Libyan stove top flat bread: Ftat Misrati فتات مصراتى

Ftat is a thin flat-bread, made of a simple mix of flour and water and cooked on a hot flat surface. This is the Ftat recipe from the Western city of Misurata. An ingenious technique makes them twice as thin with half the effort: a mixture of cornflour and olive oil is used to 'sandwich' two pieces of ftat dough, the sandwich is thinned as much as possible and then cooked, the heat separating out the two pieces of Ftat.

Ftat literally means small pieces, and this bread is often torn up and covered with different soups or stews, to make a variety of fatta meals. Every Arab country has multiple Tharid or Fatta dishes using torn up bread as a base. In the South of the country Fatta dishes are made with leavened Tanoor bread, while the East of Libya has a bread so thin its transparent, which is used to make Mathruda (a sweet-and-sour fatta with meat and dates). Ftat is specially suited for Fatta meals as it holds up well.

Ftat are not always torn up! They are also enjoyed whole with different fillings, the most popular being Ejja (thick omlettes, the Arabic for Frittata/Tortilla). A slice of spicy herb and potato Ejja wrapped in Ftat is the perfect combination, and is especially popular in Ramadan. Plain Ftat are also served with tea alongside other kinds of Libyan bread.

Makes about 20 Ftat

Ingredients

Dough

750g fine flour

1/2 litre water (you may need more)

5 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon salt


more olive oil to brush the dough  

Paste

5-6 tablespoons cornflour (you need a smooth thick consistency)

50 ml olive oil 

For the dough, combine the flour, salt and olive oil and gradually add water till you have a soft but not sticky dough. Knead well, smooth olive oil over the dough then cover with cling film. Leave to rest for at least an hour. 

 Add olive oil to the cornflour for the paste. 

Mix the cornflour and olive oil to a smooth paste, leave for 10 minutes and it should thicken, add more cornflour if needed. 

After having left the dough to rest, knead again and then, keeping your hands well-oiled, take a piece of dough and squeeze your fist around it to form balls about the size of a ping-pong ball. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for half an hour. Flatten the balls by hand, not to thin them out but just to get a larger surface area. Now spread about one teaspoon of the cornflour paste thinly on one piece and cover with the second. do the same for the other pieces.

Cover and leave to rest for at least another hour. Pinch the edges of the sandwich, trapping the paste inside.

The sandwich should now have a little raised dome in the centre, with the paste in it.

Start spreading the ftat out. You can use a dinner plate and your hands. This helps you keep the round shape. Oil a large dinner plate, place a ftat 'sandwich' in the centre, brush with olive oil and using the fingers of one hand stretch and spread out gently to form the shape above.

Place the ftat on a hot surface to cook, using only medium heat. A hot flatplate (e.g pizza maker) is ideal, but really any old frying pan is fine as you can see above.

Turn after few second then sprinkle or brush the upper surface with olive oil. Once cooked the ftat will seperate easily into two, turn each one of these ftat pieces uncooked side downward for a few seconds, each (seperately)

Then place both back in the pan in the position above to sear the edges. It is important to wrap fatat in towel as soon as you remove it from the pan to keep it soft and warm. Fatat must be eaten warm, whether freshly made or warmed up in a frying pan just before serving. They keep best wrapped in foil in the fridge. It can be stored for one week in the fridge in an airtight container.

Pumpkin, Potato and Lamb Stew with Barley Dumplings

This is an alternative presentation which got some Palestinian dinner guests who usually baulked at the traditional version to try Bazeen. Form the bazeen into bite-sized dumplings before pouring the stew over them. Arrange halved boiled eggs and chopped chillies on top, and serve with lemon quarters.

Bazeen بازين

Bazeen, an Amazigh dish most often made from barley, is one of the most distinctive North African dishes. It is a staple in Western Libya, and often served for lunch on Fridays. There are variations on the basic lamb bazeen, serving it with stews featuring camel meat, chicken, squid or broad beans. A favourite winter variation is Bazeen served with Hassa soup made with dried meat (gideed). The most well-known Bazeen is made of a mixture of 3 parts barley flour to 1 part wheat flour. The flour is cooked in salted water to make a hard dough, and then formed into a rounded, smooth dome, with the tomato sauce, potatoes, boiled eggs around it, the mushroom shown in the picture is my addition, not part of the original recipe. An untraditional alternative is to serve bazeen as dumplings in a stew.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

about 1 kilo meat (preferably shoulder and leg of lamb)

1 large chopped onion

1/2 cup olive oil

3 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp fenugreek

1 tbsp tumeric

1 tbsp red chilli 

1 tbsp black pepper

1 tbsp salt

1 large garlic clove

2 chopped fresh green chillies

3-4 medium potatoes peeled and halved

500g pumpkin cut into medium sized cubes (optional)

for the dough

1 kilo barley flour

1/4 kilo plain / wheat flour 

1 tbspoon salt

about 11/2 litre boiling water ( more as needed )

Pour the olive oil in a  pot.

Add the fenugreek, onion and chillies to the pot. Stir and cook until the onion begins to soften.

Add the meat to the pot.

Add the spices and mix.

Add the roughly chopped garlic cloves.

Add tomato paste, mix well.

Add about 1/2 litre of boiling water. Cook on low heat for about 15 minutes then add another litre of boiling water and cook on medium heat  for further 45 minutes 

                 Add potatoes halves, cook on low heat, meanwhile prepare the dough

Mix the barley with the plain flour in a deep bowl.

In a deep pot, pour 1 litre of boiling water and add 1 tbsp salt.

Pour in the barley mix, all at once.

With a wooden spoon, push in the edges, creating an island of flour in the middle of the pot, allowing the water to bubble around it. Do not disturb the flour in the middle. Do not cover the pot.

Stick a wooden spoon in the middle of the island, and move the spoon a little so the water can bubble up inside, then do not disturb. Leave the dough to cook for 45 minutes on medium heat.

Hard-boil 6 eggs.

Test the potatoes. They should be just cooked, firm rather than mushy!  Remove the sauce from heat at this point.

After 45 minutes the dough should be ready. Using the wooden spatula mix well with the water in the pot, you might need to add more hot water to make a medium hard dough. Using the spatula press the dough against the edges of the pot to remove any lumps. The best way to do this is to place the pot in the sink, holding it against a corner with one hand to get a good purchase. 

If you have a machine that will knead bread dough then it will handle bazeen fine, and you will get a smooth ball of dough in minutes. 

Test the dough by pressing it in your fist and checking if it holds together well. Remove the dough from the pot. Place in a large flat serving bowl and knead it to get rid of the lumps, then form into a ball. If there are deep cracks you need to knead it again.

Form the bazeen by placing your palm on the ball and rolling in circular motions around the dish until you have a smooth dome with a flat base.

Press the edges down to make the dough stick to the dish.

Pour the tomato sauce around the dough. Arrange the meat, potatoes, and pumpkin if used. Peel and add the six hardboiled eggs. Bazeen is served with fresh chillies and lemon and is typically eaten in a communal dish, using the right hand.