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.
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.
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.