Egyptian Fatta with Beef Cubes
By shahdan • May 7, 2020
4 servings
30 min
Easy
This is the Traditional Egyptian Fatta we grew up smelling and eating in our homes on feast days and on special occasions. The aroma in the house while cooking this dish brings back beautiful family memories.
Using beef cubes, I learned to cook this recipe easily for our family meals, not just for big gatherings. It is always a pleasant surprise for my family. Perfect for a family of four to five, I serve this recipe with a simple Baladi Salad next to it for a complete meal.
Please double the quantities for a larger dish if you are hosting a dinner party or a Ramadan Iftar.
For this recipe, you need 500g cooked Egyptian rice. For the rice recipe, click HERE.
Ingredients
- 500 gram beef cubes - لحم كباب حلة
- 2 small onion (sliced halves) - بصلة
- 1 medium carrot (sliced in half) - جزرة
- 1 large spring onion (optional) - بصلة خضراء
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (or sunflower oil) - زيت زيتون
- 3 pod cardamom - حبهان
- 2 small mastic / mesteka - مستكة
- 2 bay leaf small - ورق لاورا
- 3 tomato - طماطم
- For the Tomato Sauce: - لصلصة الطماطم
- 3 medium tomato - طماطم
- 2 teaspoon tomato paste (optional) - معجون طماطم / صلصة طماطم
- 1/2 cup water - ماء
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (traditional recipe uses butter) - زيت زيتون
- 4 large garlic cloves - فصوص ثوم
- 4 tablespoon vinegar - خل
- salt and pepper (to taste) - ملح و فلفل
Step by step
- Start by boiling the beef cubes: Heat oil in a soup pot. Add onions, carrots, spring onion, cardamom mastic, bay leaves. Give them a quick stir on high heat, then add beef cubes. Sear the beef for a couple of minutes. Cover with boiling water and season with salt and pepper. Let it simmer on medium heat until beef is cooked through.
- Use scissors to slice bread into squares. place on a large tray and drizzle with a little oil and use your hands to distribute the oil all over. Bake in a 180C oven until golden and crispy. Discard any burnt bread pieces.
- To prepare the garlic tomato sauce, place sliced tomatoes, tomato paste and water in a blender. Pulse until smooth.
- In a pot, heat a tablespoon of oil (or butter). Add minced garlic and cook for a few seconds until fragrant but not dark. Add the vinegar and let it cook with the garlic for a few seconds then add the tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper and let it simmer on medium heat until slightly thickened and richer in colour.
- When the beef stock is ready, add two ladles of clear stock to the tomato sauce, and let it simmer for a few more minutes.
- Before assembling the dish, mix enough sieved beef stock with tomato sauce to cover the base of your serving dish (about four ladles of clear beef stock & a ladle of tomato sauce).
- To assemble the dish, cover the serving plate base with the beef stock-tomato mix.
- Then, arrange the crispy bread over it. Spread the cooked rice (you don't have to use the full 500g quantity).
- Generously, spoon the tomato sauce over the rice, leaving a couple if tablespoons behind for the beef cubes.
- Arrange the boiled beef cubes on top and add more tomato sauce. Serve immediately.
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