Ful medames ( ; other spellings include ful mudammas and foule mudammes), or simply fūl, is a stew of cooked fava beans served with olive oil, cumin, and optionally with chopped parsley, garlic, onion, lemon juice, chili pepper and other vegetables, herbs, and spices. Ful medames is traditionally made in and served out of a large metal jug. It is notably a staple food in Egypt and is considered a national dish.

Some evidence of the use of ful is a cache of 2,600 dried fava beans unearthed at a late Neolithic site on the outskirts of Nazareth.

This dish is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud, indicating that it was used in Middle Eastern countries since the fourth century. Although there are countless ways of embellishing fūl, the basic recipe remains the same. Once the fūl is cooked, it is salted and eaten plain or accompanied by vegetable oil, corn oil, butter, clarified butter, buffalo milk, béchamel sauce, cured beef (basturma), fried or boiled eggs, tomato sauce, garlic sauce, tahini, fresh lemon juice, chili peppers, or other ingredients.

In 1860, Orientalist Edward William Lane described beans being cooked in a pear-shaped earthenware which was "buried, all but the

neck, in the hot ashes of an oven or a [Turkish]

bath, and having the mouth closely stopped:

they are eaten with linseed-oil, or butter, and

generally with a little lime-juice".

In Jordan, ful is made just like hummus in a form of a dip, usually made with tahini, garlic, tomato, lemon juice, ground cumin, olive oil, green peppers and salt.

In Jerusalem and surrounding areas, ful is often served on top of hummus, such a setup is sometimes referred to as Qudsiyeh () outside of Jerusalem.

Ful medames is consumed as part of the Lent diet by Christian communities in Arab countries.

Africa

In Somalia, fuul is a staple in breakfast food. It is often served with eggs, khubz/ceesh bread or the traditional Somali flatbread called laxoox/canjeero. It is very similar to the Egyptian, Sudanese, and Saudi variants of the dish, but usually spicier due to Somalis' use of the xawaash spice mixture (cumin, coriander, sage, peppercorn, fenugreek, turmeric, ginger, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, and saffron).

In Morocco ful is known as bissara and consists of fava beans and split green peas (known locally as jabbana) boiled together with garlic and served with cumin and seasoning. It is particularly popular in the north of the country and is eaten during the cold winter months.

In Ethiopia and Eritrea, ful is one of the few dishes not eaten with a pancake-like bread called injera but is served with wheat flour bread. Places serving ful and the accompanying flour bread often provide a communal kitchen for patrons seeking to bake such types of breads since flour bread is not typical in the Ethiopian or Eritrean diet. The beans are topped, or mixed with, a combination of oil and berbere.

Other regions

In Malta, ful bit-tewm (beans with garlic) is usually associated with fasting during Lent and Good Friday. The beans are soaked in water overnight, cooked in oil with garlic and fresh or dried mint, then dressed with olive oil or vinegar before serving.

The meal has also travelled as far as Malaysia, in particular the state of Johore, and Singapore where it has been adapted into the local recipe kacang pool, which incorporates ghee in place of oil and minced meat. Kidney beans and baked beans are also added to give the dish more body. The words kacang and pool both mean "beans" respectively in Malay and Arabic, rendering it tautological.

Salad

thumb|Ful medames salad

Ful medames salad () is an Arab breakfast mezze favorite, but it is also eaten as a hearty salad. It typically consists of fava beans, chopped tomatoes, onion, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, pepper and salt.

Similar dishes

Adas Medames () is a dish prepared in the same way as ful medames, but using lentils in place of fava beans, it can be found in Egypt as well as other countries like Palestine.

See also

  • Egyptian cuisine
  • List of African dishes
  • List of bean dishes
  • List of Middle Eastern dishes

References

  • Ottolenghi, Yotam. "The perfect hummus debate", The Guardian, June 29, 2010.
  • Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People by Linda Civitello