Recipe: Fatteh Hommos (Chickpeas with bread and yogurt)

Fatteh HommosDanielle Matar/The Globe and Mail

Chef Amal Al-Khalili has one passion: food. She was born to Syrian parents, raised in Jordan and spent 10 years in Dubai before moving to Canada. With her knowledge and appreciation of Syrian, Jordanian, Persian Gulf and Indian cuisines, she has developed a unique approach to Middle Eastern cuisine.

She started her Toronto catering company, Sham Kitchen, with her husband, Mojahed Jazmati, in 2014. Her hommos is quite different from the more traditional puréed one, as the chickpeas are left whole and covered with a yogurt-tahini sauce. It is typically Syrian and often served for breakfast. The dish is sometimes finished with brown butter, which gives it a rich flavour.

Servings: 6 to 8

Ready Time: 40 minutes

Fatteh Hommos

4 8-inch pitas

2 1/2 cups water

2 19-oz (540-mL) cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 cups Balkan-style yogurt

1/2 cup tahini

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp finely chopped garlic

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Garnish

1/2 cup pine nuts or sliced almonds

3 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp sumac

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

4 8-inch pitas

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Oil 2 baking sheets and 4 pitas. Place 2 pitas on each baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Flip pitas and rotate pans, then bake for 10 more minutes or until browned and crisp. Crumble into small pieces and transfer to a bowl.

Place water in pot and add three-quarters of the drained chickpeas. Reserve remaining chickpeas for garnish. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until softened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain, reserving chickpeas and cooking water separately.

Combine yogurt with tahini, 2 tbsp lemon juice, oil and garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

Drizzle 1 cup chickpea cooking water and 1 tbsp lemon juice over bread. Season with salt and pepper and scatter in the base of a serving dish. Cover with cooked chickpeas. Spoon over yogurt sauce. Sprinkle with almonds, parsley, cumin, sumac, remaining chickpeas and pomegranate seeds. Serve with fresh pitas.