Healthier chicken fatteh

Fatte is a style and a specific technique of preparing a dish with endless options of sauces and toppings. It is one of the iftar dishes that are present at the iftar table made in one way or another alongside lentil soup, chicken soup, jareesh soup, tatar burak and many other delights. The meaning of fatte: is pieces of bread that soak up the sauce. In the olden days' stale bread was used as the food was scarce and there was no room for waste, it was recycled, nowadays fried bread is more common, but I choose to toast the bread.

As I mentioned before this dish is prepared in many ways and styles. The Egyptian fatte is very different in form, but it almost follows the same technique while the Levantine fatte is more common yet it differs from city to city and from country to country within one region. The traditional fattes are chickpea fatte (which we love to eat on a Friday), chicken fatte, aubergine fatte, offal fatte, trotter fatte, meat fatte, kufta fatte and more. I love to play around with this dish as the combinations are endless as long as you follow the technique:

· Toasted or Fried bread, a yoghurt sauce or a yoghurt tahini sauce and a wet sauce of some sort with a topping of vegetable or meat.

· Fried bread, a yoghurt sauce or yoghurt tahini sauce, rice cooked in a stock and meat topping.

Servings: 6 as an appetiser

Ingredients:

• 2 pita bread toasted

• 1-kilogram skinless chicken

• 1 onion

• 1 Bay leaf

• salt

• pepper

• 2 cups Arabic style cooked rice

• ½ recipe of yoghurt tahini sauce

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• pine nuts

• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

• Pomegranate seeds

Method:

· Follow the toasted pita bread recipe for preparing the bread, alternatively, you have a choice to deep fry the bread.

· Prepare 1/2 recipe of the yoghurt tahini sauce.

· Place the chicken and the onion in 2 litres water and bring to the boil skimming any impurities that rise to the surface, then add the bay leaf and salt to taste and cook for 1 hour covered or until cooked.

· Run the cooked chicken through a sieve and reserve the stock adjusting the salt. Remove the bones and return the chicken to the stock.

· Cook the rice according to the Arabic style rice recipe but make sure you use chicken stock instead of water.

· Top the bread with the cooked rice then pour about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of stock over rice then top with some of the yoghurt sauce, chicken pieces and finally finish with fried pine nuts, parsley and pomegranate seeds.

· Serve immediately.

Notes:

· Choosing a skinless chicken and toasting the bread is a healthier option.

· This dish is enjoyed hot.

· You can follow the technique and be creative with other cuts of meats.

Per Serving: 586 Calories; 24g Fat (37.7% calories from fat); 27g Protein; 62g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 110mg Cholesterol; 195mg Sodium.