It is hard to understate the amount of ful medames I consumed while living in Egypt. Nearly every weekday morning I stopped by the office cafe and picked up a Ful sandwich before settling into work. It’s a hearty, rib-sticking way to start the day, filling enough that I often cruised through my lunch break and only realized I was hungry when it was time to head home!
Ful medames, or just ful (alternatively spelled fuul or foul), is a common breakfast and lunch/brunch dish of fava beans cooked with spices and oil. It’s served in countless variations across the Arab and African region. The simplest is whole favas cooked with cumin al dente and drizzled with olive oil, but many versions mash the cooked fava beans to a puree, adding garlic and more cumin, and topping with with fresh tomatoes, onion, parsley, and garlicky tahini sauce. Egyptians love to add eggs, either a hard-boiled egg on the side or scrambling an egg directly into the hot ful. As an Austinite, the latter made complete sense to me, as refried bean, egg, and cheese tacos are a local breakfast taco favorite. Omar and I often daydream about starting a ful food truck – mainly because the pun possibilities are endless. Ful House, Ful of it, I Pita the Ful…the list goes on as long as your eyes can roll!
There are completely decent brands of canned, ready-to-heat ful medames available in Middle Eastern grocery stores (we like the Tazah brand with chilis) but it’s a fun, not particularly difficult weekend brunch project. The recipe below is very forgiving – I’ve adapted the long, slow-simmering method (sometimes overnight!) to an hour and 30 minutes in the Instant Pot. Once the favas are cooked, you can either mash them in the pot with your desired spices and veggies, or go refried beans style for extra depth of flavor – saute tomatoes, onions, and garlic with cumin in a skillet and add the cooked favas, mashing to the texture of your choice. If you can remember to soak the favas before you go to sleep, you can have a pot of tasty, tender ful by brunch o’clock the next morning.
For this recipe, I used giant fava beans but you can use any dried brown favas. The smaller sized favas will be cook softer and be easier to mash, while the larger sizes will produce a ful with more texture and “bite”. Its really up to your preference! We are always extra when it comes to ful, so we had ours with fried eggs, extra tomato, onion, parsley, olive oil, arugula and a lemony green tahini sauce to drizzle on the top. I also successfully made pita for the first time and will be sharing that recipe soon!
Ful Medames with Green Tahini Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried fava beans
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cumin, or to taste
- 2 tbsp olive oil, plus more to serve
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped, plus more to serve
- 1 ripe tomato, chopped, plus more to serve
- 1 chopped red or green chili, deseeded if desired (optional)
- 2-4 cloves garlic, divided, or more to taste
- 1/2 cup parsley, divided
- 1/2 cup tahini
- 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice
Directions
- The night before you want to make the ful, soak fava beans in enough water to cover by 1 inch with 1 tsp baking soda.
- Drain and rinse the favas. Add to the Instant Pot and add 5 cups of water. Cook on high pressure (the bean setting is fine) for 1 hr and 30 minutes. (Do NOT add salt at this point, cooking beans with salt makes them tough!)
- When 10 minutes are left in the cooking time, add olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, tomato, and pepper (if using), and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add 1-2 cloves garlic and cumin and cook for 1 minute.
- Scoop cooked favas from the Instant Pot into the skillet with about half a cup of the cooking liquid. Cook and mash with a potato masher or fork to desired consistency. Add salt to taste. Reduce to low heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes to let flavors meld.
- Make the tahini sauce. In a blender or food processor, combine the tahini, lemon juice, 1-2 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup parsley, and 2 tbsp water and blend until smooth. Adjust the thickness with more lemon juice or water until desired consistency is achieved – I prefer the texture of heavy whipping cream.
- Remove to a serving bowl or individual bowls and top with more olive oil, chopped parsley, and more chopped tomatoes and onions if desired. Serve tahini alongside. See below for more suggested accompaniments.
That looks fantastic!