This month I have been Globe Trotting not physically but Cuisinewise! Some days ago we were in Thailand, then this week in Orissa.
My kitchen has been witnessing a lot of experiments these days thanks to some challenging events going in the blogosphere. (I have become a slave to these Blog -events now!)
This time I am traveling all the way to the Middle East to Egypt-All thanks to Glenna of A Fridge Full of Foods. We are in search of ‘Ethnic Dishes’and she has asked us ‘to make a dish from a culture, country, or ethnicity other than our own’.
So this Columbus/ion her culinary expedition has landed in Egypt– the ancient, mystic land of Pharaohs and Pyramids.
Here I discovered a National favourite –‘Ful Medames’ (Ful -Egyptian word for beans usually fava beans, and medames meaning buried -hinting at the original cooking method, which involved burying a sealed pot of water and beans under hot coals.)
Traditionally this recipe, consists of Fava beansslow-cooked in a copper pot that have been partially or completely mashed.
This is the first time I have ventured into Egyptian cuisineor cuisine of the Middle East for that Matter.
I turned my city upside down in search of Fava Beans– no one even knows what they are! It is something like ‘Wal beans’ we get here, which also I did not get at this time of the year.I took a printout of some photos of Fava beans so that at least I would find some canned beans in the local Malls. But I couldn’t find them. L
I had already made up my mind to make Ful Medames, so I settled for some Red Beans. (I also bought a can of green Lima beansin the bargain, with which I have no clue what to do..maybe I will team it up with some pasta!)
I referred mainly to this recipe and browsed through many other recipes for Ful Medames and ended up making some adjustments to suit our taste and ingredients.
I have twisted the original Ful Madamesrecipe due to the lack of availability of ingredients –it might not be the same as it is made on the streets of Egyptbut the end result was very good
I will repost the recipe once I get hold of Fava Beans!
I made my own Whole wheat Pita Bread, which is normally eaten with Ful Medames(here again I had no choice since Pita bread is not readily available) This recipe I have borrowed from the Masterchefs-Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi. Thank youMaster bakersfor this wonderful recipe with Wheat flour.
Thank you Glenna, I gained an insight into various other cuisines while searching for some really traditional breakfast recipes around the world!
Ful Medames with Pita Bread, eggs, onions and lemon wedges for this month’s WBB # 14 ‘Ethnic dishes with a twist’ hosted byGlenna
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Ful Medames recipe
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~ 2 cups Red Beans (actually Fava beans) soaked overnight
- 1 onion chopped
- 6 - 7 pods garlic peeled and crushed
- 2 tsp cumene powder roasted and crushed
- 7 - 8 peppercorns roasted and crushed
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 2 - 3 tbsp Olive oil
- few freshcoriander leaves chopped (you can use mint leaves if you have)
- to taste Salt
- Pita Bread
- Cook the beans till they become soft . (They are actually cooked in a pan for~45-50 minutes.) I pressure cooked them for about 30 minutes.
- Sautxe9 the garlic and chopped onion in a little oil for few seconds (this is for people who donu2019t like raw onion/garlic like me)
- Mash the cooked beans with the back of a wooden spatula.
- Add the sautxe9ed onion-garlic.
- Add the crushed cumene seeds and crushed peppercorns.
- Add the lemon juice, salt and olive oil. Mix nicely.
- Serve on a platter with sliced onion, sliced egg, lime wedges and Pita Bread
Note: I alsoadded chili flakes and blanched tomatoes to a portion of the above version of Ful Medames. Chili lovers will prefer this version.
i love ful mudammes. thanks for the recipe. i have four packets of frozen favas (fresh) in the freezer.
ful mudammes is with dried, i guess. we get favas in cans too. the fresh are my fav kind of beans. they are also very popular in italian cuisine.
her’s a link to what a fresh fava bean looks like
http://www.fava-beans.com/Fava_Beans.htm
and here’s dried
http://www.fava-beans.com/Yellow-fava-beans.jpg
even fava bean flour is quite popular in these regions.
glad you enjoyed the pitas. if you want lighter pitas with 100% whole wheat flour, replace 2 tablespoons of the flour with cornstarch.
madhuli, with dried lima beans, you can try something along these lines.
http://thecookscottage.typepad.com/curry/2006/09/butter_beans_do.html
with canned you can cook it indian-style like any beans (like chana or black-eyed peas)
@ Thanks bee for all those links and info. I know Double Beans so now i know what to do with the lima beans. thanks again for that info on Pita Bread.
Yes you need dried fava beans for Ful MedamesAnd Bee 4 packets..not fair.I have been hunting for them here.send one to me right away! 🙂
II am not sure, i thgought fava beans you can replace with chick pea.
I was in Egypt last year for three weeks for holiday and it was a holiday to remember
@ Yes I thought of chickpeas but I had a stock of red beans and the colour is at least coose to the actaul Fava beans!
Applause 🙂 That’s really nice Madhuli… I agree with you… blogging makes us globetrot within the confines of our kitchens 🙂
@ Thanks Raaga. Yes and You learn a lot from these adventures!
That platter looks very appetizing! And the bean mixture looks tasty enough to be used in different ways.
My favorite way to use lima beans: in combination with eggplant in a simple bhaji. Somehow those tastes wok well together for me.
@ Thanks Nupur for that tip with eggplant!
WOW!! This is really a good hearty breakfast to have in the morning!! I think in most tropical countries, we do feel hungry enough to eat these like we do full breakfast in India! Great entry girl:))
@ Yep we truly believe in “Breakfast like a king’ 🙂 Thanks Asha
this one look nice for a spiced up breakfast…..but would prefer it without eggs
@ Bhags the beans are so delicious that you can do without the eggs!
My fav cuisine. Well I say that about all good food 😀
But seems easy to make and hearty meal, too!
@ Madam thankyou for visitng! finally!
Here in Dubai, ful is spelt as “foul”” . An English guy asked how can you have food that’s called foul? 🙂
@ Yes I came across a lot of different spellings for it. I went by the one in Wiki! 🙂
Hey Madhuli,
great job, I was planning to make that too for the round up, since it was something with quite Indian kinda ingredients…but ended up making something from North Africa…
Will try this out sometime when I have pita break on hand
Cheers
@ Cheers Nandita! 🙂 Would love to see your version too! Yes I have bookmarked your Farka recipe!
This is quite new to me Madhuli…. looks mouthwatering…. will try it out sometime:)
Perfect! Thank you so much for participating. I’m glad you’re like me. Sometimes I just get an idea in my head of something I’m going to make and even if I can’t find the exact ingredients I make it anyway substituting what I have to. I think there’s a kind of creative stretch to that kind of thinking that’s very fulfilling.
You can purchase Fava Beans from ANY middle eastern or Lebanese grocer. They should all carry them. Fava Beans are my FAVORITE, and I never have trouble finding them!
@ Thanks for that Info Amy
I came across this page as I was just prowling around looking for recipes that might use broad bean flour, as I have purchased a grain mill and am about to start grinding everything in sight. I have some info about broad beans that might help.
We grow a lot of broad beans every year, and they are so easy to grow, as well as being great for your garden. You put the seeds into the ground then leave them alone. I uploaded a photo of this year’s crop on my blog – they’re the big leafy plants at the back.
http://cathwood.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
Our kitchen table is currently covered with the mostly dried pods, which we pulled out of the garden yesterday. It’s a bit of a job removing the beans from the shells, but it yields a couple of bags that we can use throughout the year. Very satisfying.
If you’re in the northern hemisphere, plant them in October, I guess. I don’t know how they’d go with snow though : ).
If you buy a pack of seeds and plant them in the first year, you will have broad beans forever – just make sure you save the seeds from the most prolific plants each year.
who fat son of a bitch who the fuck would eat that peice of shit you call food you fat basterd go jack off with your MOM