Middle Eastern "nachos"

This recipe is inspired by my favorite YouTube creator, Beryl Shereshewsky. She invites people from around the globe to share their cherished recipes, recreating these dishes while showcasing diverse voices. Her respectful, thoughtful, yet humorous approach makes her a joy to watch, and I've learned so much from her content.

In a recent video, Beryl highlighted five global chickpea recipes, including Lebanese fatteh. This dish features pita chips topped with garlic yogurt sauce and chickpeas. Impressively, she fried her own pita chips. As she was trying the dish, which she says has become one of her favorites, she commented that this could be a very easy recipe to throw together with staple fridge and pantry items, including store-bought pita chips. This inspired me to riff on this idea and create a simple recipe.

We had a lot of Middle Eastern ingredients on hand already, so I went a little wild with the toppings. It turned out to be a really easy, fun, and satisfying meal that is going to become a staple in our home.  

Here are ideas for constructing your own:

Pita chips: I used store-bought pita chips. I learned the hard way that whole pita chips were too unwieldy and, well, hard. Now I crumble them up into bite-sized pieces. Have an extra few seconds? It's even better if you heat them up in the toaster oven or microwave.

Yogurt sauce: The traditional sauce is 1 cup yogurt, 1-2 cloves minced garlic, salt to taste, and optionally, 2 T tahini, 1 T lemon juice mixed together. However, I had store-bought tzatziki in the fridge, which includes a lot of the components of the yogurt sauce, plus fresh cucumbers, so I decided to throw that in instead. 

Green tahini sauce: Because my husband and I love cilantro, we decided to make a cilantro tahini sauce that was a lovely, creamy, tangy, herbaceous addition. I made the sauce by blending 1/2 cup tahini, 1 bunch cilantro (leaves and stems), 2 cloves garlic, 3 T lemon juice, a few T warm water if needed to loosen, and salt to taste.

As I wrote this, I realized that I could combine these two sauces and make an herbaceous yogurt sauce instead. Next time I'll try this: 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup tahini, one bunch cilantro or parsley, 3 T lemon juice, 2 cloves garlic, blended.

Chickpeas: I took one can of chickpeas, drained, and stirred in 1/2 t cumin and 1/2 teaspoon of paprika, then microwaved it until hot. I then stirred in some lemon juice and olive oil. However, I think if you just had hummus on hand, you could plop some little blobs of that instead.

Fresh veggies: I added lots of fresh ingredients to the point where it was almost salad-like, including diced red onions and tomatoes. 

Optional, less traditional extras: We are huge fans of halloumi, so we sauteed some halloumi cubes. The little halloumi "croutons" were a lovely, creamy, salty addition. You could use crumbled feta instead or omit cheese altogether. I also added pepperoncini and kalamata olives to give it some brininess. 

Finishing seasoning: Finally, add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and seasonings like flaky salt, red pepper flakes, and sumac, a beautiful, burgundy, sour spice, if you have it on hand. This ensures the fresh vegetables are seasoned properly.

I hope you have fun playing around with this idea and creating your perfect Middle Eastern nachos!