Fatteh A Savory Reuse Of Pits

 What do you do with leftover bread? You could go sweet and turn it into a lush bread pudding with caramel sauce . Or you could go savory  and turn it into a tasty baked and puffy dinner. Or for the more adventurous  try a chickpea and herb fatteh. This hot and exotic dish is perfect for using up leftover pita bread.

Famed chef and bread lover Yottem Ottolenghi created this tasty recipe for yesterday's New York Times Food section. It's a popular dish throughout the Mideast but it's hard to define, according to Chef Ottolenghi. It is a layering dish using stale plain or whole wheat pita. There are vegetarian versions like his while others contain lamb. Some versions may have tahini and yogurt. One, fattet djaj, has bread, shredded chicken, whole chicken a, layer of yogurt and then topped off with a layer of pine nuts. In Gaza, a think flatbread called saj or makouk dipped in stock which is often loaded with garlic , chilies, and lemon, Freshly cooked rice and toasted nuts top it. It's then finished off with cook chicken or other meats.However ingredients just aren't limited to those. You can add eggplant or tomatoes , broad beans to different pulses like lentils and green peas.

Chef Ottolenghi's fatteh has chickpeas along with the zingy za'atar along with various greens such as chives, parsley and fresh cilantro. Flavoring also comes from garlic and toasted cumin seeds. It's a bit labor intensive with the chickpeas being soaked with baking soda in cold water overnight.Afterwards they're drained and cooked in water with more baking soda. They're then cooked for twenty minutes after which Kosher salt is added. While the chickpeas are cooking, the pita is tossed with olive oil and the za'atar and pepper.This is laid out on a parchment lined baking sheet until golden and crisp. At this point there tahini to be made which is easy and also the chili oil - another easy make. After puree 2/3 chickpeas with lemon and herbs, garlic and cumin. Sieve into a bowl. Add the remaining  chickpeas and then layer everything, from the tahini to the chili oil. It can be served with extra pita and toasted pita on the side. You could add shredded rotisserie chicken to make it heartier.

Fatteh is a great way of using up any leftover pita. It's also a tasty way of cooking chickpeas with za'atar and tahini, Try it for a different spin on bread pudding.

Foods Of Peace And Palestine

Palestine is  and always has been an area fraught with tension and hate. The one thing that relieves the  constant fighting and afterwards fragile truces. is the food. It is a cuisine full of fire and sweetness, full of ancient recipes and flavors. Now there's a new cookbook celebrating it.

Regular contributor , Mayukh Sen, wrote about Yasmin Khan' latest book,Zaitoun :Recipes From The Palestinian Kitchen (W.W. Norton and Company Publishers 2019) in today's New York Times  Food section. The book almost never happened. Ms. Khan developed a block. Images of the Israeli military checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza kept haunting her. Thankfully Anthony Bourdain's daring attitude towards food inspired and impelled her to soldier through. She gave herself pep talks too, self advising to not make it pretty or sanitize. See the area for what it is. It helped her and reinforced her love for this strife riddled land. Ms. Khan fell in love with the food when she found herself there a decade ago, working on human rights with the group, War On Wants, a British charity focused on an anti poverty initiative. The days there were distressing, due to the constant presence of armed military . Food soothed the anxiety. Fresh made hummus and baklava   eaten in little cafes at sunset helped to alleviate those frenzied feelings. The work burned her out and three years ago turned to food . Her first cookbook, The Saffron Tales, featuring recipes from her mother's Iranian background was published.

The new book reflects all the different aspects of Palestinian cooking. It's divided into three different categories.There is the bread and meat based cooking of the West Bank which includes East Jerusalem and extends to the River Jordan. There is also the food of Galilee and Nazareth that resembles Levantine cuisine with its' tabbouleh salad and  spiced ground kibbeh. Then there is the cooking of the Gaza Strip, a dense patch bordering Egypt.It is largely fish based and fiery. One of that area's most treasured dishes is zibdiyit gambari , a tomato stew rife with jalapenos and shrimp , cooked in a clay pot. That recipe and others are included in  the article. Cauliflower is popular  there, so there is a roasted cauliflower soup, spiked with cumin and cauliflower along with turmeric.Chicken is also big in Palestinian cooking and there is a recipe for it ,mussakhan, cooked with sumac and onions, Again, spices figure prominently in it as well,namely cumin caraway and the surprising allspice.

Palestinian food is comfort food to many. It was to Yasmin Khan  who created a cookbook to celebrate her love for it. It is a lovely tribute to a land where food means everything amidst the strife.