With so many versions of fatta and so many possible fabulous ingredients you can add to the mix, often one of the people at your table will have a suggestion. In an effort to make the fatta experience more fulfilling and turn one dish into maybe two or three, this fatta buffet has made its way to our page – low difficulty and easy to prepare early on, it is likely to be a great hit with your guests!
Dishes to have in your fatta buffet:
1 – A bowl of fried bread: as the staple for any fatta dish (the yogurt, rice and chicken are interchangable) – bread is very important as a base of a fatta meal. In a frying pan, mix butter, oil, salt and a bit of cumin before adding in pieces of Egyptian balady bread and smushed garlic. Dry the bread out on paper towels and toss it into the bowl.
2 – Yogurt with garlic: I’m sorry, we meant "garlic with yogurt"! Don’t be afraid to add more – think one clove for almost every single serving tub of yogurt. Smush the garlic and mix it in – you can also add some salt, lemon and hummus (blended chickpeas).
3. Chicken: Cut chicken breasts into small pieces and season with salt and pepper. Pan fry with a little olive oil and place in a dish for serving!
4. Rice: Cook up local Egyptian medium-grain or basmati rice and keep a dish of it ready – many people like their fatta with rice.
5. The daqqa: You should make two to cover all fatta bases – one can be poured over fatta with yoghurt and the other over fatta with rice, as it is tomato based. For the daqqa, you should mince three cloves of garlic and season with pepper and salt – save half your mixture aside and fry the other half in oil or butter. Add ½ cup white vinegar and leave it to boil. At this point you can add a couple teaspoons of water for the clear daqqa or two peeled and chopped tomatoes for the tomato based daqqa. If using tomatoes, leave to boil for five minutes.
6. Final touches: Each person imagines different things coating their fatta and making it fabulous. You can fry some red and yellow peppers in butter and garlic as a topping or fry pine nuts in butter with garlic as well. Another topping can simply be canned chickpeas in a little of their juice.
Set up your serving table with the dishes above and let your guests make their own fatta for a change!
