Fatteh (
Arabic: فتّة meaning crushed or crumbs, also romanized as fette, fetté, fatta or fattah)[3] is an
Egyptian and
Levantine dish consisting of pieces of fresh, toasted, grilled, or fried
flatbread covered with other ingredients that vary according to region. It is also some times referred to as shâmiyât (
Arabic: شاميات "Damascene")[2] in the
Levant area.
Fetté dishes include a wide variety of regional and local variations, some of which also have their own distinct names.
Egypt:
Egyptians prepare a dish called "fatta" as a feast meal.[2] It is prepared on special occasions, such as to celebrate a woman's first pregnancy or for an
Iftar during
Ramadan. It is made with a garlic and vinegar flavored meat soup and crispy flatbread served in a bowl with rice and a sauce consisting of garlic tomato sauce.
Levant: The Levantine "fetté", eaten in breakfasts as well as in the evenings,[1][2] always starts with a stack of
khubz bread, topped by
strained yogurt, steamed
chickpeas and
olive oil that are crushed and mixed together. In the next step, a teaspoon of
cumin is almost always poured into the mixture. After that, virtually anything can be added to the bowl. Some fettés are made of
eggplants and
juliennedcarrots topped with grilled
chicken and
pine nuts while some contain
lambshanks, different spices and
yogurt.[2] The fattoush is a
salad made with toasted pieces of
pita bread that technically also falls into the family of "shâmiyât".[2]
Palestine: "Fetté gazzewié" from
Gaza is served as plain rice cooked in meat or chicken broth and then flavored with mild spices, particularly cinnamon. The rice is then laid over a thin
markook bread which is in turn smothered in
clarified butter and topped with various meats.[4]Musakhan is also a fetté dish.