Ful Medames
The ultimate Egyptian comfort food, ful medamas is now popular throughout the Middle East and North Africa. This is authentically Egyptian, made from the dried fava beans and laced with garlic and cumin. This dish is generally eaten for breakfast or brunch and will fill you up until dinner. Don’t believe me? Give it a try!
Ful Medames
A staple Egyptian breakfast – lovingly and simply called “ful”
Ingredients
Cooking
- 1 kilogram fava beans (small, whole, dried)
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 cup red lentils (split)
- 800 grams canned diced tomato (tinned)
- 8-10 cloves garlic (crushed)
- 2 onions (diced)
- 4 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- 4 teaspoons cooking salt
After Cooking
- 3 cloves garlic (crushed)
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- salt (to taste)
To Serve
- olive oil (to serve)
- 1 medium red onion (diced)
- 4 tomatoes (diced)
- 2 Lebanese cucumbers (diced)
- 1 red capsicum (diced)
- fresh parsley (fresh, chopped, optional)
- fresh mint (chopped, optional)
- fresh coriander (chopped, optional)
- lemon wedges
- eggs (hard-boiled)
- Lebanese bread
- ground cumin
- chilli flakes
- salt
Instructions
- Start the previous morning to have your ful medames (often just called ful) for breakfast the next day. For a 10am brunch, start early the day before. See notes for a timeline for brunch.
- Pick over the beans and discard any discoloured or incomplete beans. Soak the beans in plenty of room temperature water for 12 hours. Do not use boiling or very hot water for soaking.1 kilogram fava beans
- After the 12 hour soak, add the bicarbonate of soda and stir well then let soak for another 60-90 minutes. Do not let the beans soak in the bicarbonated water for longer than 2 hours.½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- Drain the beans and rinse them thoroughly, use your hands to rub the beans a little to remove all the bicarbonate. Place the favas, red lentils, tomato, onion, garlic, cumin, chilli and salt in a large, wide, non-stick pot.1 cup red lentils, 800 grams canned diced tomato, 8-10 cloves garlic, 2 onions, 4 teaspoons ground cumin, 1 teaspoon chilli flakes, 4 teaspoons cooking salt
- Add 3 litres of fresh water to cover by around 7-8 cm. If using a narrower pot, add 2 litres of fresh water only. Bring to a boil then cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for 10-12 hours in a 110-120°C (fan forced or conventional) oven – you can do this overnight as the beans will not need to be stirred. Prepare for the aromas to waft through the whole house – maybe keep some windows open!
- At around the 10 hour mark, remove from the oven, stir in the extra garlic and check the liquid content. At this point you can return it to the oven or finish on the stove, stirring regularly. If the stew is too thick, add boiling water, if too runny, remove the lid for the last hour. My preference is to finish the dish on the stove for easier control.3 cloves garlic
- If you finish the dish on the stove for an hour or two, the stirring is usually enough to mash the beans, otherwise use a potato masher to mash to your preferred consistency.
- Cooked beans may be frozen at this point.
- Before serving, add the lemon juice and salt to taste.4 tablespoons lemon juice, salt
- At the table allow guests to add their own additional olive oil (usually quite a generous serve), cumin, chilli and salt. Serve with chopped red onions, diced fresh tomato, mint, parsley or coriander, lemon wedges, hard-boiled eggs and Lebanese bread.olive oil, 1 medium red onion, 4 tomatoes, 2 Lebanese cucumbers, 1 red capsicum, fresh parsley, fresh mint, fresh coriander, lemon wedges, eggs, Lebanese bread, ground cumin, chilli flakes, salt
Notes
Ful medames literally translates to “buried beans”. Ful means beans but is almost always associated with fava (aka faba) beans (which are broad beans), and historically, the dish was cooked by burying a pot of fava beans in hot coals overnight. This allowed the beans to cook slowly, resulting in a tender, creamy, and stew-like consistency.
Ful medames is always made with dried fava beans, not fresh broad beans. A small fava called ful hammam is used by Egyptians. The larger ful rumi is the kind you find more often in western shops. Middle Eastern and Mediterranean grocers stock the dried beans – look for the small beans.
Red lentils are split – do not use whole lentils in this dish.
Ful Medames is a completely vegan dish and a popular dish for lent. It’s often served with ta’ameya (Egyptian falafel).
Leftover ful can be combined with leftover chopped salad and olive oil for a tasty bean salad. Prepared ful can also be frozen.
Timeline for Sunday Brunch:
9:00am Saturday: Pick over beans and start soaking
9:00pm Saturday: Add bicarb soda and stir
10:15pm Saturday: Rinse the beans and add ingredients to the pot and bring to boil
10:30pm Saturday: Transfer to oven overnight
8:30am Sunday: Remove from oven, add garlic, transfer to stove, chop salad
9:30am Sunday: Ready to serve – leave on low heat if you need to wait!
Nutrition
Calories: 464kcalCarbohydrates: 82gProtein: 33gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0.4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.5gSodium: 1138mgPotassium: 1704mgFibre: 34gSugar: 12gVitamin A: 1051IUVitamin C: 39mgCalcium: 175mgIron: 10mg
