Fattah

Ingredients

Meat

• 1.5 kglamb or beef on the bone
• 1onion
• 2bay leaves
• 4cardamom pods
• 1cinnamon stick
• salt

Rice

• 500 gEgyptian or short grain rice
• 2 tbspghee
• salt

Bread

• 4rounds of aish baladi or pita, torn
• ghee or oil, for frying

Tomato sauce

• 500 mlpassata
• 2 tbsptomato paste
• 2 tbspghee
• salt

Taqliya

• 1whole head of garlic, crushed
• 4 tbspwhite vinegar
• 3 tbspghee
• 1 tspground coriander

To serve

• at Eid al-Adha, or to celebrate a birth

Directions

1. Crush a whole head of garlic and fry it in ghee over a medium heat until just golden. Do not let the garlic brown deeply, since burnt garlic turns bitter and it happens quickly. Let it bubble for thirty seconds only. Simmer the lamb on the bone with onion and whole spices for two to two and a half hours.
2. Keep it at a bare simmer rather than a boil, which keeps the meat tender and the broth clear. Skim the surface as scum rises in the first half hour. Strain the broth and keep every drop.
3. Tear the flatbread into rough pieces rather than cutting it. Fry the pieces in ghee until deep golden and crisp all the way through. Make sure they are genuinely crisp rather than merely coloured, since anything soft collapses immediately under the sauce.
4. Drain them on a wire rack to cool. Fry the rice briefly in ghee, then cook it in the meat broth rather than water. Fry the tomato paste in ghee until it darkens, then add the passata and simmer for fifteen minutes.
5. Stir a good portion of the taqliya into the tomato sauce. Spread the fried bread in the bottom of a wide dish. Moisten it with a few ladlefuls of hot broth.
6. Use enough to soften the bread slightly without soaking it. Some pieces should stay crisp and some should soften, which is the texture people expect. Spread the hot rice over the bread in an even layer. Arrange the meat over the rice, pulled from the bone or left in pieces.
7. Pour the tomato and taqliya sauce over everything. Spoon the remaining plain taqliya over the top just before serving. Serve it immediately, before the bread softens entirely. Assemble it at the last possible moment, since the whole thing is a race against the bread going soft. Everything can be prepared ahead and put together in the last five minutes.

Technique

• Taqliya, garlic fried in ghee and hit with vinegar, is the signature of the dish.
• It is layered rather than stirred, and assembled at the last moment.
• The rice is cooked in the meat broth rather than in water.

Substitutions

• Beef in place of lamb.
• Toasted bread in place of fried, which is lighter.

Variations

• Made with chicken, which is lighter.
• Levantine fatteh, with chickpeas and yoghurt.
• Made without meat, as a lean version.

History

A layered dish combining crisped or fried bread, rice, and meat, typically lamb, topped with a garlic and vinegar-infused tomato sauce, documented across Egypt for many generations, particularly associated with the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, when it is traditionally prepared using meat from the ritual sacrifice central to that holiday. Its layered structure, with crisped bread at the base soaking up sauce and meat juices from the layers above, reflects a broader regional tradition of transforming stale or day-old bread into a substantial, flavourful component of a larger dish rather than discarding it. Fattah remains closely associated with Egyptian celebratory and religious occasions, particularly Eid al-Adha specifically.

Frequently asked questions

What is Fattah?

Fattah is a main from Egypt: layers of crisp bread, rice and meat in garlic-vinegar tomato sauce; feast dish. A layered dish combining crisped or fried bread, rice, and meat, typically lamb, topped with a garlic and vinegar-infused tomato sauce, documented across Egypt for many generations, particularly associated with the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, when it is traditionally prepared using meat from the ritual sacrifice central to that holiday. Its layered structure, with crisped bread at the base soaking up sauce and meat juices from the layers above, reflects a broader regional tradition of transforming stale or day-old bread into a substantial, flavourful component of a larger dish rather than discarding it. Fattah remains closely associated with Egyptian celebratory and religious occasions, particularly Eid al-Adha specifically.

How long does Fattah take to make?

Fattah takes 40 min of preparation and 2 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Fattah?

Yes, within limits. Beef in place of lamb. Toasted bread in place of fried, which is lighter.

What is the most important thing to get right in Fattah?

Crush a whole head of garlic and fry it in ghee over a medium heat until just golden. Do not let the garlic brown deeply, since burnt garlic turns bitter and it happens quickly. Let it bubble for thirty seconds only. Simmer the lamb on the bone with onion and whole spices for two to two and a half hours.