Mama’s OG Fattet Hummus

This is the second fattet hummus recipe on our blog and to Mama it is ‘Original Gransta’; authentic, old school and exceptional. ‘now this is the way to make it…and eat it!’ says Mama narrowing her lips into anticipation as she scatters beef and nuts over the layered hummus, chickpeas and toasted bread.   

‘on special holidays we were allowed home from our boarding school in Jerusalem.  It was just a 10 minute walk from the convent to our home in the old city and my brothers and sisters and I- dressed in crusader tabards with the Jerusalem cross on them- I mean honestly!- would walk home together hand in hand and my Mama would have this waiting for us.  Still warm and it was delicious.  We were always so happy to be back home.’   Mama tells me.  I have similar home-coming dishes that would always be waiting for me when I got back from university or foreign travels and those memories are just perfect, aren’t they?

Ingredients

for the hummus

2 cups of dried chickpeas

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 cup tahini

Juice of 1 lemon

3 garlic cloves

50ml reserved chickpea water

100ml cold water

1 tbsp salt

Beef Topping

Diced meat, thinly/ small cut

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp Mixed spice

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp paprika

Small handful pine nuts, toasted

Blanched almonds, toasted

¼ Pomegranate seeds

Chopped parsley

2 pita bread- oven with olive oil

Olive oil

Method

Make the Hummus

The night before, soak your chickpeas in enough water for the them to double in size- about 1.5 litres

In the morning, drain the chickpeas and put them in a saucepan on a medium heat and add the bicardonate of soda and stir for a few minutes until the while things bubbles up and the pan dried out and the chickpeas start to look a bit mushy.  Add about 1250ml of water and leave the chickpeas to boil for 30-40 minutes.  A foam will form which you have to remove- this will happen about 2-3 times in the cooking process.  Once the chickpeas are nice a soft and simply collapse between your fingers you can remove from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 200C

Use a slotted spoon to move 2/3 of the chickpeas to a food processor.  Put the remaining chickpeas in a bowl using the slotted spoon and put the remaining ‘chickpea’ water into a cup or jug for later.

Add 1 cup of chickpea water to the chickpeas in the food processor and blitz for a few minutes until its very smooth. Then add the lemon juice, garlic cloves, salt, 50ml cold water and about 50ml chickpea water and Tahini to the chickpeas in the processor and turn on for a good 2-3 minutes checking the consistency and flavour as you go to make sure it is as you like it.  Even if you normally prefer a very thick hummus you want this one a bit looser for this recipe.

Once made put the hummus to one side and cut the pita bread into small squares, toss in olive oil and put on a baking sheet in the oven for 13 minutes. 

Make the beef topping

To a frying pan add olive oil, onions and garlic and fry until soft.  Then add the beef, paprika, mixed spice and salt.  Fry until well browned and fragrant. 

At the same time, toast the nuts in a separate small frying pan with with a drop of vegetable oil.  Once golden remove to some kitchen paper to cool and become crispy.    

Once everything is ready you can start layering the fattet hummus.

In a shallow serving dish, put a layer of the toasted bread, then most of the reserved chickpeas, then some of the reserved chickpea water, then a thin layer of the hummus, then the meat, nuts, parsley and pomegranate seeds.  Put the rest of the reserved chickpeas in the middle and then serve.