Egyptian recipe
How to make Ful medames
فول مدمس
All of Egypt, the classic breakfast
Small brown fava beans cooked slowly until very soft, then mashed with olive oil, cumin, garlic and lemon. It is eaten at breakfast with bread, pickles and salad, and traditionally cooked in and served from a large metal pot. It is often called one of Egypt's national dishes.
Ingredients
- 2 tins (about 400 g each) ful medames or fava beans, with their liquid
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt
- To serve: chopped parsley, chopped tomato, sliced spring onion, chilli, pickles and warm flatbread
Method
- Tip the beans and their liquid into a pan and simmer for about 10 minutes, adding a splash of water if they look dry.
- Mash them roughly with a fork or potato masher, leaving some beans whole.
- Stir in the garlic, cumin, lemon juice and salt to taste.
- Spoon into a bowl, pour over the olive oil and top with parsley and tomato. Serve with bread for scooping, spring onion, chilli and pickles. Important: people with G6PD deficiency (favism) must not eat fava beans.
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In medieval Cairo, beans were left to simmer all night in huge pots over the embers of the fires that heated the public baths, ready for the city's breakfast.
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