Ful Medames

By Farhana Rahman

Pic of our delicious midde-eastern inspired breakfast

Why we Love It

That glorious, comforting beany deliciousness nestled between the mushrooms and Quorn sausages is none other than the Middle Eastern breakfast stalwart: Ful Medames. A stew of fava beans simmered down and flavored with cumin and garlic, finished with a drizzle of olive and a squeeze of lemon.

This batch was cooked up by my lovely Yemeni mother-in-law, but it’s super simple and wonderfully cheap to make – hence its popularity! Here’s an easy version for 4:

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ½ small red onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 x 400g tins cooked fava broad beans, rinsed and drained
• 1tsp ground cumin
• 1tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tomatoes, cored and chopped
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 200ml water

Instructions

• Fry the onion and garlic in oil until softened and caramelising
• Add the beans, cumin, cayenne, tomatoes, half the lemon juice and 200ml water. Cook for 30 minutes over a medium to low heat until it’s all lovely and soft.
• Add water as needed to stop it from sticking to the pan.
• With your wooden spoon and very little effort, mash and squidge the beans to a mushy consistency. No need to go all Nutri Bullet on it, but just enough to take the edge off.
• Ladle up! Top with olive oil, the remaining lemon juice, salt and pepper and add other toppings as you wish: chopped onion, cumin, chili pepper flakes are just a few.
• Traditionally enjoyed with flat bread but makes a happy accompaniment to many dishes!