The rich Egyptian gastronomy has its queen legume in the broad bean and obviously the national dish had to be based on it. The broad bean is so popular that falafel, which is made with chickpeas throughout the area, is made exclusively with broad beans in Egypt.
The Ful medames recipe is very simple. Although it is not so common nowadays, it was the dish that was traditionally eaten for breakfast.
The word ful comes from ancient Egyptian and means broad bean, one of the few words that has come down to us from ancient Egyptian, together with the word oasis that does not need translation in any language: Ramses II and us would use the same word to refer to an outcrop of water in the middle of the desert.
It must be said that Egyptian broad beans are not exactly the same as European beans. We would say that they are an intermediate between the bean and the broad bean. For our purposes, the type of broad bean called 'baby' (small size) will serve us.
"Medames" refers to 'buried', probably because of the traditional way of cooking this recipe: a copper pot buried in an ember of red-hot coals. Medames is a Coptic word. The Copts are Egyptian Monophysite Christians whose liturgical language, Coptic, is considered to be a direct descendant of ancient Egyptian. In fact the Copts themselves would be direct descendants of the Egyptians who built the pyramids.
INGREDIENTS (4 people)
- Broad beans according to the number of guests (approximately 100 grams / 3.5 oz per guest)
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- Salt
- Black pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
Traditional accompaniment
- Cilantro
- boiled eggs
- Onions
- Lemon
The ful medames is cooked modernly in the oven.
To do this, preheat the oven to 160 degrees (320 F) . We use a container that can go in the oven - a clay pot or pyrex tray - that has a lid. We place the broad beans inside and cover with water up to five centimeters (2 inches) above.
Add half the cumin, plenty of black pepper and the crushed garlic cloves. We keep cooking until the broad beans are tender and the broth becomes thick. You have to be careful because the broad beans should not be dry but very tender. With natural bbroad beans the process can take about four hours but with frozen ones it can be done in about two hours.
When we have achieved our purpose, we take out the pan and add the rest of the cumin and a quarter of a glass of extra virgin olive oil (50 ml - 1/4 cup) in addition to rectifying the salt. Ready to eat.
It is usually served with boiled eggs cut into wedges, cilantro, julienned onions and lemon on a separate plate so that everyone can season it to their liking.
The ful medames is also well known in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon where it is usually served topping a base of hummus. Thanks to Egypt's 'Africanness' it is also a popular dish in Somalia and other parts of East Africa.