Makdous Fatteh

Makdous Fatteh

One, of my all time favorite dishes, that has a really special place in my heart, is Makdous Fatteh.

Makdous is a traditional dish of Levantine cuisine, being served as appetizer yet as a main course as well. This dish, which you will fall in love with at first bite, is originally composed of eggplant stuffed with minced beef accompanied with fried pitta bread and yoghurt sauce.

This delicious full of flavor recipe is perfect for entertaining, when you have guests for lunch or for dinner and I assure you it is always a winner.

I have tried my best to simplify the recipe, so that it would be a quick and easy one, which could be even prepared on weekdays. 

Ingredients

4-5 Eggplants (pick the shiny ones)

200 grams of minced beef

3 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of tomato sauce

2.5 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses  (debs roman)

1 cube of chicken/beef stock

4 large Pitta/ Lebanese Bread

600 grams of yogurt

5 cloves of garlic

1 lemon

3 tablespoon of  7 spice (paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander, ground cloves, ground nutmeg, cinnamon, ground cardamom) – available in all supermarkets

2 cardamoms (heil/ 7abahan) 

2 bay leaves (war2 lawra)

Water

Olive oil

Frying oil (I have used canola oil)

Salt and pepper

Pine nuts for garnish

Cookware and utensils

Kitchen paper

1 big non-stick fry pan

2 small sauté pans

Colander (Safayah)

2 cooking bowls

Baking Sheet

Method

1. Wash and dry the eggplants. Peel them partially leaving some of the vertical lines (looks like a zebra). Slice in 4 fat cubes.

2. Add the eggplant to the colander, put ½ tablespoon of salt and leave for 2 hours, then remove the drained out water.

3. Sprinkle the cubes with some of the 7 spice (1/2 tablespoon). Add some of your frying oil (2 tablespoons) to the fry pot, once it is hot,  add some of the eggplants (not all of them at once). As soon as the eggplant cube gets a light golden color, remove it from the oil and place it on a kitchen paper to dry. Repeat with all the batch of eggplants.

4. Once you have removed the eggplant, add 1 tablespoon of butter and the tomato sauce. Fill half of the pan with water, add salt, the cardamoms, the bay leaves, the stock, one tablespoon of the 7 spice and finally 2 tablespoons of the  molasses.

 

 5. Once the sauce begins to simmer, add the eggplants for 5 min to absorb the flavor and then remove them and place them in a bowl. (You will put cubes back again into the sauce later to cook through. The reason why the cubes are removed from the sauce is to maintain the eggplants texture). Leave the sauce to boil for 15 min on low heat.

6. Cut the Lebanese bread into squares and place it on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven at 180 C and then add the bread. Once toasted, keep 1/3 of the croutons in a separate bowl to be fried before serving. (Originally all the bread should be fried, but I have chosen a healthier option which is to toast them instead and fry a smaller amount for garnish)

7. Place the yogurt in a bowl, crush the garlic and add salt and the lemon. Mix it well and then add ½ tablespoon of the molasses.

 8. Place the sauté pan on the stove and add 1 tablespoon of butter. Once sizzling, add the minced beef. (The original dish requires to stuff the eggplant with the minced beef, I have simplified it by cooking each ingredient on its own). Sauté the beef and add 1 tablespoon of 7 spice and salt.

9. Before serving the dish, place the eggplant back to the sauce and leave it for 20 min. Place ½ tablespoon of butter and add the 1/3 of the bread croutons kept in the bowl. Leave them till they have a light gold color.

10. In another sauté pan, add 1/3 tablespoon of butter and add the pine nuts. Once golden-brown remove them  from heat.

The final step:

a.     Place the bread in your serving dish and add some of the sauce;

b.     Add the eggplants (leaving 10 pieces for garnish);

c.      Add three tablespoons of yogurt;

d.     Add more bread and sauce;

e.     Add all of the yogurt;

f.      Add the rest of the eggplants and the butter fried croutons;

g.     Add the minced beef and the pine nuts.

And there you have it simplified Makdous. 

 TIP:

So that the lower-level of the bread absorbs the flavors of the beef and the pine-nuts, make a whole with your clean finger in middle of the dish, while you are pouring the beef over the yoghurt sauce.

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