Egypt: ful medames

From our last stop in Serbia, we head southeast across the sea and find ourselves in Egypt. Today, we prepare ful medames (pronounced like fool), an ancient fava bean dish. While the dish has likely been made for thousands of years and is incredibly popular across Northern Africa, the Levant, and the Horn of Africa, ful has become one of Egypt’s national dishes. Ful medames is one of my own favourites to serve when having people over; a more exciting dip than hummus for sure. Read on to learn more about this unique dish or jump straight to the recipe.

Egypt has a very long history, dating back some 10 millennia, and has a population of over 100 million people. In other words, the large variety of dishes found in Egyptian cuisine is no suprise. Many of the dishes you find today are familiar from Arabic countries and the Levant ​[1], [2]​. You will find local versions of fatteh – the pita chip and yoghurt dish we made when visiting Syria, fattoush (a salad with toasted pita bread), hummus and baba ghanoush (roasted eggplant dip). One very unique and interesting dish I’m keen on trying is kushari or koshary. This street food is a mix of rice, lentils, and macaroni, topped with spicy tomato sauce and fried onions ​[3], [4]​.

In the vegan world, Egypt’s biggest claim to fame might be the invention of falafel which first appeared in Egyptian literature in the late 19th century ​[5]​. But Egyptian falafel is not what you’re used to. It is called ta’miya, is flat and is made from fava beans ​[6]​. Which brings us to the hero of today’s post: the fava bean.

Fava beans – one of our first crops

Fava beans are as old as agriculture and were probably domesticated around 8-9000 B.C.E ​[7], [8]​, somewhere in the Fertile Crescent – the region around the Euphrat and Tigris, the Levant, and the Nile from where so many of our modern-day crops and domesticated animals originate ​[9]​. Fava beans have been an important staple in this region ever since and have been used as a main source of protein for millennia. Already around 8000 B.C.E. there is archeological evidence of large-scale fava bean farming in the Galilee ​[8]​.

Ful medames – an ancient dish

The Egyptian dish ful medames has historically been a very popular way of cooking fava beans. The name is derived from words for beans and buried, referring to the ancient way of cooking them: by burying the fava beans in a pot of water in or under the remnants of fire and letting them simmer overnight, ready to be consumed for breakfast the next day. The method likely dates back to ancient Egypt and fava beans have been found in tombs from around 2000-1800 B.C.E though it is not clear if the beans were grown locally or how they were cooked ​[10]​. The way of preparing ful medames by burying beans in pots is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud, written around 400 C.E ​[11], [12]​.

One example of historical ingenuity can be found in 11th century Cairo ​[10]​. The public baths used massive fires to heat bath water during the day and rather than wasting the rare fuel, some entrepreneurial spirit decided to use the embers to cook fava beans overnight and prepare foul for Cairo’s hungry morning crowd. An energy-saving scheme we could learn from today.

Variations of ful medames

Ful medames has spread across North Africa, the Levant and the Horn of Africa and has been changed during the process, creating regional varieties. In Morocco, ful medames is known as bessara and is made from shelled fava beans and made to be much runnier, sometimes even eaten with a spoon ​[13]​. In Somalia, ful often uses the local spice blend xawash which we encountered during our visit to Somalia ​​[14]​. Somalia’s neighbour Ethiopia also spice up the local ful medames with the local spice blends berbere and mitmita ​[15]​.

Recipe for Egyptian ful medames

The recipe for ful medames I’ve shared below is a mix and some trial and error of a wide range of ful medames recipes I’ve come across. Apart from the different national and regional varieties discussed above, finding one, single way of cooking ful medames is hard. Here I’ve tried to capture some common themes and used my own judgment a bit. Garlic, olive oil, cumin, tomato, lemon juice, and parsley are pretty much always present. Sometimes onion accompanies the garlic, sometimes not. Chopped chilies or chili flakes can be added as well for a spicier version, some cucumbers for extra crunch ​[16]​ or a dollop of tahini for extra richness ​[17], [18]​. Some people like adding chickpeas as well ​[19]​ and sometimes a hard boiled egg joins the beans at time of serving.

These are all just small variations. To me, the real divide comes down to if the vegetables are added fresh to the fava beans after boiling them ​[12], [20], [21]​, boiled with the beans, or fried before adding. The chefs that fry their vegetables usually only frythe garlic and onions ​[11], [18], [22], [23]​ but some cooks also fry chilies and even tomatoes​[23]–[25]​.

I opted to go for the approach of adding the vegetables fresh after boiling the fava beans with just salt and cumin. Usually, the vegetables are just added on top but I prefer to stir part of them into the dish as well, to make sure they don’t run out before the beans.

Conclusion

Ful medames is a delicious dish. Rich, creamy, with fresh tomato, raw garlic, and nice acidity from the lemon. The fava beans themselves lend a mild, funky taste and smell almost a bit fermented, like fermented bean paste. Ful medames is a dish I’ve made several times now and served to multiple people, all of whom are excited to learn of a new hummus style dip to enjoy at social gatherings. So far, everyone I’ve served ful medames to have found the dish really tasty and exciting. I always try to keep some fava beans in my apartment, you never know when you feel like ful.

Join us again in two weeks as we continue exploring the world’s different cuisines and find or create vegan classic meals from across the world. If you sign up for the email list, I will send you an email when we reach our next destination.

Egyptian ful medames

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Ful medames

Ful medames is an ancient way of preparing fava beans across the Levant and North and East Africa. The beans are boiled and mixed with garlic, lemon, parsley and tomato to create a delicious breakfast for any time of day. Enjoy warm with pita bread.

Course Breakfast

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours

Soaking beans 12 hours hours

Servings 4

Ingredients

• 200 g fava beans, dried, soaked overnight, ~300 mL

  Or 1 can boiled beans see note

• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 50 mL olive oil
• 1 tomato
• 50 mL chopped parsley
• 2 cloves garlic
• ½ juice from half lemon
• 1 green chili, finely chopped optional
• salt to taste

Instructions

• If using dried beans, soak overnight. Cover in water, add salt and cumin.

  Bring to a boil and let simmer for 2+ h, until the beans are soft and tender. Check regularly and add water if needed.
• If using canned beans, add them to a pot with their liquid and bring to a simmer. Add cumin and salt to taste. Simmer for 10 minutes.
• While the beans are boiling or reheating. Prepare the sauce.

  Crush the garlic using a mortar and pestle or a garlic press. Mix with chopped tomato, parsley, olive oil, and lemon. Add chili if using.
• When the beans are ready, drain them and reserve the liquid. Using a fork or potato masher, mash the beans. Add back the reserved cooking liquid until you have a good texture.
• Stir in 1/3 of the tomato and parsley mixture. Plate the full medames in a bowl and add the rest of the tomato mixture on top.

  Serve warm with pita bread.

Notes

Note on fava beans: There are both large and small fava beans. For this dish, get small fava beans if you can. These are large than kidney beans but the large fava beans are even larger. This time, I only found the large fava beans so those are the ones pictured here.
If you find canned beans, you can use them instead of boiling your own as well.

If you can’t find fava beans, romana beans are a decent substitute, but kidney beans and black beans are not. They don’t have as much flavour.

References