Chickpea in yogurt sauce (Fattet al-hummus)
September 12, 2020 • Category: Main Dish, Mezze/Appetizers
This rustic and easy-to-fix dish is very traditional and especially prevalent in Syria (Damascus) where they have perfected it. It is called fatteh from the verb fatfat (to break apart), meaning bread torn apart. The fattoush salad’s name has the same origin, as it is a bread salad with Arabic bread torn apart into bits and fried into croutons. This fatteh, (the Arab equivalent of the American casserole) is extremely popular and yummy; it is prepared from scratch and served in just about every neighborhood in Beirut as early as 6 or 7:00AM to the workers before heading to a construction site or anyone who starts work early. I haven’t met a Lebanese who does not love it, and does not have their own personal favorite restaurant to enjoy fatteh. Some places are famous just for their fatteh. Fatteh is versatile and is often prepared with eggplants, with chicken, with trotters, etc.instead of the chickpeas.
Photo above of fatteh served at a really cool restaurant in Beirut, Mezyan.
Chickpea in yogurt sauce (Fattet al-hummus)
Joumana Accad Mediterranean, Middle Eastern September 12, 2020 Main Dish, Mezze/Appetizers, legumes and beans, pita bread, chickpeas, yogurt, tahini,4 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
2 cans of chickpeas , drained and rinsed
1 lb of yogurt
3 cloves of garlic, peeled, chopped and mashed with salt
2 tbsp of tahini
4 cups of pita bread, cut into croutons and fried
3 tbsp of pine nuts fried in oil or butter (optional, can be replaced with almonds)
1 tsp cumin (more, to taste)
1 tsp of red Aleppo pepper (more, to taste)
Pomegranate seeds, to garnish each plate
Instructions
- Put the chickpeas in a saucepan, add water to cover and simmer for 30 minutes or longer until super tender. You can add some spices to the water if desired like cinnamon, a bay leaf, an onion or some peppercorns. When the chickpeas are nice and tender and the water has almost evaporated, mash them a bit with a potato masher, leaving some whole.
- Mix the yogurt with the mashed garlic and tahini, and taste; adjust seasoning.
- Assemble the fatteh: In each bowl, sprinkle some pita croutons, add a couple ladles of chickpeas and a couple ladles of yogurt sauce; sprinkle with some cumin and Aleppo pepper (or present alongside the dish). Garnish with pomegranate and fried nuts and more croutons if desired. Serve warm right away.
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Comments
2 Comments • Comments Feed
Nadia says:
Hello Joumana, I love your blog so much. As a half Syrian girl born and raised in central Europe, I grew up well familiar with the authentic Levantine flavours from my visits to my family to Syria as well as the adjusted recipes my family would prepare in Europe when the authentic ingredients weren’t readily available. I now live in Spain and have access to more ingredients and I am trying to rediscover the old recipes, which isn’t always easy as I often just vaguely remember a flavour from my childhood and nothing else :DI love scrolling through your recipes, thank you for including some Syrian staples. Fatteh is one of my favorites.
On February 6, 2022 at 1:31 am
Joumana Accad says:
@Nadia WOW, thank you so much for your message and am delighted to get to meet you! What an interesting background and life, between Syria, Eastern Europe and Spain, you must have quite a sophisticated palate! I consider Syrian cuisine to be absolutely delightful and Syrian chefs to be just the Masters at this type of cuisine so am always eager to learn from them if I can; would love to go back to Damascus and explore more of Syria when things settle there, hopefully soon, as the Syrian people have suffered enough! 🙁
On February 7, 2022 at 3:02 am