Chicken Fatteh

I've been finding a lot of inspiration through Middle Eastern cuisine lately and I'm loving the freshness of the food as well as the use of various herbs, spices and nuts. Last night I attempted to make Chicken Fatteh for the first time and it exceeded expectations. Traditionally the dish is simple and has a combination of different ingredients but I went with my usual thought process and tried to tick off the following components: Different textures, smell, pop of colours, sweet and savoury elements, acidic balance, and crunch. Half way through the meal I realised that I forgot to add raisins but this is a must to counteract the heavy spice and acidity elements of the dish. 

My husband has a keen interest in BBQ'ing and likes experimenting with different cuts of meat so I let him handle the chicken. He decided to marinate the chicken breast for 24 hours as we had some time on our hands (Doesn't everybody right now?! #isolationlife) and the flavours spoke for itself. If you're pressed for time you can skip this step but I highly recommend that you don't. We couldn't decide on how to cook the chicken but opted for oven grill as we wanted scrumptious charred bits on the chicken. The grill was taking longer than expected and we decided to finish it off in a pan over high heat. Be careful if you decide to cook the chicken twice like we did as it can dry out really easily. I would've preferred to BBQ the chicken from the get go but we got rid of our BBQ in the last spring clean and we're still on the hunt for the perfect one, stay tuned!

Serves: 2-3

Ready in: 30 minutes 

Difficulty: ★☆☆

Ingredients 

Chicken marinade:

1 medium sized chicken breast, cut into 2 inch cubes

1/2 onion, coarsely diced

2 tbsp plain yoghurt

3 tbsp olive oil 

2 tbsp lemon juice 

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp paprika

Handful of coriander, chopped

Handful of parsley, chopped 

Salt to taste 

Rest of the ingredients:

1 cup cooked rice

3 tbsp plain yoghurt 

1 tsp ground cumin 

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp lemon juice 

1 tsp mustard seeds 

1 tsp chilli flakes 

1 splash of yellow food colouring (optional)

1 tsp oil

Salt to taste

Handful of parsley, chopped 

Handful of pine nuts

Handful of pita crackers or pita chips

Handful of raisins

Method 

In a medium sized bowl place all the chicken marinade ingredients and mix well. Cover and place in the fridge preferably overnight or for a minimum of 30 minutes. 

Once rice is cooked, swirl a small amount of yellow food colouring and stir to combine. 

Heat oil in a pan over medium heat and fry mustard seeds until sizzling and fragrant. Turn heat to low and add coloured rice and raisins. Sauté for a few minutes then remove from pan and set aside. In the same pan add pine nuts and toast until golden. Set aside.  

Cook chicken as per your preference. (See notes)

While chicken is cooking, combine yoghurt, ground cumin, cayenne pepper, lemon juice and salt in a small bowl. Taste as you go and adjust ingredients to your preference. Set aside. 

To assemble the dish toss together cooked chicken, infused rice and pita crackers in a large bowl. Once combined place on a serving dish and top with spiced yoghurt, parsley, chilli flakes and pine nuts. Serve immediately and enjoy! 

Notes 

The acid from onion and lemon will help tenderise the chicken. If marinating chicken overnight or for a few hours, remove from fridge 30 minutes prior to cooking. 

As the chicken pieces are small, keep an eye out on the cooking time to prevent drying out.