Najlah’s Fatteh Shawarma Salad

Ingredients

• 1 large Eggplant cubed
• 1 pound Chicken thawed
• 3 Cardamom pods
• 1 stick Cinnamon broken into pieces
• 3 Cloves
• 1 medium Onion sliced thinly
• 1 tablespoon Garlic minced
• 1/2 12-oz can Garbonzo (chickapeas) beans rinsed and drained
• 1 bag Whole wheat (baked) pita chips or 3 pita breads broken and toasted
• 1 container Leban (Greek Yogurt or plain yogurt)
• 1/4 cup Lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Garlic (or garlic powder) minced
• 1/4 cup Tahini
• 1/2 cup Pine nuts toasted
• 1 bunch Italian parsley chopped
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• 4 tablespoon Sumak
• 1/4 cup Water
• Vegetable oil for frying
• 2 tablespoon Butter melted (optional)

Instructions

1. THIS RECIPE CAN BE ALTERED FOR HEALTHIER OPTIONS BY BAKING/ROASTING/TOASTING INGREDIENTS INSTEAD OF FRYING.
2. Wash and cube eggplant, sprinkle with salt and soak in water for at least 30 minutes.
3. Slice onion into thin slivers. Set 3/4 of the onion aside for final prep.
4. Wash and deskin chicken (you can use any cut of chicken, I prefer thigh meat for tenderness). Boil chicken in a pot of water with cardamon, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, and onion slivers. This produces the most aromatic chicken stock and unbelievably flavored chicken!! (** I boil mine for almost 45 minutes so that it’’s so tender it just falls apart. No need to chop it, it just crumbles.**)
5. Combine yogurt, lemon juice (or citric acid), garlic, tahini and water. Whisk until smooth. Refrigerate until final prep.
6. Fry eggplant until golden then set on paper towel to drain excess oil.
7. While eggplant is frying and chicken is boiling, pull parsley leaves from stems and chop parsley roughly. Set aside with onions.
8. Boil garbonzo beans and strain. Keep warm until right before serving.
9. Fry pinenuts in remaining oil until toasty brown.
10. Spread pita pieces on baking pan and bake until toasted at 350?. (No need for this step is using pre-packaged pita chips)
11. FINAL PREP:
12. Layer ingredients in order listed below in a clear glass dish (deeper the better):
13. - toasted pita chips
14. - warm garbonzo beans
15. — (optional) — add salt and pepper to taste here
16. - eggplant
17. - chicken
18. - yogurt mixture
19. - sumak
20. - parsley
21. - pinenuts
22. — (optional) — drizzle melted butter over the entire salad (optional)