How to make Egyptian Lamb Fattah - A centuries old rice and lamb Eid centerpiece

Fatteh is one of those dishes that just doesn't make sense. If you would see it on a menu, you'd think there was a translation error. Rice with bread, whatever are they thinking? Well, turns out they were having a stroke of pure genius. You see, fattehs are dishes that were designed to use up dried, day-old bread. The Egyptian one I'm making today is thought to have evolved from a dish the pharaohs used to make called fattot. It consisted of bread served with fresh stock to moisten it. In the Fatimid period, rice was added and it has since evolved to be topped with a tangy vinegar and garlic sauce. At the top, there's a layer of tomato sauce and some fork tender meat. The end result is mind-blowingly delicious. Once you have it, you'll understand why fatteh is the dish of choice at Egyptian celebrations and the centrepiece of Eid feasts. It's my favourite dish and I'm sure you'll enjoy it too. Before we get started, I'm Obi and I want to get you cooking delicious Middle Eastern food at home. Consider subscribing if you'd like to see more step-by-step authentic Middle Eastern recipes. Now let's jump right in. So first thing we'll do is get started on our stock as this needs to simmer for some time. Start off by peeling two medium onions and chopping them in half or quarters. There's no need to chop these any smaller as these will just infuse flavour into our stock. Next, grab a whole head of garlic and peel it. Easiest way to do this is to chop off all of the roots first. You can do it to the whole head or chop them off of each individual clove. Once they've all been trimmed, place a clove under your knife and press down on it to crush slightly. This will cause the skin to separate away and then all you need to do is tug at the garlic and it should pop right out. If it sticks a little, just grab the peel and it will come right off. Next, you need to trim off the tips of seven cardamom pods. Just lay them on the chopping board and cut off the tip from the bottom of each one. This will allow the stock to get inside and infuse quicker. So to start the stock, place a large stock pot on high heat and add about a tablespoon of butter to the pot. Let it melt completely and then when bubbling, add in two large pieces of mastic. If you don't have this, you can leave it out but it adds a nice flavour to the stock. Let the mastic melt completely into the butter and then slowly add your meat to the pot. I'm using a couple of lamb shanks and some cubes of lamb leg but you can use beef or even veal instead. Try to go for a type of meat that stews well and has some bone. Lamb neck works great too here. Leave your meat to sear in the butter for a couple of minutes until it develops some browning, then turn it over so it can sear on the other side. Every few minutes, rotate the meat until it has been seared all over. Once seared, it's time to add your whole spices. Add the cardamom pods from earlier as well as two bay leaves and a teaspoon of black peppercorns. Follow that up with four peeled and lightly crushed garlic cloves and then add in the two halved onions. With all that in the pot, give it a quick mix until nicely combined. Pour enough room temperature water into the pot to cover the meat so that it's fully submerged. Now leave it on high heat until it comes to a boil. When it's boiling, there'll be a bunch of floating scum on the surface of the stock which you need to skim off. Use a spoon or ladle to remove and discard it. If you don't do this, your stock can end up grainy which isn't pleasant. When you've skimmed the stock, turn the heat down to low and let the pot simmer for about an hour until the meat is cooked and tender. While the stock is simmering, we can prepare the bread. My personal preference is pita bread. In Egypt, this is usually made with a village flatbread called Eish Beledi but I find pita has a better texture in this dish. Traditionally, the bread is fried but I prefer it baked and it's less messy. So you need to cut three to four pita breads into bite-sized pieces. The easiest way to do this is with a pair of kitchen scissors or shears. If you don't have that, you can just slice it on a chopping board instead. Slice each pita into a few strips then turn those strips into squares. Line a baking tray with some greaseproof paper and I'm just cutting my pita directly onto the tray. Spread your squares of pita out evenly so they have some space on all sides. If you need to, make the bread in two batches otherwise it won't brown evenly. Next, pour on a half tablespoon of olive oil per pita to the tray. This will help lightly fry the exterior of the bread. Finally, you'll lightly season your bread by adding a quarter of a teaspoon of salt and an eighth of a teaspoon of white or black pepper per pita bread. Mix it all together to ensure you have evenly coated all of the bread then spread it out once more across the tray. Place them in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 to 12 minutes until they are golden brown and toasted. When it looks like this, remove and set aside. The bread should be crispy and dry so if it isn't, pop it back in for a couple more minutes. Next, we'll start on the tomato sauce. Now, this isn't strictly necessary for the dish as historically the tomato sauce was only added in the 19th century and some people still make the dish without it but I think it really rounds out the flavours. Peel another onion and then dice it into medium-sized cubes. Keep the roots on when peeling and it will be a lot easier to dice. Next, grab the rest of your garlic cloves and slice them as thin as you can. If you can't be bothered, mincing it also works fine. I have this handy mandolin which can get me paper-thin slices of garlic so I used it. You'll need two cloves for the tomato sauce. Add a tablespoon of butter to a small pot on medium heat and let it melt completely. Once melted, add in your diced onion and mix it with the butter. Saute the onions for 3 to 5 minutes until they start to turn translucent. When that happens, add in your two sliced garlic cloves and toss that with the onions. Let it fry for a couple of minutes and then pour in 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to deglaze the pot. You can use malt vinegar instead but white vinegar is traditional. Next, add in 500 millilitres or 18 ounces of crushed tomatoes. You can blend fresh or canned tomatoes in a blender to make this. I used canned. Rinse your jug or can out with 250 millilitres or 9 ounces of water and pour that in as well. Mix it all together and turn the heat up to high. When the mixture comes to a boil, add a teaspoon of salt and a quarter of a teaspoon of pepper. Then turn the heat down to medium low. Let it simmer for 15 to 20 minutes to reduce until thick. By the time your tomato sauce is done, your meat should be too. These lamb shanks took an hour till they were fork tender. You should cook your meat until you can poke it with a fork and there is little resistance. When done, you can strain your stock and set the meat aside to dry on a paper towel lined plate. To make the rice, wash one and a half cups of medium grain rice with water three to four times until the water is no longer cloudy. Let it dry and then add a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of oil to a small pot on medium heat. When the butter has melted, add your rice to the pot and fry for a few minutes until it starts to develop a lightly toasted sheen and is really shiny. If you want some in-depth tips for how to cook Egyptian rice, check out my vermicelli rice recipe from last week. Season your rice with one teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of white pepper and mix that in. Once evenly mixed, spread the rice out into a flat layer in the pot. Now there is no exact amount of stock to add, but you need to add enough until the stock is one and a half centimetres or just over half an inch above the rice. Bring the pot up to a boil and then cover with a tight fitting lid until all the stock has evaporated. After a few minutes, check the pot and the water will have been absorbed. Give your rice a quick mix and scrape down the sides of the pot before covering with the lid once more and turning the heat down to low. Let the rice steam for 20 minutes until cooked throughout and it should be soft, fluffy and delicious. The final component of this dish is a vinegar garlic sauce, which basically is the main flavouring. Add a tablespoon of butter to a saucepan before adding in six to eight thinly sliced or minced garlic cloves. Now you're going to stir these and let them fry for a few minutes until the garlic is turning a light golden colour and the butter is foaming nicely. When that happens, add six to eight tablespoons of white vinegar to the garlic and mix it well. Let it boil for a minute or so and then set it aside. Now this is supposed to taste and smell really strong. Everyone likes their feta seasoned differently, so go as strong or weak as you want. Once mixed with the other ingredients, you won't taste it as much. With the sauce ready, we can start assembling the feta. You should use an ovenproof dish of some sort. Add your toasted bread to the dish before spooning about half of the vinegar mixture evenly over the bread. Like I said, strength is a matter of preference, so reserve some extra in case you aren't so sure about how much you want to add. Next, add about a tablespoon or two of tomato sauce onto the bread. This isn't strictly necessary, but it helps marry the flavours better. Mix the bread and sauce together until the bread is evenly coated. At this point, you can taste your bread and add more vinegar if you'd like. Place the dish in an oven preheated at 180 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit for five minutes or so until the bread crisps up again. Once out of the oven, add the rest of your vinegar mixture. What this double soaking does is it allows the bread to taste of vinegar without going soggy. Finally, you should add about two to three ladles of hot stock to your toasted and vinegared bread. Pour it evenly on the bread and you should only add enough to just moisten it. You aren't aiming for soggy bread and the toasted pita should absorb it without disintegrating. Mix your pita with the hot stock until all the pita has been lightly dipped and then cover the dish with a plate or tray to allow the stock to steam the bread. You should end up with pita that has the texture of bao buns or steamed bread rather than soggy or mushy bread. While that steams, we'll quickly sear the meat before serving to give some great crunch and flavor to it. Let your meat drain on some paper towels until it has dried then generously season with salt and freshly cracked pepper. In a frying pan, add a tablespoon of butter or oil on high heat and when it's melted, add in your meat. Now you're going to fry it for three to five minutes per side. Once they've developed a bit of a brown crust, rotate them onto the next side and let them fry again. Do this until evenly browned all over. So once the bread is steamed, all that's left to do is add the rice and the rest of the tomato sauce. Start spooning your rice out onto your bread in an even layer. You want to add all of the rice except for any that are stuck in the bottom of the pot. Those are a treat for the chef. Spread the rice out until all of the bread has been covered. Once that's done, top the rice with your tomato sauce. Now you don't have to add it all and you can serve it on the side instead. I'm placing it directly on the rice in the center. Finally, top your dish with your seared meat and your feta is complete. And what a stunning dish it is. Now this is a traditional recipe from my mother-in-law. Some households don't use tomato sauce, some add extra vinegar to the rice. It's all a matter of personal preference. To serve it, make sure to get a big scoop of rice and bread onto the plate. You should have an even amount of bread to rice. Feel free to top it up with some extra tomato sauce. As you can see, you've got perfectly fluffy rice as well as lightly moistened pita and it's such a textural treat to eat. The tangy vinegar and garlic sauce balances really well with the fresh lamb stock and the tomato sauce adds a bit of brightness that rounds out the whole bite. The fork tender lamb is also perfectly seasoned and makes this a very satisfying bite. Now this should make three to four large portions and I suggest leaving some extra because the flavor gets even better the next day. Let me know if you try it out, I'd love to see some photos. If you've enjoyed the video, don't forget to like, share and subscribe as it really helps recommend the video to other people. If you want me to cover any specific recipes, leave a comment down below. As usual, all the ingredients and directions are in the description box and I'll be back next week with another recipe.