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Fatteh with chickpeas
Fattet hummus: layers of crisp bread, warm chickpeas and garlicky tahini yogurt
Fattet hummus belongs to Damascus, where breakfast restaurants in the old city serve it in deep bowls on Friday mornings, and it has spread to Beirut's Sunday tables too. The name comes from fatt, to break up, for the toasted flatbread at the bottom, which is topped with warm chickpeas in their broth, then a thick, garlicky sauce of yogurt and tahini, and finally sizzling pine nuts in butter or oil with a dust of paprika and cumin. The contrast is the point: crunchy and soft, hot and cool. Assembling it too early is the common mistake, since the bread soaks up the sauce and goes soggy; build it just before eating. Chef's tip: let the yogurt come to room temperature first, so it doesn't cool the chickpeas down too much and the bowl stays warm.
- Total time
- 30 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the bread and chickpeas
- 2 pitta or Arabic flatbreadlarge, torn into bite-size pieces
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb cooked chickpeas2 tins, with their liquid
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp salt
For the yogurt sauce
- 14 oz full-fat plain yogurtat room temperature
- 3 tbsp tahini
- 2 garlic clovescrushed
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
To finish
- 1 oz butter or olive oil
- 1 ⅜ oz pine nuts
- ½ tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsleychopped
- 2 tbsp pomegranate seeds (optional)
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Heat the oven to 400°F (350°F fan). Toss 2 pitta or Arabic flatbread with 2 tbsp olive oil on a tray and bake for 8–10 minutes, turning once, until golden and crisp enough to snap. (You can also fry it.)
10 minStep 2: Meanwhile tip 1 lb cooked chickpeas and their liquid into a pan with ½ tsp ground cumin and ½ tsp salt and warm over a medium heat for 5–7 minutes, until steaming. Lightly crush a spoonful against the side to thicken the broth.
7 minStep 3: Whisk 14 oz full-fat plain yogurt with 3 tbsp tahini, 2 garlic cloves and 2 tbsp lemon juice until smooth and thick, like double cream. Taste and add salt.
Step 4: Melt 1 oz butter or olive oil in a small frying pan over a medium-low heat, add 1 ⅜ oz pine nuts and stir for 2–3 minutes, until they are golden and smell nutty. Watch closely: they go from gold to burnt in seconds.
3 minStep 5: Assemble just before eating: scatter the crisp bread in a wide dish, spoon over the hot chickpeas with a little of their broth, then cover with the yogurt sauce.
Step 6: Pour the pine nuts and their sizzling fat over the top, dust with ½ tsp paprika and the rest of ½ tsp ground cumin, and finish with 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley and 2 tbsp pomegranate seeds. Serve at once.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 520 kcal
- Protein
- 21 g
- Carbs
- 46 g
- Fat
- 28 g
- Fibre
- 10 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does fatteh with chickpeas take?
- About 30 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of cooked chickpeas?
- Cannellini or butter beans, same amount.
- What can I use instead of ground cumin?
- Cumin seeds, toasted and ground.
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