Fattet El Makdoos (Eggplant Fatteh)

A community recipe by Hadi_ghannam

Not tested or verified by Nigella.com

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Introduction

'Fattet el Makdoos' is one of the major Damascene dishes in Syria and the Middle East. It's called Fatteh since it contains bread pieces; and Makdoos as it contains eggplants. It's a staple dish in events, and could be served as part of the hot appetizers or a main dish. The preparation of the aubergine could be done as described below, or would be stuffed with the minced meat and onion. The pomegranate molasses adds a beautiful sense of sour sweetness to the taste of the dish. The topping decoration is usually toasted pinenuts and almonds, but damascene ladies usually add some tomato and cucumber garnishing, like my mom and grandma. When I was a kid, I got attracted to this dish because of the garnishing my mom put on it, before the taste. When my mom knew that Nigella asked on facebook to post a fatteh recipe, she said submit my recipe to Nigella :) and cooked it later especially to take a photo and post it here.

Ingredients

Serves: 4

Metric Cups

Main Course

500 grams minced beef
200 grams aubergines
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 medium white onions (minced)
125 millilitres pomegranate molasses
250 millilitres water
2 medium pitta breads
1 pinch of salt for seasoning
1 pinch of pepper

Topping and Decoration

250 millilitres plain yoghurt
1 clove garlic (crushed)
2 tablespoons tahini
1 small tomato (minced)
1 small cucumber (sliced)
Juice of ½ lemon
sprinkling of pinenuts
1 pinch of salt (for seasoning)

Main Course

17⅔ ounces ground beef
7 ounces eggplants
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 medium white onions (minced)
4 fluid ounces pomegranate molasses
9 fluid ounces water
2 medium pita breads
1 pinch of salt for seasoning
1 pinch of pepper

Topping and Decoration

9 fluid ounces plain yogurt
1 clove garlic (crushed)
2 tablespoons tahini
1 small tomato (minced)
1 small cucumber (sliced)
Juice of ½ lemon
sprinkling of pinenuts
1 pinch of salt (for seasoning)

Method

Fattet El Makdoos (Eggplant Fatteh) is a community recipe submitted by Hadi_ghannam and has not been tested by Nigella.com so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe.

Cut the pitta bread into small squares.
Deep fry (or toast) the bread till it’s brown golden, then place them on paper towel to soak the oil.
Peel the aubergines and cut them into 1cm slices.
Deep fry the aubergine till brown golden, then place them on paper towel to soak the oil.
Put little oil in saucepan and cook the onions till softened.
Add the minced meat and seasoning to the onion and cook.
Add the tomato paste and water, then leave to boil.
Add the fried aubergines and pomegranate molasses to the mix; then leave to cook for ten minutes.
To serve, layer deep Pyrex plate with the toasted / deep fried bread.
Place the aubergine slices in a second layer and evenly spread the cooked mix on top of them.
Mix the plain yoghurt, tahini, minced garlic and lemon juice together, then add salt for seasoning.
Spread the yogurt mix as the final layer of the dish.
Decorate with minced tomatoes, cucumber and pinenuts.

Cut the pita bread into small squares.
Deep fry (or toast) the bread till it’s brown golden, then place them on paper towel to soak the oil.
Peel the eggplants and cut them into 1cm slices.
Deep fry the eggplant till brown golden, then place them on paper towel to soak the oil.
Put little oil in saucepan and cook the onions till softened.
Add the minced meat and seasoning to the onion and cook.
Add the tomato paste and water, then leave to boil.
Add the fried eggplants and pomegranate molasses to the mix; then leave to cook for ten minutes.
To serve, layer deep Pyrex plate with the toasted / deep fried bread.
Place the eggplant slices in a second layer and evenly spread the cooked mix on top of them.
Mix the plain yogurt, tahini, minced garlic and lemon juice together, then add salt for seasoning.
Spread the yogurt mix as the final layer of the dish.
Decorate with minced tomatoes, cucumber and pinenuts.