Week 23 - Egypt

FUL MEDAMES

Ful Medames may be the most ancient breakfast I've come across.  A simple dish made by stewing fava beans, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, onion and parsley, evidence of man eating a version of this have been discovered in Neolithic ruins!  (That's from as far as back as 10,000 BC.)  Whoa.

It was also one of the most surprisingly tasty breakfasts I've made.  Some, like the upcoming Bomboloni donut from Italy I expect to love.  Mashed beans with garlic and onion?  I wasn't expecting much.  But apparently, thousands of years of history and millions of people across several countries, (Ful Medames is enjoyed not only in Egypt but in Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Somalia, etc.) aren't wrong.  Simply put - Ful Medames was delicious.

There's a lot to be said about the history of Ful Medames - apparently the fires that kept the bath waters of ancient Egypt warm also did double duty cooking breakfast for the citizens.  But I'm no Egyptologist, so let's just get to the actual food.

 Ful Medames is a dish that traditionally takes hours and hours to simmer away in a pot.  But I cheated by using a can of Ful I had purchased from the amazing ARZ Fine Foods Grocery store in Toronto.  Preparing the Ful Medames was as simple as sauteeing the garlic and onion until soft, adding the beans to simmer until hot, and then slightly mashing everything together.  The final product was garnished with lemon juice, olive oil and parsley and served with pita and a Mediterranean salad.

It didn't look the prettiest but was quite addictive.  We polished off the whole recipe and since then I've found myself wishing I had more...

The Verdict:

For Ease of Preparation:

For Degree of Separation:

For Guestability:

"Come and get it!  I cooked you up some beans 'n garlic!"  Maybe not.

For Sustainability:

This would get a perfect five except it's addictive quality just left me wanting more.

For Overall Appeal:

Ful Medames deserves it's long-standing popularity.  Not only did it taste great, I suspect it was also highly nutritious.  Nutritious, delicious, and ease to prepare - it's the breakfast cook's Triple Crown.

As many of you know today is the first day of the Lunar New Year.  Happy Year of the Water Snake!  To celebrate, I'm working on a special edition all about Seollal - South Korea's lunar year festivities.