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Fattah
Fattah is a mixture of meat cubes embedded in rice and
crusted pita pieces in soup. It
is a traditional meal that is enjoyed by all Egyptian and is
considered the most famous dish in Egypt. It is served in the bairam
feast (an Islamic holy feast after the month of Ramadan) but it can
also be served at any time of the year.
Ingredients:
(Serves Four)
- One kg of meat cut in cubes. One
may
use any type of meat but lamb if
preferred.
- Two cups
of short rice.
- 2-3 loafs of pita bread
- two
small
peeled
onions
- dash
of
pepper
- mastic
- cardamom
- garlic
- ghee
- cumin
- tomato
paste
- salt
- vinegar
Method:
To prepare a perfect dish of Fattah you need to follow four steps.
Preparing the meat
Fill a pot with water and
place two small peeled onions, pepper, mastic and a cardamom. When the
water starts to boil drop in
the pieces of meat and let them boil to a
stew.
Preparing the rice
Wash the rice and let it sit in water for about 10 minutes then
seive it well. Place two tablespoons of oil
in a pot on medium heat. As soon as the oil
starts to fry add the rice and half a tea spoon of salt. Stir the rice
for 5 minutes. Add 2 glasses of the meat stew to the cooking rice. Let
the rice cook (for 20 minutes) on the lowest heat until it absorbs all
the stew and becomes tender. When the rice is all dried up remove it
from the stove.
Preparing the
crisp pita bread
Cut the pita bread into small squared pieces, then place those pieces
into a pan. Apply
oil
or
butter
to
the
bread pieces. Place the pan filled with
bread pieces in a preheated oven for ten or
so
minutes until it
becomes golden and crisp.
With the above three steps finished you have to place the ingredients
in a deep bowl in layers before you can proceed on to the fourth step.
Do not forget to pour some of the meat stew on each layer after
placing it in the deep bowl. Make the lowest layer from bread top it
with a thin layer of rice and pour some stew. Add the meat layer and
pour some more stew on it. Place the final layer of rice and do not
pour soup on the top layer of rice so that it does not turn soggy.
Preparing
the dressing
Now that you have placed the meat, the bread and the rice in layers in
a deep bowl, you are ready for the final and most important step in
making the Fattah dish. The dressing gives the secret taste to the
whole dish. So you have to be extra careful when you prepare it.
In a frying pan place one tablespoon of crushed garlic, one table
spoon of ghee, half a teaspoon of cumin and 1\4 teaspoon of salt.
Dissolve one tablespoon of tomato paste in two tablespoons of water in
a cup. In
a frying
pan, use
low
heat
and stir the garlic, ghee, cumin and salt until the mixture darkens.
Then add to the darkened mixture the tomato paste you prepared. Stir
the mixture for a minute then add 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Leave the
mixture on low flame for 4-5 minutes. Pour the dressing on top of the
Fattah.
“Bel hana wesh shefa” (eat and be happy with good
health).
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