I conclude the Christmas Around the World series with an Egyptian dish: Fattah.
A festive meal, prepared on special occasions such as celebrating a woman’s first pregnancy, weddings, the end of Ramadan, and during Iftar, hence it is included in the Christmas series.
➡Fatteh (Arabic: فتّة meaning crushed or crumbs) is a dish based on grilled or stale bread, covered with other ingredients that vary according to the region.
➡An ancient dish typical of Egypt and the Levantine area, including Damascus, Beirut, Israel, and Jordan.
➡➡ Fattoush is a salad made with toasted pita pieces that technically also falls under the “shâmiyât” family, as Fatteh is often called in the Levantine area.
This is the Egyptian version called Fattah.
▶A kind of layered soup made of meat (beef or lamb) and rice, with a base of pita or crispy khubz bread and topped with a garlic and vinegar tomato sauce.
▶It is often served accompanied by molokhia, a sauce or soup made from the edible leaves of a type of jute.
On the blog, you can already find the recipe for fatteh hummus, the Lebanese version of fatteh.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 6 people
- Cooking methods: Slow cooking, Stove
- Cuisine: Egyptian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2 lbs beef (or lamb, cubed)
- to taste clarified butter
- Half teaspoon cardamom
- to taste salt and pepper
- Half teaspoon sugar
- 1 onion
- to taste ground cumin
- 1.5 qt vegetable broth (or water)
- 2 cups rice (raz masri or short grain)
- to taste paprika
- to taste sumac
- 6 pita
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 4 cloves garlic
Steps
Brown the meat in a teaspoon of clarified butter, add cardamom, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, onion, and cumin.
Add the broth (or water) and boil for 2 hours.
Set aside the broth.
Toast the bread in the oven after cutting it into triangles and adding paprika, sumac, and salt.
Cook the rice by absorption in the leftover broth (3 cups) from the meat and add a teaspoon of clarified butter at the end.
Prepare the sauce: sauté the minced garlic in the butter, add tomato sauce and vinegar. Cook for a few minutes.
Assemble the dish with: first layer of bread, then rice, meat, and finally the sauce.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
What is molokhia?
Molokhia is a fairly large plant, with yellow flowers, similar to mallow, which produces a small number of seeds. It is rather bitter and not eaten raw.
Usually, its leaves, stripped of filaments, are used to make a soup or stew that shares the plant’s local name.
It is a well-known dish, typically served with rabbit, smoked turkey, or chicken.
In Egyptian cuisine, the chicken is boiled and seasoned with cardamom and black pepper. The vegetable mixture with a distinctly mucilaginous texture is added to the meat and broth.
Molokhia can also be dried for later use.
Molokhia, Mloukhia, also known as “Mulukhiyah”.
Derived from the leaves of the “Jew’s Mallow”.
It should be served on a plate and soaked in bread.
