Ful medames ( ar, فول مدمس, ' ; other spellings include ''ful mudammas'' and '' foule mudammes''), or simply fūl, is a stew of cooked fava beans served with olive oil,

cumin Cumin ( or , or Article title
) (''Cuminum cyminum'') is a

parsley Parsley, or garden parsley (''Petroselinum crispum'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae that is native to the central and eastern Mediterranean region (Sardinia, Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, southern Italy, Greece, Por ...

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...

, onion, lemon juice, chili pepper, and other vegetable, herb, and spice ingredients. Ful medames is traditionally made in and served out of a large metal jug. It is notably a

staple food A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of energy needs and ...

in Egypt and is considered a national dish, especially in the northern cities of Cairo and

Gizah Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...

. Fava beans can sometimes be also found in other

cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, customs, and ingredients combine to ...

s in the Middle East, and Africa, though cooked differently.

History

Some writers have suggested that ful medames dated all the way back to Ancient Egypt. 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 Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

. This dish is mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud, indicating that it was used in Horn of African and 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 Pastirma or basturma, also called pastarma, pastourma,, basdirma, or basterma, is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef that is found in the cuisines of Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Egypt, and Greece, Iraq and North Macedonia. Etymo ...

), fried or boiled eggs, tomato sauce,

garlic sauce Garlic sauce is a sauce prepared using garlic as a primary ingredient. It is typically a pungent sauce, with the depth of garlic flavor determined by the amount of garlic used. The garlic is typically crushed or finely diced. Simple garlic sauce ...

tahini Tahini () or tahina (, ) is a Middle Eastern condiment made from toasted ground hulled sesame. It is served by itself (as a dip) or as a major ingredient in hummus, baba ghanoush, and halva. Tahini is used in the cuisines of the Levant and E ...

, fresh lemon juice, chili peppers, or other ingredients. In the Middle Ages, the making of ''fūl'' in Cairo was monopolized by the people living around the Princess Baths, a public bath in a tiny compound near today's public fountain of Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha, a block north of the two elegant minarets of the

Mosque of Sultan al-Muayyad The Mosque of Sultan al-Mu'ayyad ( ar, مسجد السلطان المؤيد) is a Mosque in Cairo, Egypt next to Bab Zuwayla built under the rule of sultan Al-Mu'ayyad Sayf ad-Din Shaykh from whom it takes its name, "''Al-Mu'ayyad''", meaning '' ...

above the 11th century Bab Zuweila gate. During the day, bath attendants stoked the fires heating the ''qidras'', 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, huge ''qidras'' 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 wholesale ''fūl''. Fūl is prepared from the small, round bean known in Egypt as ''fūl ḥammām'' ("bath beans"). The beans are cooked until very soft. Other kinds of beans used by Egyptian cooks are ''fūl rūmī'' ("Roman", i.e. "European broad beans"), large kidney-shaped fava beans, and ''fūl baladī'' ("country beans", which are of middling size). ''Fūl nābit'' (or ''nābid'') are fava bean sprouts, ''fūl akhḍar'' ("green fūl") are fresh fava beans, and ''fūl madshūsh'' ("crushed fūl") are crushed fava beans.

Other countries

Ful medames was exported from Egypt to other parts of the Arab world, as well as other parts of Africa and Asia, but particularly to Iraq, Lebanon, Israel,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, Jordan,

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia,

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

, Morocco and Libya.

Middle East

Ful is a popular breakfast dish in

, especially

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

. 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 from Aleppo pepper) over the top. 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. Ful medames is consumed as part of the

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

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,

ese, and

Saudi Saudi may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is c ...

variants of the dish, but usually spicier due to Somalis' use of the xawaash spice mixture (

cumin Cumin ( or , or Article title
) (''Cuminum cyminum'') is a

coriander Coriander (;

, sage, peppercorn,

fenugreek Fenugreek (; ''Trigonella foenum-graecum'') is an annual plant in the family Fabaceae, with leaves consisting of three small obovate to oblong leaflets. It is cultivated worldwide as a semiarid crop. Its seeds and leaves are common ingredients ...

, turmeric,

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices ...

, cardamom,

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...

s, nutmeg, and saffron). In Morocco ful is known as ''

bissara Bissara, also known as Bessara, Besarah and Tamarakt (Arabic: "بصارة", Berber: "Tabissart" or "talkhcha") is a soup and a bean dip in North African cuisine, prepared with dried, puréed broad beans as a primary ingredient. Additional ingredie ...

'' 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

), 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 Berbere ( Oromo: ''Barbaree'', am, በርበሬ ''bärbäre'', ti, በርበረ ''bärbärä'') is a spice mixture whose constituent elements usually include chili peppers, coriander, garlic, ginger, Ethiopian holy basil (besobela) seeds, ''kora ...

''.

Other regions

In Malta, ''ful bit-tewm'' (beans with garlic) is usually associated with fasting during

and

Good Friday Good Friday is a Christian holiday commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary. It is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. It is also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday (also Hol ...

. 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 Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals. Description Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned from c ...

in place of oil and minced meat. Kidney beans and baked beans are also added to give the dish more body.

Salad

Ful medames salad ( ar, سلطة فول مدمس) is an Arab

breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night.Anderson, Heather Arndt (2013)''Breakfast: A History'' AltaMira Press. Various "typical" or "t ...

mezze favorite, but it is also eaten as a hearty salad. It typically consists of fava beans, chopped tomatoes, onion,

, lemon juice,

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...

, pepper and salt.

References

External links

* Ottolenghi, Yotam
"The perfect hummus debate"
''The Guardian'', June 29, 2010.
Cuisine and Culture: A History of Food and People by Linda Civitello
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ful Medames Ancient Egyptian cuisine Egyptian cuisine Sudanese cuisine Appetizers Legume dishes Vegetable dishes Yemeni cuisine Lenten foods Vegan cuisine Ethiopian cuisine Eritrean cuisine Middle Eastern cuisine North African cuisine