Egyptian Fattah

Posted by HealthyBites at 1:46 PM

This is a traditional recipe for Egyptians. It is one of their favorites that they make a gathering around and eat in their speical occasions.

Ingredients:

• 2 kg Lamb ,cubes (or beef or veal cubes)
• 3 cups Rice
• 8 loaves Egyptian Bread
• 3 tbsp Garlic ,minced
• 1 cup Vinegar
• 7 tbsp Margarine
• 2 tbsp Tomato Paste Fine Foods Knorr
• 2 Arabic Gum
• 3 Cardamom
• 4 1/2 cups Water
• Salt and Pepper

Directions:

• Preparing meat:

1. Wash meat under running water.
2. Soak meat in a bowl with cold water, ½ cup salt and ½ cup vinegar for 10-15 minutes then wash again well under running water.
3. In a deep pan boil meat until tender. Strain and reserve 5 cups of meat broth.

• Preparing rice:

1. Wash rice well under running water and drain.
2. In a deep pan, melt 2 ½ tbsp margarine. Add Arabic gum and cardamoms, and stir for 2 minutes. Add rice and stir for another 2 minutes.
3. Add salt and 4 cups water and cook until water is absorbed. Cover and move to low heat and cook for 25 minutes.

• Preparing sauce:

1. In a small saucepan heat and stir 2 tbsp margarine and garlic until golden.
2. Add tomato paste and stir. Add ½ cup water and ½ cup vinegar. Heat until boiling.

• Preparing bread:

1. Cut bread into bite size squares and put in a large metal baking dish. Add 3 tbsp margarine, heat and stir until light brown.
2. Add gradually 5 cups meat broth and ¾ cup sauce and stir until bread is very soft.

• Preparing fattah:

1. Spread rice over bread layer in baking dish to make another layer (4 cm thin). Sprinkle some of sauce over rice then place in oven at medium heat (180 C) for 10 minutes.
2. Remove from oven and add meat cubes. Serve in the same baking dish. Serve remaining sauce in a seperate bowl.

Tip

You can make fattah using left over rice and boiled meat. You can also use beef or veal instead of lamb.