Fattet Makdous

All Fatteh dishes have two main components, one, which is the dried bread as the base regardless of whatever other ingredients you use to make your fatteh. the second is it’s always some sort of layer dish whether it’s a simple quick meal or an elaborate dish for celebrations. The yogurt sauce is also a common theme in most fatteh’s but it can be swapped out for a tahini sauce.

Fattet Makdous is a specialty of Damascus, it is a crispy, juicy and delicious dish, consisting  of mini fried eggplants stuffed spiced meat, a savoury onion and tomato sauce, and tangy yogurt sauce followed with an oh so perfect crunch from the arabic bread chips then topped with nut.

12 small eggplants,

Salt, for seasoning eggplants

Vegetable ghee, for frying eggplants

460 g Arabic flat bread, cut into

squares and toasted

310 g drained yogurt

2 tbsp tahini

1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp pomegranate molasses

1/4 tsp crushed garlic

Salt

1/4 cup finely chopped flat parsley leaves

3/4 tbsp ghee, for nuts

40 g pine nuts

70 g finely chopped walnuts

1 tbsp ghee, for meat

430 g fat free ground lamb meat

Salt

Black pepper

Tomato Sauce

200 g tomato paste

700 ml water

We used baby eggplant “Bathenjan Hummsi” or in Aleppo it is known as “Bathenjan Tadfi”, then rinse eggplants with water and drain.

Cut off the stem of the eggplants. Remove the hat of the eggplants.

Cut a small piece from the top of the eggplant.

Peel the eggplants. You can peel them completely or leave some strips of peel. Then Rinse peeled eggplants in several changes with water and season eggplants with salt.

Heat vegetable ghee, and deep fry eggplants until golden brown in color.

Put fried eggplants on a plate lined with paper towels and change the towels every once in a while, and set aside.

Cut Arabic flat bread into squares, lay bread squares on an oven dish or baking sheet, and bake until lightly browned and crispy, and set aside.

To prepare yogurt sauce, in a bowl mix drained yogurt, tahini, pomegranate molasses, crushed garlic and salt, whisk until combined and set aside.

In a pan, heat 3/4 tbsp ghee, and add pine nuts and keep until golden brown in color, then remove and place on paper towel and set aside.

To same ghee you used for pine nuts, add chopped walnuts and keep until golden in color, then remove, place on paper towel and set aside.

In a deep pot, heat 1 tbsp ghee. Add ground meat and stir until cooked.

Add nuts to meat, add salt and black pepper and stir for few seconds then turn off heat, . Before using the filling for stuffing the eggplants reserve some filling and keep it aside for another step.

Create a vertical opening in the middle of the eggplant.

Stuff eggplants with meat, close the opening and set the stuffed eggplants aside.

To prepare tomato sauce, turn on heat and in a saucepan put tomato paste and water and heat the sauce.

Add hot tomato sauce to the yogurt sauce, and whisk.

To serve, spread the bread in a serving dish.

Top the bread with the mixture of yogurt sauce and tomato sauce.

Top with plain yogurt, and reserve some yogurt for another step.

Top with meat.

Garnish with chopped parsley.