Qurutob

Ingredients

• 350 g plain flour for the fatir
• 200 ml warm water
• 1 tsp salt for the dough
• 120 g butter, softened, for layering
• 400 g suzma or thick strained yogurt
• 100 ml warm water for the sauce
• 1 tsp salt for the sauce
• 100 ml sunflower oil
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 cucumber, roughly chopped
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 1 small bunch coriander, torn
• 1 small bunch purple basil, torn
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Before you cook

• Take the butter out early so it is soft enough to spread with your fingers.
• Slice the onions thinly and chop the tomatoes and cucumber into rough chunks.
• Tear the coriander and purple basil leaves off their stalks.
• Whisk the yogurt with the warm water and salt until it is smooth and pourable.

Steps

1. Mix the flour, salt and warm water into a dough and knead it for 6 minutes, no longer, so it stays tender.
2. Cover the dough and rest it for 30 minutes.
3. Heat the oven to 200C fan 180C.
4. Roll the dough out into a large thin rectangle on a floured surface.
5. Spread the softened butter over the whole surface.
6. Cut the sheet lengthways into five strips and roll each strip into a tight snail.
7. Stack the five snails on top of each other and press them down into one lump.
8. Roll the stack out into a disc about 2 cm thick and prick it all over with a fork.
9. Bake the fatir for 25 minutes until golden and crisp at the edges.
10. Warm the salted yogurt in a small pan over a low heat for 5 minutes, stirring so it never boils and splits.
11. Fry the sliced onions in the oil over a medium heat for 8 minutes until deep gold.
12. Tear the warm fatir into rough thumb-sized pieces and pile them into one wide shallow bowl.
13. Pour the warm yogurt over the bread and let it soak in for a minute.
14. Tip the fried onions and all their hot oil over the top.
15. Scatter over the tomato, cucumber, spring onion, coriander, basil and black pepper.
16. Put the bowl in the middle of the table and eat it straight away with your hands, before the bread softens completely.