Fattet Hummus (فتة حمص) — Levantine Layered Chickpeas
Overview
Fatteh in Arabic means "crushed" or "broken bread", and the dish is built around exactly that, day-old pita torn into pieces, fried or toasted crispy, then drowned in layers of warm chickpeas, cool tangy yogurt, browned ghee, pine nuts and herbs. It is the most generous breakfast in Arabic cuisine, the kind brought to a Friday family table where everyone breaks off pieces with their hands. Damascus and Beirut both claim it, every household makes it slightly differently. This version is the Lebanese way, lighter on tahini, heavier on garlic-yogurt, with the bread layer crispy enough to crunch under the spoon.
The Ingredients
- • 3 large pita breads, day-old
- • 2 tins chickpeas (800g total), drained
- • 500g Greek yogurt
- • 3 tbsp tahini
- • 1 Crysp Lime, juiced
- • 4 garlic cloves, crushed to paste
- • 60g pine nuts
- • 60g ghee (or unsalted butter)
- • 20g Parsley (Crysp)
- • 5 leaves Mint (Crysp)
- • 1 tbsp Peashoots (Crysp), to garnish
- • 1 tsp ground cumin
- • 1 tsp sumac
- • 1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper or paprika
- • 3 tbsp olive oil
- • Salt, to taste
Instructions
Crisp the Pita
Tear the pita into pieces the size of a 5 dirham coin, separating the top and bottom layers as you go for maximum crispness. Spread on a baking tray, drizzle with the olive oil, toss to coat. Bake at 200°C for 8 to 10 minutes, tossing halfway, until deep golden and audibly crisp when you tap them. Set aside, do not let them go soft.
Warm the Chickpeas
Place the drained chickpeas in a small saucepan with 200ml of water, the cumin, half a teaspoon of salt, and 1 garlic clove crushed. Bring to a gentle simmer, cook 8 minutes until the chickpeas are very soft and the water is reduced by half. Take off the heat, leave them in their cooking liquid, the liquid moistens the bread layer when assembled.
Build the Yogurt Sauce
In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt, tahini, remaining 3 garlic cloves crushed to paste, lime juice, and a generous pinch of salt. Taste, the sauce should be sharp from the lime, savoury from the garlic, with a faint nutty undertone from the tahini. If it tastes flat, add more salt or lime, not more tahini.
Brown the Ghee with Pine Nuts
In a small pan over medium heat, melt the ghee. Add the pine nuts, stir constantly. The pine nuts will turn golden, then deep amber, in 3 minutes. The moment they smell toasted and look glossy, lift the pan off the heat. Pine nuts go from golden to burnt in 30 seconds. The browned butter underneath them should smell nutty and faintly caramelised.
Layer the Fatteh
In a wide shallow serving bowl or platter, spread the crispy pita pieces in an even layer. Spoon over a few ladles of the warm chickpea cooking liquid, just enough to lightly moisten the bread, not soak it. Tip the warm chickpeas over the bread, distributing evenly. Pour the yogurt sauce over the chickpeas in a thick, generous layer that almost covers them.
Crown and Serve Immediately
Pour the hot ghee and pine nuts directly over the centre of the yogurt, the contrast of hot ghee on cold yogurt is the moment that makes fatteh fatteh. Dust with sumac and Aleppo pepper. Roughly chop the parsley and mint, scatter generously across the surface. Pile peashoots in the centre. Serve immediately at the table with spoons, eaten communally, every spoonful should pick up a bit of crispy bread, soft chickpea, cool yogurt, and a few pine nuts.
The Tradition
Fatteh exists across the Levant in many forms, fattet hummus (chickpeas), fattet makdous (eggplant), fattet djaj (chicken), each region champions its own. The dish was originally a way to use up stale bread, the same impulse behind Italian panzanella or Egyptian fattah. In Damascus, fatteh is a Friday breakfast tradition, brought to the table in a single large platter that everyone eats from with their own spoon. In Beirut, smaller individual bowls are common at modern restaurants. In Dubai, both styles coexist, served at family-style places like Al Mandaloun and modernised at restaurants like Em Sherif. The pine nuts are non-negotiable, the lime instead of lemon is a Crysp tweak that brightens the whole thing.
💡 Pro Tip: Eat fatteh within 5 minutes of pouring the ghee. The hot ghee melts into the yogurt and warms the chickpeas, and the bread starts crispy then progressively softens as it absorbs liquid. After 10 minutes the bread layer becomes soggy, after 20 minutes the textural drama that defines the dish is gone. Serve straight to the table, do not let it sit for plating photos.