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| Alternative names | Fūl |
|---|---|
| Course | Breakfast,main course[citation needed] |
| Place of origin | Egypt[1] |
| Region or state | Greater Middle East Africa[2] |
| Main ingredients | Fava beans,vegetable oil,cumin |
| Variations | Lemon juice,onion,parsley,garlic |
Ful medames (Arabic:فول مدمس,romanized: fūl midammisIPA:[fuːlmeˈdammes]; other spellings includeful mudammas and foule mudammes), or simplyfūl, is a stew of cookedfava beans served with olive oil,cumin, and optionally with choppedparsley,garlic,onion,lemon juice,chili pepper and other vegetables, herbs, and spices.[3] Ful medames is traditionally made in and served out of a large metal jug.[4] It is notably astaple food inSudan andEgypt and is considered a national dish,[4] especially in the northern cities ofCairo andGizah.[citation needed] Fava beans can also sometimes be found in othercuisines in theMiddle East, andAfrica, though cooked differently.
Some writers have suggested that ful medames dated all the way back toAncient Egypt.[1]
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 ofNazareth.[5]
This dish is mentioned in theJerusalem Talmud, indicating that it was used in the Horn of Africa and Middle Eastern countries since the fourth century. Although there are countless ways of embellishingfūl, the basic recipe remains the same. Once thefūl is cooked, it is salted and eaten plain or accompanied byvegetable 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.[1]
In the Middle Ages, the making offūl inCairo was monopolized by the people living around the Princess Baths, apublic bath in a tiny compound near today's public fountain ofMuhammad ‘Ali Pasha, a block north of the two elegant minarets of theMosque of Sultan al-Muayyad above the 11th century Bab Zuweila gate. During the day, bath attendants stoked the fires heating theqidras, which are huge pots of bath water. Wood was scarce, so garbage was used as fuel and eventually a dump grew around the baths. When the baths closed, the red embers of the fires continued to burn. To take advantage of these precious fires, hugeqidras were filled with fava beans, and these cauldrons were kept simmering all night, and eventually all day too, in order to provide breakfast for Cairo's population. Cookshops throughout Cairo would send their minions to the Princess Baths to buy their wholesalefūl.[6]
Fūl is prepared from the small, round bean known in Egypt asfūl medames ("brown beans"). The beans are cooked until very soft. Other kinds of beans used by Egyptian cooks arefūl rūmī ("Roman", i.e. "European broad beans"), large kidney-shaped fava beans, andfūl baladī ("country beans", which are of middling size).Fūl nābit (Coptic: ⲫⲉⲗⲉⲧⲣⲏⲧ, Feletrat) are fava bean sprouts,fūl akhḍar ("green fūl") are fresh fava beans, andfūl madshūsh ("crushed fūl") are crushed fava beans.
Ful medames was exported fromEgypt to other parts of theArab world, as well as other parts of Africa and Asia, but particularly toIraq,Lebanon,Syria,Jordan,Israel,Palestine,Saudi Arabia,Yemen,Bahrain,Somalia,Djibouti,Ethiopia,Eritrea,South Sudan,Sudan,Morocco andLibya.[2]
Ful medames is a popular breakfast dish inSyria, especiallyAleppo. The fava beans are left simmering in large copper jars throughout the night, to be served from the next morning on; the beans swim in tahini and olive oil, completed with a hint of red pepper paste (made fromAleppo pepper) over the top.
InJordan, 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.
InJerusalem and surrounding areas, ful is often served on top ofhummus, such a setup is sometimes referred to asQudsiyeh (Arabic:قدسية,lit. 'From Jerusalem') outside of Jerusalem.[7][8][9]
Ful medames is consumed as part of theLent diet byChristian communities in Arab countries.[10]
Ful medames forms part of theIsraeli breakfast popularized bykibbutzim inIsrael.
InSomalia, fuul is a staple in breakfast food. It is often served with eggs,khubz/ceesh bread or the traditional Somali flatbread calledlaxoox/canjeero. It is very similar to theEgyptian,Sudanese, andSaudi 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, andsaffron).
InMorocco ful is known asbissara and consists of fava beans and split green peas (known locally asjabbana) 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.
InEthiopia andEritrea, ful is one of the few dishes not eaten with a pancake-like bread calledinjera 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 andberbere.
InMalta,ful bit-tewm (beans with garlic) is usually associated withfasting duringLent andGood 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 asMalaysia, in particular the state ofJohore, andSingapore where it has been adapted into the local recipekacang pool, which incorporatesghee in place of oil and minced meat.[11]Kidney beans andbaked beans are also added to give the dish more body.
Ful medames salad (Arabic:سلطة فول مدمس) is anArabbreakfastmezze favorite, but it is also eaten as a hearty salad. It typically consists offava beans, choppedtomatoes,onion,parsley,lemon juice,olive oil, pepper andsalt.[12][13][14][15]
Adas Medames (Arabic:عدس مدمس) is a dish prepared in the same way asful medames, but using lentils in place of fava beans, it can be found inEgypt as well as other countries likePalestine.[16][17][18]
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