Stewed Fava Beans (Ful Medames)

5 from 2 votes

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Ful Medames is a hearty dish of stewed fava beans and warm spices.

Ful (pronounced fool) for short, is the national dish of Egypt and it is typically eaten for breakfast.

There are many variations of ful throughout the Middle East in places like Isreal, Lebanon, Yemen , Somalia, and Jordan.

 

Plate of ful medames with table fork
Ful Medames is the national dish of Egypt.

Ful Medames

Our fava beans recipe from Egypt that we are showing you is made with a combination of lemon juice, cumin, olive oil and a few other warm and savory ingriedients.

What is Ful Medames?

  • Ful is a staple throughout the Middle East
  • Ful is the most common traditional Egyptian breakfast.
  • It is made of stewed fava beans  (broad beans), cooked in oil and warm spices.
  • Often they are served by street carts in Cairo.
  • Sometimes served with hard-boiled eggs, cheese, pita and ta’meya (falafel).

 

A bunch of food on a plate, with stewed fava beans
In Egypt, this stewed fava beans recipe is typically eaten for breakfast.

 

Ingredients in Ful Medames

  • Fava Beans
  • Lemon Juice
  • Cumin
  • Cayenne
  • Garlic
  • Hard Boiled Eggs
  • Parsley
  • Salt & Pepper

 

Ingreidients for ful medames
This recipe starts with two cans of fava beans.

How to make Ful Madames

Fava beans are an ancient legume and come in many varieties.

Fava benas being drained and rinsed.
Fava beans are loaded with fiber and protein and feature a smooth creamy taste.

This fava bean recipe uses two 15 ounce cans of fava beans.

Rinsing and boiing fava beans.

1. Start by rinsing and draining the fava beans.

2. Next, you will boil them until tender, for about eight mintues.

3. After the beans are boiled and drained, you transfer  them to a mixing bowl and add some olive oil – about a quarter of a cup to start.

 

A bunch of different types of food on a plate, with Ful medames
Now, just add and stir.

As you can see from the process photos above, there really isn’t much more to do other than adding the remaining ingredients and stirring to them together.

You can mash the fava beans together, to your desired consistency.

You may want to add a bit more olive oil for the mashing process.

a platter of ful madames with hard boiled eggs and parsely
Ful Medames is a nutritious breakfast that is full of warm flavors.

Ful medames is usually served with wedges of hard-boiled eggs and garnishes of parsley.

Be sure and take a look at the Platter Talk post from Chef Kat on how to cook hard-boiled eggs.

Dan from Platter Talk standing in the kitchen.

dan

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Ful Medames Recipe

5 from 2 votes
Stewed fava beans (broad beans) are used to make ful medames, or ful, which is a traditional Egyptian breakfast and considered by many to be he national dish of Egypt.
Prep: 2 minutes
Cook: 8 minutes
Total: 10 minutes
Yield: 4

Ingredients 

  • 2 15 oz Fava beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 cup Lemon juice, fresh
  • 1/3 cup Olive oil, divided
  • 2 tsp Cumin, ground
  • 1/2 tsp Cayenne
  • 4 cloves Garlic, peeled and mashed
  • Kosher salt and pepper, to taste
  • 2 Eggs, hard-boiled, wedged in quarters
  • 2 tbsp Parsley, coarse chop

Instructions 

  • Rinse and drain the fava beans and place them in a 2-quart sauce pan. Cover them with one inch of water and bring to a low simmer over medium-high heat until tender, or about 8 minutes.
  • Drain the beans and transfer them to a mixing bowl, add 1/4 cup olive oil and all the ingredients except the eggs and parsley. Use a wooden spoon to slighly mash to desired consistency, adding more olive oil if necessary.
  • Transfer ful to a serving plate, top with hard-boiled egg wedges, parselty and additional olive oil if desired.

Nutrition

Calories: 204kcal, Carbohydrates: 3g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 20g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 82mg, Sodium: 35mg, Potassium: 87mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 385IU, Vitamin C: 9.3mg, Calcium: 30mg, Iron: 1.3mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: Egyptian
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Dan & Scott split their time between Wisconsin and Southwest Florida and are dads to six boys. Good food runs through their veins, and they love showing others how to cook easy recipes.

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