Fatteh — toasted flatbread pieces layered with chickpeas, yogurt sauce, and garnishes, assembled just before service — is a preparation built on the principle of texture contrast through layering: crispy bread becoming progressively soaked from the hot chickpea liquid and cold yogurt, each layer at a different stage of integration. It must be assembled at the last moment — assembled fatteh sitting for 20 minutes is no longer fatteh, it is a soggy mess.
- **Toasted bread:** Flatbread broken and toasted or fried until completely crispy — must be dry and crunchy before assembly - **Chickpeas:** Cooked until completely tender, served hot — their heat begins the bread's softening process - **The yogurt sauce:** Yogurt thinned with a little cooking liquid, seasoned with lemon and garlic — poured cold over the hot chickpeas, creating a temperature contrast alongside the textural one - **The garnishes:** Toasted pine nuts, paprika in olive oil, fresh parsley, sumac — added immediately before service - [VERIFY] Khan's specific fatteh construction and garnish sequence.
Zaitoun