Thirty days of fasting and the following day, Egyptians are ready to be served with the traditional and most favorite dish called “Fattah”- it is a combination of rice, lamb meat, bread, vinegar and special tomato sauce. Remember, the secret of taste lies in the sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 kg lamb meat (beef or veal-as per liking) cut in cubes
- 3 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp tomato sauce
- 2 small peeled onions
- 7 tsp butter or margarine (butter recommended)
- 3 cardamoms
- 12 thinly sliced almonds
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup vinegar
- 3 cups basmati rice
- 8 loaves of pita bread
- Salt and pepper
Directions:
Preparing sauce:
Take a small saucepan and melt two tsp of butter, add minced garlic and stir to make it golden brown. Now add tomato paste and stir and mix it good and put ½ cup water and ½ cup vinegar. Heat to boiling point and remove from burner. Sauce is ready, let it cool off.
Preparing the meat:
Lamb meat is tender and is cooked easily. So take the lamb meat, cut it into small bite size cubes and put in a pot with two peeled onions for 30-40 minutes. Strain the cubes and save 2-3 cups of broth.
Preparing rice:
Basmati rice is washed with running water, left for ten minutes in the water and drained. Now melt two tsp of butter in a pot and add 3 cardamoms and stir for a minute and then add the rice and stir again for a minute. Add three cups of broth along with salt as per taste and cook it till broth is absorbed. Cover the pot and let sit on low heat for twenty five minutes.
Preparing bread:
Cut the bread in square and bite size shape. In a large pan, heat up two tsp butter and add the square-shaped breads and make them crispy and golden brown. Then add two or three cups of broth to make the bread soft. Once bread is soft; drain the remaining broth.
Fry the sliced almonds
Preparing Fattah:
We have all items ready to make Fattah. Place in layers; first bread then rice, followed by sauce and meat cubes and sprinkle pepper and fried almonds.
Enjoy!
