Fatit Hummus (Chickpea Casserole)

Maya's Mama's Note:

This is a wonderful dish that my mother makes. And I can't get enough of it. It is basically pita chips soaked in chickpea broth and toped with chick peas and a very yummy yogurt sauce... even my two year old loves this dish. Chickpeas are a bit of a pain to cook from scratch... so i always make a really large batch and freeze it in it's broth... so i can put this together really easily on nights where i haven't got much time. Hope you love it as much as I do.

• Total Time: 29 hrs
• Prep Time: 24 hrs
• Cook Time: 5 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 kg chickpeas
• 6 pita bread (about 6-8 inches wide, the Lebanese pita would be better than the greek... but if all you have in yo)
• 3 cups 100% plain Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin (optional)
• 2 garlic cloves , minced (optional)
• salt , as needed
• water (for soaking and boiling chickpeas)
• butter , as needed

Directions:

1. in the largest bowl you've got (and i really do mean large) empty the bag of chick peas.
2. then fill up with water till the bowl is about 3/4 of the way full.
3. let soak for at least 12h before the start of cooking. (over night is best).
4. drain the water from the chickpeas once you are ready to start cooking.
5. pour the chickpeas in a large stock pot.
6. add enough water ( same amount as you would add if you were boiling pasta).
7. boil on high, UNCOVERED.
8. as it starts to boil it will produce this white foamy stuff -- skim the foamy stuff out of the pot as it is produced.
9. once no more foam is being made:.
10. reduce heat to a simmer and cover the pot. add more water at this point if it is needed. also the water should always be at least an inch above the chick peas.
11. allow to simmer for 4 hours.
12. in the mean time you can start prepping the pita.
13. pre heat broiler at 500°F.
14. separate the two halves of all the pita breads.
15. spread butter on both sides of both halves of all the pita.
16. then stack the buttered pita on top of each other.
17. and cut into half inch squares.
18. place pita squares on a baking sheet in a single layer.
19. and bake in the center of the oven, under the broiler until brown and crisp -- you will need to watch it. since each broiler is different there is no specific cooking time -- normally about 4 minutes.
20. once all the pita chips are made place them in a 9x13 dish.
21. now to prepare the yogurt:.
22. in a bowl whisk together cumin, yogurt, garlic and 2 tsp salt.
23. refrigerate till needed.
24. once the chickpeas are done simmering:.
25. using a ladle scoop a chick peas out and pour onto the pita chips.
26. make sure you are also scooping out some of the broth.
27. you will need about a 1 inch layer of chick peas.
28. the left over chick peas and broth can be frozen and used later for the same or a different dish.
29. allow the dish to sit for about 10 minutes so the pita has a chance to absorb the broth.
30. pour the yogurt over the chickpeas.
31. serve!

Reviews

[Leah's Kitchen]

I had this for lunch today and loved. It is so tasty and easy to make! Wonderful and flavorful, i really can't wait to make it for others besides myself. I used some chickpeas I had in the freezer and since I didn't have any chickpea broth I added a little vegetable broth. Thanks Maya's Mama for such a great recipe!

[Nasseh]

I reduced the recipe since only DH would be eating it. He said that it reminded him of when he was in school & he used to buy the same dish from a street vendor. I used canned chickpeas instead of dried to cut down on the cook time. Made for Ramadan Tag