Fatta
Layers of crisp toasted pitta and rice topped with tender lamb, a garlicky tomato sauce and a splash of vinegar, finished with the cooking broth.
How to Cook Fatta
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Put the lamb, onion, cinnamon, cardamom, bay and salt in a pan with the water. Bring to a boil, skim, then simmer gently for 90 minutes until the lamb is very tender. Strain, keeping the lamb and broth.
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Heat the oven to 200°C / 390°F (180°C / 355°F fan). Spread the pitta on a tray and bake for 10 minutes until crisp.
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Cook the rice in 500 ml of the broth in a covered pan for 15 minutes.
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Melt the butter, fry the garlic for 1 minute, add the tomato purée and vinegar and bubble for 1 minute.
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Layer the bread, rice and lamb in a deep dish. Moisten with the 200 ml broth and pour over the garlic sauce.
Related guide: Choosing rice.
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What Can Go Wrong
- Assemble just before serving to keep the bread crisp.
- Fry the garlic gently; it should not brown.
- Add a handful of toasted pine nuts for extra crunch.
Ingredient Swaps
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
A Little Background
Fatta is built in layers, from the bottom up, and the order matters. First comes bread, torn and toasted until crisp. Then rice, then the meat, and over everything the sauce, a pungent mix of garlic, vinegar and tomato that turns the bread tender where it touches and leaves the top still crisp. It is a dish for celebration in Egypt, especially at Eid.
The lamb needs 90 minutes, so start there. Simmer lamb shoulder with an onion, cinnamon, cardamom and bay in water until it falls from the bone. The broth that results is the lifeblood of the dish. Reserve it all. Some goes into the rice, some moistens the bread, and the rest is poured over the top.
Toast torn pitta in the oven at 200°C / 390°F for 10 minutes until golden and brittle. Cook the rice in the lamb broth. The sauce, taqliya, is the finish. Fry plenty of crushed garlic in butter until golden, add tomato purée and white vinegar, and let it bubble for a minute. It smells strong, and it should.
Assemble just before serving, or the bread loses its crunch. Layer bread, rice, lamb; pour over broth and sauce.
What to Serve It With
Green salad · Pickled turnips · Yoghurt · Hot green chillies
Storing Leftovers
Keep the components separate in the fridge for 2 days. Assemble fresh.
Fatta Nutrition Facts
Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: weights that include bone are counted as if all of it were eaten, so the figures run high. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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