Egyptian ‘pita’ (aish baladi) with ta’ameya
It is a pita bread but yet its not. It is a falafel but yet its not. Know more as I walk you through this lesser known bread and its stuffing.
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So, let’s understand the comparison between pita bread and aish baladi before I get to the
other components of this recipe.
| Pita bread | Aish baladi | |
| Origins | Middle east and Mediterranean countries | Egypt (aish means “life” and baladi means “traditional”) |
| Looks | Round flatbread with a pocket | Round flatbread with a pocket |
| Taste | Soft | Soft and nuttier |
| Ingredients | Is made with whole wheat flour as well as plain flour | Was made with emmer, a specific variety of wheat in ancient times. Now the whole wheat flour is used with bran and all |
| Used for | To stuff meat/vegetables/falafel (that is made with chickpeas) and to scoop hummus and other sauces | To stuff meat/vegetables/ ta’ameya (that is made with fava beans) and to scoop tahini and other sauces |
| Cooking technique | Peel, a shovel like tool is used to slide the pita in the high oven temperature that allows the dough to expand and generate steam that helps to form the signature interior pocket it is known for | Peel, a shovel like tool covered with bran is used to slide the aish baladi in the high oven temperature that allows the dough to expand and generate steam that helps to form the signature pocket is it known for |
I first learnt about ta’ameya from my sister’s late mother in law who spent her childhood in Sudan. Unlike falafel which is primarily made of chickpeas, ta’ameya is made of fava beans. She would put dill (suva bhaji) while grinding the fava beans which gave it a unique aroma and flavour. Served with tahini sauce and a side of cucumber salad, it was lip smacking delicious. My recipe of ta’ameya is an adaptation of her recipe with few changes.
Going back to aish baladi, after a lot of research and trials I finally have this recipe for you that has a combination of whole wheat bread (atta) combined with dalia (cracked wheat). The addition of broken/cracked/bulgar wheat to the whole wheat flour make the aish baladi not only nutty and flavourful but highly nutritious too. Also, I have cooked this bread on a skillet as well as on the on the skillet. I did a short video on cooking these breads on the skillet and is saved under aish baladi in the highlights of my Instagram account if you wish to have a look.
Lastly, if you have any leftover bread, do make this flavorful middle eastern salad, Fattoush, the recipe of which you can find it here. You will love it!
And yes, you are still on a food blog!!! But this comparison/information is essential to understand the difference between the falafel wrap that is world famous vs the lesser known Egyptian ‘falafel’ wrap recipe down below. I hope you will make and enjoy this as much as I do.
If you enjoyed this recipe, you may like these too.
Recipe Card
Egyptian ‘pita’ (aish baladi) with ta’ameya
Recipe Rating
AUTHOR
Hema B Kathrani
CUISINE
Fusion
PREP TIME
3 hours + overnight soaking
COOK TIME
1.30 hours
SERVINGS
makes 15 wraps
Author: Hema B Kathrani | Cuisine: Fusion | Category: Mains
Prep Time: 3 hours + overnight soaking | Cook Time: 1.30 hours | Servings: makes 15 wraps
It is a pita bread but yet its not. It is a falafel but yet its not. Know more as I walk you through this lesser known bread and its stuffing.
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- For aish baladi:
- To activate the yeast: 100 ml warm water + 1 tbsp sugar + 1 ½ tsp instant yeast
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- ½ cup cracked wheat (dalia), fine
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp oil
- 140 ml water
- Whole wheat flour for dusting
- Cracked wheat to garnish (optional)
- For hummus:
- 1 cup chickpea, soaked overnight
- ½ tsp baking soda (optional)
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 garlic cloves + 2 garlic cloves
- 3 green chilies
- 1 ½ tbsp lemon juice
- Salt to taste
- For ta’ameya:
- 2 cups fava beans soaked overnight
- ¾ cup dill leaves
- ½ cup green onions
- 5 green chilies
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp coriander-cumin powder
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- Salt to taste
- Sesame seeds for coating (optional)
- Oil for frying
- Tahini sauce:
- 3 cups thick yogurt
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- ½ tsp red chili flakes
- 4 tbsp tahini paste
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt to taste
- Salad suggestions:
- Shredded cabbage + finely chopped green onion
- Marinated cucumber (cucumber + salt + honey)
- Marinated beet (beet + salt + lemon juice)
- Marinated chili peppers (peppers + salt + lemon juice)
Method
- Make aish baladi:
- The dough:
- In a bowl, mix 100 ml of warm water, sugar and instant yeast. Stir well.
- Keep it aside till the mix becomes frothy.
- In a big bowl, combine flour, cracked wheat, salt, oil and mix well.
- Add the activated yeast, additional 180 ml water and mix.
- Transfer the sticky dough to a clean counter surface and knead for 10 minutes until you have a soft and pliable dough (Use a bench scraper to help you knead as it will be sticky dough)
- Place it in a greased bowl and cover it for an hour or until it doubles.
- Shaping the dough:
- Once the dough has risen, gently deflate the dough and transfer it to a clean counter surface.
- Divide the dough in 15 equal parts.
- Roll one part at a time (keeping other parts covered) in a 4 ½ inches circle using little whole wheat flour to help you along the way.
- Place the roll on a grease proof paper dusted with cracked wheat.
- Repeat the process with the remaining dough.
- Cover the rolled breads and keep it aside for second proofing for 30 minutes.
- Option 1: Cooking aish baladi on the skillet: (look at option 2 if you wish to cook in the oven and skip this step)
- Heat a cast iron skillet on high flame till you see fumes coming off the pan.
- Lower the flame and then pick one of the rolled breads in your hand along with the paper.
- Carefully flip the bread on the skillet without the paper and almost immediately, with a help of a spatula flip the bread again.
- Bring the flame to medium high and watch the magic happen.
- It will start to balloon slowly from one side extending till it covers the entire bread. This whole process takes a little over 1 minute.
- Carefully again with the help of a spatula, lift the bread off the skillet and put it aside to cool.
- Let it cool completely before cutting in the middle to expose the pocket.
- Repeat the process with the remaining bread ensuring that when you put the bread on, the flame is on low and then to medium high once you flip.
- Also do clean the cast iron skillet with a kitchen paper towel to remove excess flour/cracked wheat before putting in the next bread.
- Keep aish baladi covered in a clean napkin till ready to eat.
- Option 2: Cooking aish baladi in the oven:
- Place a cast iron skillet on the wire rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 230 C for at least 20 minutes.
- Pick the bread along with the paper so that to avoid any cracks or tear.
- Carefully place the bread on the skillet without the paper
- Close the oven door and wait till it balloons up. This would take anytime from 2-3 minutes.
- Open the door and carefully lift the bread out of the skillet.
- Repeat the process with the remaining breads.
- Depending on the size of the skillet, you can put 2-3 pita at a time. However, do keep 2-inch space between the bread to help them rise properly.
- The dough:
- Hummus:
- Pressure cook overnight soaked chickpea with 1 tsp salt, baking soda (optional) and 3 garlic cloves till tender.
- In a blender, combine 2 garlic cloves, green chilies, lemon juice along with the chickpea mix till smooth and creamy.
- Adjust the seasoning and the consistency of the sauce to your liking
- Ta’ameya:
- Making the mix:
- In a blender, grind dill leaves, onions, chilies, garlic and salt in a paste.
- Add fava beans in parts and grind again till you have a coarse paste.
- Do not add any water while grinding, the water released from the herb paste will be enough to grind the fava beans.
- Add cumin-coriander powder and baking powder to the mix and grind for few more seconds.
- Adjust the salt to your taste.
- Frying the balls:
- In a pan, bring the oil to heat on medium flame.
- Shape the fava beans mix in 1-inch ball. Flatten it slightly and roll it in sesame seeds (optional).
- Carefully, fry the balls in the oil (only 4-5 balls at a time) till golden brown.
- Remove with a slotted spoon and drain it on a kitchen paper towel.
- Making the mix:
- Tahini sauce:
- In a bowl, whisk thick yogurt, grated garlic, tahini paste and salt.
- Combine lemon juice and whisk till smooth and creamy.
- Sprinkle or swirl the red chili flakes
- To assemble:
- Cut open aish baladi in half to expose the inner pocket.
- Layer the inner pocket with hummus.
- Put two ta’ameya (I like to crush them slightly), cucumber slices and beet slices
- Drizzle it generously with tahini sauce
- Add the cabbage + onions mix over the sauce and serve immediately.
Notes
- Ta’ameya freezes very well. I often make a big batch and freeze to use for next falafel meal.
- If for any reason, your fava beans mix is wet, add some chickpea flour to bring it to the shaping consistency. However, do note that you might have to add a bit more baking powder otherwise the balls will be dense. Also, keeping the balls in the fridge for some time might help in holding their shape.
- Each flour is different. Add 1 tbsp of water at a time if the dough is dry or add 1 tbsp of flour at a time if the dough is wet.
- No matter how many times I have made pita bread or aish baladi, there are always these 2-3 which does not rise. But don’t get disheartened. Use it to scoop the hummus or tahini sauce or make chips out of it to make the Fattoush salad as I mentioned earlier.
- Over a period of time, from the mistakes I have learnt that:
- It is important to roll the breads uniformly
- Work with the bread gently to avoid marks or tears of any kind.
- The fuming hot cast iron pan has given me the best result when I start at a low flame and go on to the medium flame when I cook these breads on the skillet.
- I have made hummus with and without baking soda. My conclusion: if the chickpeas are of a good quality, pressure cooking gives equally soft chickpeas without any baking soda. However, if the chickpeas are old, adding soda gives a softer cooked chickpea and therefore a creamy hummus.
- For the accompanying salads, these are my suggestions. However, you can add as much or as little as you like and make it customizable to your liking.
- I did a short video on cooking these breads on the skillet as well as the oven and is saved under ‘pita bread’ in the highlights of my Instagram account if you wish to have a look.
- I use US cup measurement which is 1 cup = 235 ml
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Let me know how this recipe turned out for you by writing to me in the comments below. And if you take a picture, please tag me on my instagram handle @acookwithin 
to share your creation😊 It would make my day!
10 thoughts on “Egyptian ‘pita’ (aish baladi) with ta’ameya”
Thank you for this recipe- I really enjoyed making these (wish I could uplaod a photo on here!). Had to make a couple of subs/tweaks:
1. I used all whole wheat bread flour (had no fine cracked wheat)
2. Sifted a cup of the whole wheat flour to separate out the bran, which I then dipped the dough balls into before rolling out, which gave the breads a lovely rough exterior
3. After final proof, i quickly transferred to preheated tray by hand and they still puffed right up beautifully (first time luck!)
Was transported back to Cairo with these and so pleased to have a recipe that works!
Hello Tanyeem, it is wonderful to know that the recipe worked for you. Nothing like food to transport us to back in time!! It was a wonderful idea to sift and use the bran. Genius! 🙂 Thank you so much for taking out time to write the feedback. It made my day 🙂
Thank you so much Hema for the yummy pita bread you made for us yesterday. We had it with butter chicken. The pita was very soft and it tasted fantastic with the curry. 💕
Thank you so much for your feedback Apsara 🙂
Thanks Hema for amazing Pita breads. They were so soft and fresh and best part just wheat. Next time I will try Dalia one. 👏👏
So happy to hear the feedback Nikita. Thank you for trying the recipe 🙂
Hi Hema , I tried the pita bread. It came out very well. Had a 60 percent fluff up rate..I ha e used a cast iron tawa and followed your instructions to the T..only deviation being I rolled the breads and put them on a greased counter instead of a baking paper and lifted them with a broad spatula to move to the pan. One reason I can think of not having your kind of fluff is perhaps consistency in rolling and some shift in consistency while lifting from the counter and placing on the pan. Any other reasons ? Nonetheless we enjoyed the pita pockets thoroughly with falafel, hummus and tabouleh !
Hi Kanchan,
I am glad the recipe worked out for you. Pita/aish baladi bread is ‘temperamental’ 🙂 I have made so many times and yet haven’t had full 100% fluff up rate. The reason why I suggested baking/grease proof paper is because post second proofing, the bread is extremely fragile and its best not to touch it at all. Transferring it from the counter to the skillet could have affected the fluffing. Nevertheless, I think 60% is a great rate to start off with.
Hema – How much yeast do I use if I am using instant yeast ? i.e., adding directly to the flour without blooming.
Hi kanchan, I use instant yeast (just edited that, thanks to you 🙂 ) too but have learnt with several failed attempts that its better to activate it first. Its better to check any yeast’s potency before wasting a whole lot of flour amongst other things. And that is also the reason why I split the liquid ratio, especially if I am working with milk.