I’ve been taking a break from cooking for the past few days. On Friday I made my favorite lasagna, but after that, I didn’t cook one thing, unless you count steamed vegetables, until Monday night. With my husband out of town, my daughter and I happily dined on leftovers and take-out from the local natural food store. I think I needed a little cooking break.
But last night I got back into the swing of things with an easy meal that all three of us enjoyed. I put a batch of Spiced Lentils and Rice into the rice cooker, and while it was cooking, I prepared a salad and a dip for pita bread. We have hummus so often that I thought we were due for a change, and this version of Ful Medames, a delicious dip made of cooked fava beans, really hit the spot.
Unlike hummus, this fava bean dip has no tahini, making it much lower in fat. Enjoy!
Ful Medames (Fava Bean Dip)
Similar to hummus, Ful Medames is a Middle Eastern dip made from fava beans. This version is low in fat and naturally vegan and gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 medium tomatoes chopped
- 2 15-ounce cans fava beans (or 3 cups cooked and shelled fava beans), rinsed and drained
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne or red chili pepper
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup parsley
Instructions
- Sauté the onion and garlic in a large, non-stick skillet for about 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 4 minutes. Stir in the fava beans, cumin, and red pepper, and cook on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and mash the fava beans lightly, right in the skillet, until most of the beans are mashed. Scoop into a serving bowl, and mix in the lemon juice and parsley. Serve with warm pita bread.
Recipe Notes
Look for canned fava beans in Middle Eastern grocery stores. Some common spellings are ful medames, foul moudammes, foul mudammes, and foul moudammas.
Sodium content depends on fava beans used.
More Middle Eastern Recipes
Here are a few more recipes to enjoy with your Ful Medames:
SusanV says
Here are the original comments from when the recipe was first posted:
Harmonia said…
This looks too good!!! And Pita Bread…don’t get me started! Must be lunch time. I’m starving!
🙂
1:23 PM, July 25, 2006
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Blogger Jennifer C. said…
I almost made Ful Medames the other day because I had a bunch of fresh fava beans from my CSA box, but I wasn’t sure that the fresh beans would work in this recipe. Instead I made the Ful Nabed. It is soooooo delicious! Thanks!
3:08 PM, July 25, 2006
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Blogger Mrs. Carlson said…
I will definitely make this very soon! I recently made your Roasted Tomato Hummus/Bean dip, and just looooved it! The flavors were incredible and I loved how the fat content was so low 🙂
3:14 PM, July 25, 2006
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Courtney said…
Susan-
This sounds (and looks) so good! I have been going to a local middle Eastern grocery store lately, and I have been wanting to buy canned fava beans, but I was not sure what to do with them. Now I have an excuse to go back to the store and buy some (I am a geek–I love grocery shopping!)!
Thanks!
Courtney
4:56 PM, July 25, 2006
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Carrie said…
This looks great – another nice thing to do with the large canned favas is to heat them in their juice with a little lemon juice, garlic, onion, and a bit of olive oil if you don’t mind the fat. Simple and very delicious.
6:43 PM, July 25, 2006
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Blogger Melody said…
I must get to the middle eastern store (It’s 70 mi away) and look for the beans.. I don’t have the patience for fresh favas very often (maybe once or twice a year)
7:21 PM, July 25, 2006
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Blogger funwithyourfood said…
when I went to Mellennium in SF, CA they gave us pureed fava beans as a spread instead of butter. loved it! This reminded me of that 🙂
Teddy
8:13 PM, July 25, 2006
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Anonymous said…
This dip looks great- definitely different from anything I’ve had. (I’ve been trying so many new foods since becoming vegan- it’s wonderful)! I’ve been wanting to try fava beans for a while. Your post reminded me that I haven’t had salsa in forever. Do you have any good recipes, or would you recomend any good store bought kinds? Thanks!
-Teresa
p.s.- looking forward to the spiced lentils and rice recipe!
10:57 PM, July 25, 2006
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Blogger Milinda said…
Lentils in a rice cooker! What a fabulous idea. I must try this, although I’ll wait for your recipe.
Hopefully I can get my hands on some fava beans this weekend but I suspect that they are all gone for us out here.
1:31 AM, July 26, 2006
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Vegan Pete said…
I’m currently residing in the Middle East where ful is popular, especially in Egypt where it’s a national dish and a cheap fast food eaten at breakfast.
I like your alternative low fat version as usually ful is made with olive oil and sometimes tahini so it’s not exactly low fat.
If you can boil up your own fava beans that’s ideal as canned fava beans often contain loads of salt.
Thanks
7:19 AM, July 26, 2006
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Blogger Ellen said…
This sounds great! I’m wondering what kind of rice cooker you would recommend. I was thinking of buying a zojirushi, but there are several different models. Would love your advice!
Ellen
8:18 AM, July 26, 2006
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Blogger Pure Zuke said…
oh PLEASE share your lentils in a rice cooker recipe! that sounds fantastic and easy (I love easy!!!). Will definitely make that Fava Bean Dip too! delish!
http://purezucchini.blogspot.com
10:01 PM, July 26, 2006
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Blogger SusanV said…
Hi Pure Zuke, I’ll post the lentils and rice recipe tomorrow. It’s definitely easy.
Teresa, I’m planning to post a salsa recipe soon, but the easiest I know is to chop up a bunch of tomatoes, onion, peppers, and garlic and add hot peppers to taste. That’s probably what I’ll do, although I’m thinking of making a cooked version that I can freeze easily.
10:18 PM, July 26, 2006
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Anonymous said…
I loev fava beans. There’s a restaurant near me that serves ful, but this looks easy and amazing.
8:37 PM, October 12, 2006
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Anonymous said…
This was AWESOME! And I found the beans at a high-end supermarket, without having to go to a middle-eastern foods store!
10:11 PM, October 12, 2006
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Blogger Katya Permiakova said…
This was my first experience with fava beans – Loved it! Thanks, Susan!
For those who don’t know – if you do it with dried beans, you’ll need to spend quite a bit of time peeling them once they’re cooked.
Oh, and it was fine withoug lemon juice and parsley (I didn’t have any).
5:19 PM, January 11, 2007
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Blogger Ashraf Al Shafaki said…
Here in Egypt ful medames is the #1 breakfast meal for Egyptians. Fava beans are so inexpensive in Egypt and are eaten with large quantities by the rich and poor.
Cumin is a main ingredient for preparing ful medames. Salt and lemon are also added. Also oil is added (yet understandably left out from your FatFree blog). Traditionally, a special kind of oil is used, it is called zait 7aar (زيت حار) which I am not sure what its name is in English. I’ll be trying to find out. Corn oil is now usually used instead.
There is another way of preparing ful medames, yet less common, but still well known in Egypt. Again it is not FatFree, yet the opposite. Instead of adding oil and lemon, ful (fava beans) are cooked with butter and garlic. I love the lemon and cumin (كمون) version way more. I love ful so much!
4:29 AM, July
dr. emil nosseir says
wo kann man foul in NRW möglichst nähe wesel-oberhausen-duisburg preisgünstig kaufen.
vielen dank
Lisa Sullivan says
lived on Ful when I was in Dubai, absolutely loved it. had a hard time finding fava beans in the UK. I read that they were also known as broad beans…ennnh .. not so much! lol I have some interesting green ful to get through now.
tastes ok, but will hit some of our ethnic shops to see if I can find the actual fava beans.
Dina Deli says
Thank you so much for this rare (i think) recipe!
A friend of mine from Morroco used to do it here in Athens and i really loved it.
She used to serve it with pita bread and fresh parsley ! I adore grains!
My Best love from Greece!
Get Skinny, Go Vegan. says
LOVE fava beans! Nothing can replicate that flavor!
stephanie says
this was super easy and super good. i put it on top of a baked potato. mmmm. good w/ crackers too. or by itself. ill def make this again.
Pat says
The dip was simple and great tasting. I love your web site.
Suzanne says
I can’t thank you enough for this recipe. Ever since we ate at Aladdin’s we’ve been wanting more! I went into the Middle Eastern market here in Tampa on a whim, and asked for Fava beans. You can only imagine the look that I got! lol So today I can go shop armed with the correct names. Hubby sends a big thank you too! I know what is for dinner tonight!
ianna09 says
I made this recipe for a potluck and it was a big hit.
Consider using baguette instead of pita bread, the softness of the bread and the crunchiness of the crust (I bought baguette made with onion) definitely hits the spot as an appetizer.
I also put the dip into a yellow bell pepper to hold it in place, and the red and yellow made a very nice contrast.
I am going to another potluck and going to be adventurous and cook rice, then mix the rice and dip and turn it into an entree. I’ll keep you posted!
Russ Martin says
When I worked in Sudan, my colleagues and I would eat this dish communally for breakfast. It featured way more hot pepper and quite a bit of oil – we ate it with bread and fingers: no utensils.
What happy memories!
Em says
This is exactly what I am looking for to replace the egg that I put on top of ezekiel raisin bread with 1/4 sliced avo for breakfast- thanks!