Vegan Fatteh

Fatteh dishes were born from the waste not mind. Fresh Arabic bread goes stale by the end of the day but instead of throwing out what hadn't been eaten people started breaking it up, covering it in olive oil and cooking the pieces until they were delicious crunchy pieces of yum. Then either sprinkling them over salad (fattoush) or smothering them with a delicious topping, ladelling over a garlicky yoghurt/tahini sauce and scattering it with toasted pine nuts. What you have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a pot of heaven.

Fatteh can made with a meaty mixture of some kind (beef, lamb, chicken etc) but is often made with aubergine or chickpeas.

I imagine, because technically its a bit of a leftover dish (my favourite kind of dish), you can pretty much use whatever ingredients you have laying around, cook it up with the spice mix, molasses ensuring you have some juices and cover those golden squares. You must, however, always always have the yoghurt mix on top. I've used a dairy-free yoghurt so see what you can find. If there's no df option then I think some watered down tahini with lemon juice and garlic will do in an emergency. Just know that the yoghurt mix is the bomb.

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Recipe

VEGAN FATTEH

Play around with the filling (note that the aubergine filling is divine though) but try and keep the spice mix the same. If you don't have sumac then add a squeeze of lemon and if you don't have pomegranate molasses then use a dash of balsamic vinegar and a little maple syrup. Molasses bring the tanginess and that's pretty important.

SERVES 4+

PREP TIME 10 MINS | COOK TIME 15/60 MINS | TOTAL 25/70 MINS

chickpea/aubergine

INGREDIENTS

FATTEH BETINJAAN (AUBERGINE FETTEH)

2 medium aubergines (sliced in half length ways)

1 tomato (finely chopped)

1/2 onion (finely chopped)

1/4 - 1 cup veggie stock/hot water

FATTEH HOMMOS (CHICKPEA FATTEH )

2 can chickpeas (drained but brine kept)

1 tomato (finely chopped)

1/2 onion (finely chopped)

1/4 - 1 cup Chickpea brine

SPICE MIX

1 tsp each: cumin, All spice, coriander, cinnamon, sumac*

5 tbsp df yogurt (unsweetened)

3 tbsp tahini

2 tbsp lemon juice

1-2 garlic cloves (crushed)

olive oil

3 pieces of stale arabic/flat *bread (torn up in to smallish pieces)

handful pine nuts

salt & pepper

*Gluten free bread works well in this dish too

METHOD

** Aubergine mixture**

1. Pre heat an oven to 200°C.

2. Lay the aubergine halves face-down on a baking tray and bake for 30-45 mins until skins are wrinkled. Scoop out the flesh, discarding the skins and set aside.

3. Fry the onions until starting to brown. Add the spices (not including the sumac) and fry for 2 more minutes.

4. Add the tomato and aubergine and stir to combine.

5. Add the stock 1/4 cup at a time and simmer for 5 minutes topping up with water as needed (you want a nice thick gravy consistency).

6. Add molasses and sumac, stir and taste. Season.

**Chickpea mixture**

1. Fry the onions until staring to brown. Add the spices (not the sumac) and fry for another 2 minutes.

2. Add the tomato and chickpeas and stir to coat.

3. Add the chickpea brine 1/4 cup at a time keeping a bit of a gravy. Stop when the chickpeas are nice and soft to eat.

4. Add molasses and sumac, stir and taste. Season.

**Fatteh**

1. Pre heat oven to 150°C

2. Assemble the bread in to a single layer on a baking tray and drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with sumac (if you have it).

3. Bake for 15 minutes or until bread is crunchy and golden, be careful not to burn it. Set aside for later.

4. Make the yogurt & tahini sauce but mixing the yogurt, tahini, lemon juice and 1 clove of garlic with the lemon juice. Taste and season adding more garlic if needed.

5. Now assemble the dish with three layers: bottom layer with toasted bread, second layer with your aubergine or chickpea mix and third layer yogurt/tahini.

6. Put dish in to the oven until nice and warm.

7. Sprinkle with pine nuts and either drizzle with olive oil or gentley brown some crushed garlic in olive oil and drizzle with that/