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Why It Works
- Salting the eggplant attracts out extra moisture, serving to it cook dinner and brown extra evenly.
- Frying the eggplant offers it a lusciously creamy texture.
- This dish is a celebration of contrasts: candy, velvety eggplant shines alongside tangy yogurt, crunchy pita, contemporary herbs, and juicy pomegranate seeds.
- Including tahini to the yogurt sauce offers it an intensely nutty and savory taste.
I discover few taste mixtures as scrumptious as silky eggplant with garlicky yogurt. Add crispy bread, fried nuts, some pomegranate seeds, and the phrase “higher than the sum of its elements” isn’t a cliché however an correct description. I could also be biased, however I’m not alone. Whenever you say the phrase fatteh to somebody from the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, or Jordan), the primary model that involves thoughts is often eggplant fatteh, adopted intently by chickpea fatteh.
As with most Arabic meals, everybody has their very own method of constructing it (and naturally, theirs is all the time “one of the simplest ways”). Some variations are refined: how a lot tahini goes into the yogurt sauce, whether or not the eggplant is peeled, what it’s garnished with, and the ratio of bread to sauce to eggplant. Others are extra pronounced, reminiscent of whether or not it ought to embrace tomato sauce, whether or not it ought to be vegetarian, or whether or not you’re utilizing child eggplants which are cored and stuffed vs. a deconstructed model with cubed eggplant and all the things layered.
The recipe right here is for essentially the most fundamental vegetarian model of eggplant fatteh, and I like to recommend you begin with it. It’s a model that permits you to actually style every element—there isn’t a tomato sauce to compete with the eggplant or meat to overpower the creamy elements—and perceive how all of them come collectively to create a celebration in your palate. When you’ve realized how one can make this fundamental model, there are many instructions to go. Some add the fried eggplant to a tomato sauce that is typically spiked with pomegranate molasses and flavored with garlic and generally onion. In non-vegetarian variations, cooks simmer floor lamb or beef in a tomato sauce earlier than layering it with pita, fried eggplant, yogurt, and a garnish of toasted pine nuts, pomegranates, and contemporary herbs reminiscent of parsley. That, in flip, is a shortcut model of an older, extra conventional dish through which child eggplants are full of fried meat, onions, and pine nuts, simmered in tomato sauce, and completed with yogurt and crisp bread.
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However again to the specifics of our recipe right here. I like to recommend chopping the eggplant into two-inch cubes, as they shrink when fried, and this yields the right bite-size items. Roasted or air-fried eggplant is a wonderfully first rate substitute, however when you have the time or vitality, frying will give you essentially the most scrumptious outcomes: It turns the eggplant lush and creamy, a distinction to the crisp bread beneath it. Simply ensure that to salt the eggplant cubes first, as this pulls out extra moisture and helps them brown rapidly and evenly. The number of the eggplant issues lower than its high quality. Use no matter seems greatest on the market, whether or not globe, Italian, or lengthy Japanese-style eggplants. You need easy, agency fruit; keep away from mature eggplants which are starting to melt or develop bruised spots, as they are often unpleasantly bitter and seedy.
As for the bread, I shuttle between toasting it within the oven (which you are able to do days forward) and frying. Since I’m already deep-frying the eggplant, I often simply toss the cut-up pita into the identical oil as soon as the eggplant is completed. The result’s dangerously good: Crisp, golden, and faintly flavored with the wealthy earthiness of the eggplant.
As soon as you have fried the eggplant and bread, all that is left to do is assemble. The great thing about this dish lies in each its adaptability and forgiving nature: There’s virtually nothing you are able to do that can mess up the timeless, scrumptious mixture of silky easy fried eggplant with creamy, tangy yogurt, crunchy fried pita, and toasted pine nuts.
This Beloved Levantine Vegetable Dish Is Creamy, Crunchy, and Comforting
Cook dinner Mode
(Maintain display awake)
For the Bread:
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4 ounces (113 g) pita, home made or store-bought, reduce into 3/4-inch squares (2 cups), see notes
For the Yogurt Sauce:
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1 1/2 cups strained (Greek-style) whole-milk yogurt (14 ounces; 396 g)
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1 tablespoon (15 ml) tahini
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2 tablespoons (30 ml) lemon juice from 1 medium lemon
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2 medium cloves garlic (10 g), finely grated
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1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for desk salt, use half as a lot by quantity
For the Eggplant:
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2 massive eggplants (about 40 ounces; 2 1/2 kilos)
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Kosher salt
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6 cups (1.4 L) impartial oil, reminiscent of vegetable or canola, for frying
For the Garnish:
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3 tablespoons pine nuts or slivered almonds (about 1/2 ounce; 16 g)
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2 tablespoons (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil, for frying
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Crimson pepper flakes, for garnish (elective)
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Pomegranate seeds, for garnish (elective)
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Chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish (elective)
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Modify oven rack to center place and preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
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Prepare pita on a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet and bake, stirring often, till crisp and starting to darken, about quarter-hour.
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Slice every eggplant in half lengthwise. Slice every portion of eggplant in half lengthwise once more, then reduce every strip into 2-inch cubes. Set cubed eggplant in a big colander set over a bowl or the sink, sprinkle generously with salt, and let stand till eggplant is dewy with water, about 1 hour.
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In the meantime, Put together the Yogurt Sauce: In a medium bowl, whisk yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and salt to mix. Refrigerate till prepared to make use of.
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Put together the Garnish: Line a plate with paper towels; put aside. In a small chrome steel, carbon metal, forged iron, or nonstick skillet, mix 2 tablespoons olive oil and pine nuts over medium warmth and cook dinner, stirring continually, till simply evenly golden, 1 minute. Instantly take away nuts onto ready paper towel–lined plate; put aside.
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For the Eggplant: In a big wok, Dutch oven, or pot, warmth 2 to three inches of oil till it registers 350°F (175°C) on an instant-read or clip-on thermometer.
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Line a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet with paper towels. Place drained eggplant cubes onto paper towel-lined baking sheet and blot dry with paper towels.
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Line a big plate with paper towels; put aside. Working in batches to keep away from overcrowding, fry eggplant till deep golden brown, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Modify warmth as obligatory to keep up oil temperature. Utilizing a slotted spoon or spider skimmer, take away eggplant to paper towel–lined plate and let drain. Return oil to 350°F (175°C) and repeat with remaining eggplant.
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To Assemble: Prepare toasted bread on a big serving platter. High with fried eggplant, adopted by a skinny layer of yogurt sauce. Garnish with toasted pine nuts, purple pepper flakes, or pomegranate seeds, if utilizing, and parsley. Serve instantly.
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Particular Gear
13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet; colander; whisk; small chrome steel, carbon metal, or forged iron skillet; massive wok, Dutch oven, or pot; instant-read thermometer; slotted spoon or spider skimmer
Notes
If utilizing thick pita, break up the bread aside earlier than chopping into squares.
To fry pita after you fry the eggplant, line a big plate with paper towels; put aside. Utilizing a spider skimmer or slotted spoon, rigorously decrease reduce pita into scorching oil. Working in batches as obligatory, fry, utilizing a spider skimmer or slotted spoo to flip and stir as wanted, till golden brown on all sides, 1 to 2 minutes. Switch pita to paper–towel lined plate; repeat with remaining pita as wanted.
This dish is historically made with deep-fried eggplant. As talked about above, nonetheless, you possibly can simply air fry or roast the eggplants at 375°F (190°C). If air frying or roasting, there isn’t a have to salt the eggplant. Toss the eggplant cubes with sufficient olive oil to coat, season generously with salt, and air fry or roast, stirring often, till golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Make-Forward and Storage
Bread might be toasted or fried as much as 3 days upfront. As soon as cooled, bread might be saved in an hermetic container at room temperature.
The yogurt sauce might be ready as much as 1 day upfront and refrigerated in an hermetic container.
As soon as fried and cooled, the eggplants might be refrigerated in an hermetic container for as much as 3 days and reheated in a 350°F (175°C) oven, air fryer, or microwave till heat. Alternatively, eggplants can sit at room temperature for as much as 3 hours as soon as fried.
Pine nuts can be fried a day upfront and saved in an hermetic container at room temperature.
As soon as assembled, nonetheless, the dish is greatest consumed right away. Leftovers don’t maintain properly because the bread turns into extraordinarily soggy.
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