Chickpea Fattet “Tostadas”
Hummus is everywhere in Mediterranean cultures. In Greece, it is generally served as an appetizer, swimming in olive oil, accompanied by pita triangles, feta cheese and olives. In the United States, it is also served as a dip for raw vegetables, and often has other ingredients, such as roasted red peppers or pine nuts, blended right in. The basic formula is pretty simple: chickpeas (garbanzo beans), tahini (sesame butter), lemon juice, salt, and olive oil. Proportions of the basic ingredients may be varied in accordance with your taste. Less garlic, more garlic, less tahini . . . whatever. Play around with it and see what you get. Fattet is a sort of Middle Eastern layered casserole or salad. Taking a left turn at traditional, it occurred to me that you could easily make a sort of Middle Eastern tostada using some of the common ingredients found in the dish.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Hummus
Fattet
Preparation
Step 1
To make the hummus, thoroughly rinse the chickpeas, then place them, along with the water, in the slow cooker insert.
Step 2
Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or until the chickpeas are tender. Drain the chickpeas, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water. (You can reserve the rest of the cooking water for thickening soups or stews.) Measure out 1/2 cup of the cooked chickpeas, coarsely chop them, and set them aside.
Step 3
Place the whole chickpeas in the workbowl of a food processor. Press in the garlic, then add the lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, and 2 tablespoons of the cooking water and process until the mixture is smooth. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons cooking water only if needed to thin the consistency. Add salt to taste.
Step 4
To make the fattet, in a toaster oven or under a broiler, toast the pita halves until lightly browned or crisp. Arrange the pita halves on individual plates, then spread each pita with about 1/3 cup hummus. (Reserve the leftover hummus for another use). Sprinkle on 2 tablespoons of the chopped chickpeas, a generous dollop of yogurt, a pinch of cumin seed, 1/4 cup lettuce, 1 tablespoon of toasted pine nuts, and 1 tablespoon of chopped mint.
Step 5
Serve immediately.
Variations
Step 6
Try adding artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, or roasted peppers when processing the hummus.
Suggested Beverage
Step 7
If I were drinking wine with this, I would probably choose something light, aromatic, and white or something dry and rosy pink. That’s if I were drinking wine with it. But “tostada” somehow makes me lust after a good beer.
