Egyptian Fool Fava Beans Traditional Breakfast Food

EGYPTIAN FOOL (FAVA BEANS) TRADITIONAL BREAKFAST

Steps:

• Chop up a small onion with a bit of oil and sauté in small pot until tender, remove from heat.
• Open can of fava beans and dump into pot, along with juices, do not drain.
• Take a potato smasher and smash up the fava beans. I leave a few whole, but basically smash up most of them.
• Add salt, ground cumin and cayenne pepper to your liking.
• Squeeze juice of lemon into pot.
• Add a splash of olive oil.
• Heat just to boil and then that's it.
• Spoon some beans into a flat bowl, splash some oil on top of them. I like to add the following garnish, but you can leave garnish out and just eat that way they are just as yummy too.
• This is something I do sometimes to this dish as well-MY SPECIAL GARNISH. 1. Chop a few slices of red onion fine. 2. Chop a small (or half) green bell pepper finely. 3. Chop a handful of black olive slices finely. 4. Chop a small tomato finely. 5. A little bit of chopped parsley 6. Drizzle of tahina.
• Okay now you add all these finely chopped veggies around the bowl edge and finish off with a drizzle of tahina in middle of bowl. Looks beautiful! Then i mix all together and eat it mixed up!

FUL MEDAMES

Steps:

• As the cooking time varies depending on the quality and age of the beans, it is good to cook them in advance and to reheat them when you are ready to serve. Cook the drained beans in a fresh portion of unsalted water in a large saucepan with the lid on until tender, adding water to keep them covered, and salt when the beans have softened. They take 2-2 1/2 hours of gentle simmering. When the beans are soft, let the liquid reduce. It is usual to take out a ladle or two of the beans and to mash them with some of the cooking liquid, then stir this back into the beans. This is to thicken the sauce.
• Serve the beans in soup bowls sprinkled with chopped parsley and accompanied by Arab bread.
• Pass round the dressing ingredients for everyone to help themselves: a bottle of extra-virgin olive oil, the quartered lemons, salt and pepper, a little saucer with the crushed garlic, one with chili-pepper flakes, and one with ground cumin.
• The beans are eaten gently crushed with the fork, so that they absorb the dressing.
• Optional Garnishes
• Peel hard-boiled eggs-1 per person-to cut up in the bowl with the beans.
• Top the beans with a chopped cucumber-and-tomato salad and thinly sliced mild onions or scallions. Otherwise, pass round a good bunch of scallions and quartered tomatoes and cucumbers cut into sticks.
• Serve with tahina cream sauce (page 65) or salad (page 67), with pickles and sliced onions soaked in vinegar for 30 minutes.
• Another way of serving ful medames is smothered in a garlicky tomato sauce (see page 464).
• In Syria and Lebanon, they eat ful medames with yogurt or feta cheese, olives, and small cucumbers.
• Variations
• A traditional way of thickening the sauce is to throw a handful of red lentils (1/4 cup) into the water at the start of the cooking.
• In Iraq, large brown beans are used instead of the small Egyptian ones, in a dish called badkila, which is also sold for breakfast in the street.

FOOL NABED - FAVA BEAN SOUP (EGYPTIAN)

Steps:

• Soak fava beans overnight.
• Drain fava beans and save water.
• Peel the skins from the fava beans and place the beans in large saucepan.
• Measure 6 cups of soaking water and add to the fava beans.
• Bring to a boil on medium high heat.
• Reduce heat to medium and cook for 45 minutes, or until beans are soft.
• Once beans are tender, remove beans from heat and puree in a blender.
• Return pureed fava beans to saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Add water if needed.
• Stir in cumin, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil and bring to a second boil.
• Simmer for 5 minutes. Serve in a bowl and sprinkle parsley on top.