Cooking With Nik & Little Bear, Ep 5: Fetteh
Channel: Cooking With Nik & Little Bear
Date: 2017-05-07

Nik will teach you how to cook the delicious, nourishing, cheap and easy way, ably assisted by his unfortunate & ridiculous dog, Little Bear.

EPISODE 05: FETTEH
14 mins, 40 sec / Shot: 23 April 2017 / Uploaded: 7 May 2017

~ HOW TO MAKE FETTEH (Moroccan Soup Kitchen-style chickpea bake) ~

This dish is killer! Only about 15 mins work, super tasty and wholesome.  It’s served lukewarm so it’s awesome for dinner on a hot Melbourne evening.

YOU WILL NEED:
– 3 tsp Baharat spice mix (see below)
– Lebanese bread (two pieces)
– Two cans of chickpeas (drained)
– 1 cinnamon stick
– 2 bay leaves
– 3-5 cloves
– 250mL stock (chicken or vegie)
– 2 garlic cloves
– 3 tbsp tahini
– 5 tbsp natural yoghurt (the best quality yoghurt you can find)
– 50g butter
– 3 tbsp slivered almonds (lightly toasted in a dry pan or under the grill – I do mean lightly)
– Sweet paprika and fresh parsley to garnish

METHOD:

1) BAHARAT - This spice mix rules.  This makes a few tablespoons worth so whip it up and store it in an airtight jar for future meals.  You can rub it on meat, add it to stews, sprinkle on fried eggs – it’s just fucking awesome.  I use a mortar and pestle but it would be much easier to blitz it all with a spice grinder, I just don’t have one.

- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- A small cinnamon stick (or half a stick)
- A few cloves (maybe 5)
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ to ¾ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 2 tsp cumin seeds

Dry fry the cloves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns and cinnamon stick in a small pan on low heat for a minute or two until slightly brown and fragrant (don’t burn them).  Then throw them and the rest of the spices in a mortar, and pestle the crap out of it all until you get a reasonably consistent powder.  The cinnamon stick will be hard to powder but crushed to pieces is good enough.  I would also recommend fishing out the stemmy bits of the cloves because it sucks if one of them stabs you in the mouth when you trying to enjoy a good meal.

2) LEBANESE BREAD – Heat your oven to about 160°C and put 2 pieces of flatbread in.  You want them to get nice and crispy but not too brown as they can end up tasting a bit burnt if you cook them too long.  It’s a fine line between totally crispy and burnt so keep a close eye on them as you prepare the rest of the meal.

3) TAHINI & YOGHURT – Umm, mix tahini and yogurt in a bowl.  Add a bit of paprika and/or a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper if you like.

4) CHICKPEAS, ETC – Add a good lug of olive oil to a biggish pot and fry up the garlic.  Toss in the bay leaves, cinnamon stick and cloves for and fry for another minute (max) and then add the chickpeas (drained).  Sprinkle in about 3 teaspoons of your baharat and stir it all together.  Poor in the stock and bring to the boil. 
 
Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the liquid has reduced to about a third, ie slightly wet but not watery.
 
Take it off the heat and fish out the bay leaves and whole spices.  Fold through 2 heaped tablespoons of tahini/yoghurt mix.

5)  GARNISH: BURNT BUTTER & ALMONDS – Melt the butter in a small pan on a lowish heat.  Try and get it to melt evenly by cutting it into slices first and keep it moving around the pot until it’s all melted.  It will bubble as it cooks but keep watching it because there will be a point when it suddenly stop bubbling and turn from golden to brown – you want it to go brown but if it cooks for even a few seconds longer it will burn so be vigilant.  Mix in the toasted almond slivers.

6) ASSEMBLY – Break up the crispy Leb bread and make an even pile on the bottom of your most beautiful serving tray/dish.  Slop on heaps of the lukewarm chickpeas and some dollops of the leftover yoghurt/tahini mix.  If you don’t use up all the yoghurt/tahini, keep it in the fridge to eat with bread or crackers – it’s fucking delicious but it will go bad quickly if you don’t refrigerate it.  Spoon over the melted butter and almonds and garnish with plenty of fresh parsley and a good sprinkle of sweet paprika.  Eat it with your hands – the messier you get the better it tastes!