender eggplant and yogurt-tahini sauce that is beloved across the Levant. In this version, adapted from Salam Dakkak, the chef of Bait Maryam restaurant in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the eggplant is roasted instead of deep fried, a perfectly tasty compromise that requires less cleanup. The contrast of temperatures and textures — crunchy, creamy, hot and cool — makes the dish unforgettable. Fatteh is best served immediately, so the pita chips stay crisp. To make this easier, all components can be prepared ahead, with the eggplant roasted last (or simply reheated) and the dish assembled just before serving.
By Reem Kassis
Yield: 2 servings (as a main course) or 4 servings (as part of a spread)
Total time: 1 hour
Ingredients
For the pita chips:
4 ounces pita bread (about 2 pita), cut into 3/4-inch squares, see tip Olive oil Kosher salt, such as Diamond CrystalFor the eggplant:
1 very large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds) 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil Kosher salt, such as Diamond CrystalFor the yogurt sauce:
1 cup plain full-fat yogurt (regular or Greek) 2 teaspoons tahini 1/2 to 1 very small garlic clove, finely grated Kosher salt, such as Diamond CrystalFor the garnish:
2 to 3 tablespoons pine nuts or slivered almonds 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil Pomegranate seeds (optional), for garnish Chopped parsley or other herbs (optional), for garnishPreparation
1. Make the pita chips: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toss pita squares with a drizzle of olive oil and 1-1/2 teaspoons salt. Spread on a baking sheet and bake, turning occasionally, until crisp and golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool. (Pita can be toasted up to 1 week ahead and stored in an airtight container.)
2. Roast the eggplant: Raise oven temperature to 450 degrees (or, if available, use convection setting at 425 degrees). Peel eggplant in alternating stripes. Cut into bite-size cubes and toss on a baking sheet with the olive oil; season with salt. Spread out evenly and roast until golden brown and crisp around the edges, 20 to 25 minutes. (Alternatively, the eggplant can be air-fried at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, shaking halfway through, until crisp at the edges and tender inside.)
3. While the eggplant is roasting, make the yogurt sauce: Stir together the yogurt, tahini, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl until combined. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
4. In a small skillet over medium-low heat, toast the pine nuts in the olive oil, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
5. To assemble, spread most of the toasted pita chips on a serving platter, reserving a very small handful of chips for the garnish. Scatter the eggplant over the bread, then spoon the yogurt sauce on top. Garnish with the reserved pita chips and toasted nuts, plus the pomegranate seeds and herbs, if using.
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If using thick pita bread, split into two halves before cutting into squares. You could also replace the pita bread with flour tortillas or roti, or, in a real pinch, use store-bought pita chips. (If using pita chips, there’s no need to toast.)
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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