Christmas and other festive times of the year ends up indulgent, with heavy rich food and coloured & flavoured strong drinks and spirits... and while it’s important to let loose and enjoy times like this, a well rounded approach to well- being is to always keep some balance. For instance, you could do this by mixing it up with what you choose to serve or eat.
Meat or poultry is usually big focus on many tables and overdoing it leads to it being hard to digest, blocked up (you know the rest!)… a good way to switch things up would be to add in some flavourful meat free options as a main instead of ‘just a side’.
Here, I made some Lebanese fatteh, with chickpeas, Smokey paprika (not as hot as chilli but still a good kick!), fresh parsley, crispy pitta, garlic tahini yoghurt and almonds toasted in butter going all the way through the dish. The yoghurt brings some sourness for digestion, the butter is sweet and oleating yet balanced by the chickpeas. Recipe is below.
Ingredients
3 cups chickpeas, soaked overnight
2 - 3 flatbreads
200g butter
300g plain yoghurt
5 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon tahini
100g slivered almonds
Parsley, finely chopped to garnish
3 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika to garnish
1 teaspoon each cumin, coriander powder and chilli flakes (optional, and add to desired level of heat, say 1/2 tsp)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Method:
Fill a saucepan with water to cover the chickpeas, about 5 centimetres above the chickpeas. Bring to the boil and cook for about half an hour or until softened. Once cooked, drain and put the pan back on the heat
Add the olive oil, cumin, coriander and optional chilli flakes and sautee until chickpeas are coated in spices.
Preheat the oven to 250°C and place the flatbread in the oven, allowing it to lightly toast. Melt the butter while these toast. Once they are warmed through, remove and brush the flatbread with the butter and some salt, turn down the heat to about 180°C and place back on the oven racks. Allow to bake, until crispy and golden brown.
While this is baking, start to pound the garlic in a mortar and pestle with salt, until it forms a smooth paste. Add this paste to the yoghurt and tahini. Stir until well combined.
Remove the bread from the oven and break into chip-sized pieces. Place on a serving dish and spoon over the spiced chickpeas and then add a thick layer of the yoghurt mixture, followed by a sprinkle of paprika and the parsley.
Lastly, melt the remaining butter and start to toast the slivered almonds, until caramelised. While hot, pour the butter and almonds over the cold yoghurt, and enjoy the sizzling sound it makes!
Serve straight away and enjoy with some fresh cucumber salad and a small serve of spiced ghee rice.
