Oh Egyptian Ful. I ate these nearly every day for the month that I lived in Alexandria to take my EFL teaching course. It was cheap (I think around 25 cents for a sandwich) and really delicious. So, when I found the recipe on Epicurious I just had to make it.
This was both the simplest and longest recipe so far on the challenge. I bought dried fava beans (the brown ones- outer layer attached) at the market and had to soak them overnight. Then as the recipe suggested I started to cook the beans this morning. The recipe says it takes around 2.5 hours of simmering and they are not kidding.
ful simmering over an open fire
I simmered these things for what seemed like days and eventually starting mashing. The recipe is actually for the soup version, but I always preferred the sandwich with mashed beans. Once they were soft I added salt, cumin and crushed garlic to the pot. Then I cooked longer, then even longer, then longer again.
In the end, I had my beans almost as I remembered them. When you buy the sandwich in Egypt they come inside a pita bread with some cucumber and tomato salad and a white sauce (which I actually forgot about until just now...)
I served the beans with some chopped parsley and lemon wedges and due to overly warming the pitas, we ate them taco style. Yum!
The verdict: They came out great. Simple and yummy. One reason I like them so much is that they taste to me like refried beans. Mohamed agreed. Refried beans take me about 30 mins to make, so these are probably not worth the half day of simmering. I probably won't make them again for that reason, but it was fun to re-live my Egyptian lunches!
Tomorrow is another vegetarian dish from Epicurious- Onion soup with Loads of Thyme and Giant Gruyere Crostini. I guess I'm going to find out if my bowls are oven safe!
Photo by Caren Alpert for Epicurious
Be sure to check back tomorrow to see my peanut butter balls too! I made them today, but as they're not quite finished I'll document tomorrow. Yay!
4 comments:
That sounds great! :)
I make ful quite often using canned beans. Quick and YUM! One of my faves as well. Lemony, yummy awesomesauce.
(JF is Brenna, btw)
thanks for the clarification Brenna and for the comment Health buzz!
I had them from the can a few times in Egypt too, definitely much easier than the soaking and simmering all day.
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