Orange Blossom Water

Fatteh or fattah is an Arabic dish that uses pieces of toasted or fresh flatbread as a foundation upon which various ingredients are added on top.

Fatteh can be made with chickpeas (Arabic: Fattet Hummus), or with chicken (Arabic : Fattet Dajaj), or with eggplants (Arabic: Fattet Makdous).

Fattet Hummus has different types:

Fattet Hummus Bel-Laban: it is made by layering crispy flatbread, topped with yogurt sauce, then topped with chickpeas.

Fattet Hummus Bet-Tahineh: is made by layering crispy flatbread, topped with (Hummus Tahini dip: chickpeas blended with tahini and lemon juice). In Damascus it is called “Tesqieh Bel-Badweh”.

Fattet Hummus Bez-Zeit: dried chickpeas are cooked in water until tender but not mushy. Then in a blender the sauce is prepared (put in blender chickpeas cooking water (the water which was used to cook the chickpeas), garlic, baking soda, salt and blend, then slowly add olive oil until the mixture turns into white in color, this mixture is called “Faqseh”). Then the fatteh is prepared by layering crispy flatbread, topped with chickpeas, then topped with Faqseh. Garnished with cumin. This fatteh in Damascus is called ” Tesqieh Bel-Faqseh”.

Fattet Hummus Helweh: is made by saute onion in ghee until transparent, then cooking the onions in chickpeas cooking water. Then the fatteh is prepared by layering crispy flatbread, topped with the onion with the cooking water, then topped with chickpeas, and heated ghee is added at top. This is a specialty of Hama.

Today’s recipe is Fattet Hummus Bel-Laban. Later, I’ll post recipes about all the other types.

Let’s make Fattet Hummus Bel-Laban:

1. Measure dried chickpeas and put in deep pot.

2, 3, 4. Rinse in several changes with water.

5, 6, 7. Cover chickpeas with water.

8. Add 1 teaspoon Qelo to chickpeas.

Qelo قلو : is a white powder, in Syria we add it to chickpeas to help in cooking. You can substitute with baking soda (each one teaspoon of Qelo equal to two teaspoons of baking soda), but Qelo is much way better and will not leave a bitter taste. I tried to bring the generic name of Qelo, but couldn’t. Qelo is only used with chickpeas recipes, not used in any other recipes.

9. Cover the pot, and let chickpeas to soak overnight at room temperature.

10, 11, 12. Next day, chickpeas will expand to over double their size.

13. Drain chickpeas.

14. Cover with water, turn on heat and keep on hight heat until boiling.

15. During boiling, a foam will occur on surface of the water. Skim any foam that rises to the surface.

17, 18. Add 1 1/4 teaspoons Qelo.

19. Lower the heat and keep on low heat till it is cooked and tender but not mushy. An important note that during cooking chickpeas, you must make sure that it is all the time covered with water, so if the water level decrease, you have to add boiling water to it.

20. Keep chickpeas in its pot with its cooking water. Before assembling the fatteh, start heating the chickpeas on low heat.

22, 23, 24,25, 26. Cut Arabic flat bread into squares, lay bread squares on an oven dish or baking sheet, and bake until lightly browned and crispy, and set aside.

27. Finely chop parsley, and set aside.

28. In a pan, heat 3/4 tablespoon ghee, and add pine nuts and keep until golden brown in color, then remove and place on paper towel and set aside.

29. To prepare yogurt sauce, put drained yogurt in a bowl.

30. Add crushed garlic to yogurt.

31. Add tahini to yogurt.

32. Whisk until combined.

33, 34. Add lemon juice to yogurt, and keep whisking.

35, 36. Add 2 3/4 cups of hot cooking water from the chickpeas’ pot.

37, 38. Whisk until combined, taste and season with salt.

39, 40. In serving plate we have the bread, splash bread with chickpeas cooking water, not too much.

 

41. To make the layers of the fatteh, the toasted bread is in the serving plate, and now top with 1 cup of drained warm chickpeas .

42, 43. Add yogurt sauce.

44. Top 1 cup of drained warm chickpeas.

45. In a pan, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons ghee and bring it to high heat.

46, 47. Add ghee to fatteh, this is one of most important steps, it gives fatteh the taste.

48. Garnish with pine nuts.

49, 50, 51. Garnish with chopped parsley.

52. Sprinkle with paprika, and serve immediatly.

53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60. Serving fatteh in same way but in a small serving plate.

61. Serve fatteh with tomatoes, onions,  spring onions, radishes, pickled cucumber, pickled Armenian cucumber, pickled turnips.

Fattet Hummus Bel-Laban

From: Family Recipe / Servings: 5 People
PDF Text Only / Print With Images

600 g dried chickpeas Water, to soak chickpeas 1 tsp qelo Water, to cook chickpeas 1 1/4 tsp qelo 3 loaves (each 100 g) Arabic flat bread 1/3 cup Finely chopped flat parsley leaves, for garnish 3/4 tbsp ghee, for pine nuts 1/4 cup pine nuts, for garnish Yogurt Sauce 3 cups drained yogurt 2 garlic cloves, crushed 2 tbsp tahini 1/3 cup + 1/4 cup lemon juice 2 3/4 cups of cooking water Salt, as needed Assembly 2 cups drained chickpeas 1 1/2 tbsp ghee, preferably samneh Arabi (Syrian ghee made from sheep’s milk) Paprika, for garnish Serving Tomatoes Onions Spring onions Radishes Pickled Cucumber Pickled Armenian Cucumber Pickled Tunrips

Measure dried chickpeas and put in deep pot. Rinse in several changes with water. Cover chickpeas with water. Add 1 teaspoon Qelo to chickpeas. Qelo قلو : is a white powder, in Syria we add it to chickpea to help in cooking. You can substitute with baking soda (each one teaspoon of Qelo equal to two teaspoons of baking soda), but Qelo is much way better and will not leave a bitter taste.I tried to bring the generic name of Qelo, but couldn’t. Qelo is only used with chickpeas recipes, not used in any other recipes. Cover the pot, and let chickpeas to soak overnight at room temperature. Next day, chickpeas will expand to over double their size. Drain chickpeas. Cover with water, turn on heat and keep on high heat until boiling. During boiling, a foam will occur on surface of the water. Skim any foam that rises to the surface. Add 1 1/4 teaspoons Qelo. Lower the heat and keep on low heat till it is cooked and tender but not mushy. An important note that during cooking chickpeas, you must make sure that it is all the time covered with water, so if the water level decrease, you have to add boiling water to it. Keep chickpeas in its pot with its cooking water. Before assembling the fatteh, start heating the chickpeas on low heat. Cut Arabic flat bread into squares, lay bread squares on an oven dish or baking sheet, and bake until lightly browned and crispy, and set aside. Finely chop parsley, and set aside. In a pan, heat 3/4 tablespoon ghee, and add pine nuts and keep until golden brown in color, then remove and place on paper towel and set aside. To prepare yogurt sauce, put drained yogurt in a bowl. Add crushed garlic to yogurt. Add tahini to yogurt. Whisk until combined. Add lemon juice to yogurt, and keep whisking. Add 2 3/4 cups of hot cooking water from the chickpeas’ pot. Whisk until combined, and season with salt. In serving plate we have the bread, splash bread with chickpeas cooking water, not too much. To make the layers of the fatteh, the toasted bread is in the serving plate, and now top with 1 cup of drained warm chickpeas . Add yogurt sauce. Top with 1 cup of drained warm chickpeas. In a pan, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons ghee and bring it to high heat. Add ghee to fatteh, this is one of most important steps, it gives fatteh the taste. Garnish with pine nuts. Garnish with chopped parsley. Sprinkle with paprika, and serve immediatly. Serve fatteh with tomatoes, onions, spring onions, radishes, picked cucumber, pickled Armenian cucumbers, pickled turnips.

Notes and Tips

Qelo قلو : is a white powder, in Syria we add it to chickpeas to help in cooking. You can substitute with baking soda (each one teaspoon of Qelo equal to two teaspoons of baking soda), but Qelo is much way better and will not leave a bitter taste. I tried to bring the generic name of Qelo, but couldn’t). Qelo is only used with chickpeas recipes, not used in any other recipes.

Dried chickpeas weigh 600 g, after cooking they weigh 1500 g. But as you see I didn’t use all the chickpeas, what I used is only 2 cup of chickpeas for the recipe. Leftover chickpeas you can use to make more Fatteh, or Hummus with tahini or any other dish you want.

I have a big quantity of yogurt about more than one kilogram, so I drain all the quantity of yogurt in a cloth to dry (the day before you plan to make this dish, drain the yogurt), then after all the quantity drained well to dry, I measured 3 cups drained yogurt for yogurt sauce.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2014 at 6:13 PM and is filed under Syrian Cooking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.