Egyptian Fattah (Beef with Rice and Crisp Bread)

Ingredients

• 800 g stewing beef, cut into 4 cm chunks
• 1 onion, halved
• 2 bay leaf
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 tsp ground cardamom, lightly crushed
• 1½ l beef stock
• 300 g white rice
• 5 tbsp ghee
• 3 pita bread, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 8 garlic, crushed
• 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 dl passata
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Method

1. 1.

   Simmer the beef with spices — Put the beef in a large pot with the onion halves, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and cardamom, pour over the stock and bring to the boil. Skim off the grey foam that rises, then cover and simmer very gently for 90 minutes, until a chunk gives way under a fork.

2. 2.

   Strain and save the broth — Lift out the beef and keep it warm. Strain the broth and set it aside: you need 600 ml for the rice and about 250 ml for moistening the bread. Discard the whole spices and onion.

3. 3.

   Fry the pita in ghee — Melt 3 tbsp of the ghee in a wide frying pan and fry the torn pita in batches over medium heat, turning often, until deep gold and brittle, about 4 minutes a batch. Drain on kitchen paper.

4. 4.

   Cook the rice in broth — Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Toast it in 1 tbsp of the ghee for 2 minutes, pour in the 600 ml reserved broth with 1 tsp salt, cover and cook on the lowest heat for 12 minutes, then leave to stand off the heat for 10 minutes before forking through.

5. 5.

   Make the dakka sauce — For the dakka sauce, sizzle the crushed garlic in the last of the ghee for 30-60 seconds until pale gold. Stand back and pour in the vinegar — it will hiss furiously — and let it reduce by half, then stir in the tomato paste, fry 1 minute, add the passata, cumin and the remaining salt and simmer 10 minutes.

6. 6.

   Soak the bread base — Spread the fried bread over the base of a wide serving dish and ladle the reserved 250 ml of hot broth over it, just enough to soften it without turning it to mush. Spoon a third of the sauce on top.

7. 7.

   Pile up and serve at once — Pile the rice over the bread, arrange the beef on top and spoon the rest of the sauce over everything. Serve at once, while the very top layer of bread is still crisp.