Ful Medames (Egyptian Fava Bean Stew)
A hearty and delicious Egyptian breakfast dish made from fava beans. This recipe for ful medames, also known as foul mudammas, is really quick to make if you use tinned or ready cooked beans. Add garnishes galore, as you see fit and serve with pitta bread. It makes a good vegan lunch, meze dish or midweek dinner too.
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What Is Ful Medames?
Ful medames is the national dish of Egypt. It’s a very simple stew made from fava beans, or field beans as we call them in the UK and dates back at least as far as the fourth century. Egyptians mostly eat it for breakfast, though sometimes have it at lunchtimes or as an evening meal.
Ful (or foul) simple means beans in Arabic. Medames (meh-DAH-mas, sometimes pronounced mudammas) is a Coptic word meaning buried. Back in the day, Egyptians made ful medames by burying a pot of beans in hot coals. These days, the beans are cooked in copper pots, slowly overnight, so they’re ready for breakfast in the morning.
I can’t tell you the number of times I ate this when I lived in Egypt. Virtually every cafe sold it as did many a street vendor.
This classic Egyptian dish has spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa and each country has added its own touches.
Is Full Medames Healthy?
Fava beans (Vicia faba), which are a smaller version of broad beans, are incredibly healthy. They are low in calories, but high in protein, soluble fibre, vitamins and minerals (Ref Healthline).
Combine them with cumin to aid digestion, lemon for acidity regulation, garlic for its medicinal properties and extra virgin olive oil for antioxidants and you have a super nutritious dish. What’s more it’s low in calories and naturally vegan.
Top with fresh tomatoes, onions and herbs and you not only add freshness, but a whole heap of additional beneficial nutrients.
Ful Medames Ingredients
You only need four ingredients to make this fava bean stew. Not including salt that is. But it improves no end if you add another four ingredients on the top. It’s still a super simple dish and ever so quick to make though.
Fava Beans
You can use dried or tinned fava beans for this recipe. Tins are convenient, but they’re expensive. It’s cheaper to cook up your own from dried if you can. See the section further down the post on how to to do this.
I use both tinned and dried, depending on how organised I am at the time. This year we grew some of our own. Because the summer was so hot and dry, they didn’t do very well and the beans are quite small. But they made one most delicious dish of ful medames.
Normally with tinned beans, I like to drain and rinse them before using as I don’t like the taste of the liquid. However, the tinned fava beans I use taste absolutely fine. So I use the whole tin, liquid and all
Do try to buy tins that have no added salt, sugar or anything else. If that’s all you can find, make sure to drain and rinse your beans before using. If you do drain yours, you’ll need to add about half a can of water to the beans before cooking.
The only tinned fava beans I’ve used are British grown ones from Hodmedod’s. I really like them. I’ve not yet found them in a supermarket, but Middle Eastern stores will sell them. Alternatively you can source them through Amazon: tinned fava beans*. You can also buy dried fava beans* there or, better still, go straight to Hodmedod’s.
Cumin
Cumin is an essential flavouring for ful medames. There are so few ingredients used to flavour this dish that it would be bland without it. You can either toast cumin seeds and then grind them in a pestle and mortar or use ready ground cumin.
Garlic
Likewise, garlic is very much needed in this dish. And lots of it too. I go with two cloves for the amount I’ve given in the recipe card below, but many use more.
Lemon
Lemons are ubiquitous in Middle Eastern cuisine and they use them for good reason. Weirdly, not only does lemon juice add fresh tart notes, but the right amount somehow sweetens things up too.
Tomatoes
Chopped fresh tomatoes really complement the beans in this super simple dish. So it’s important the tomatoes are as ripe and tasty as possible. Sprinkle them over the finished beans along with any juice.
A large fleshy tomato without any seeds is a good one for ful medames. But really, just use whatever you have or can get. I used one of our own homegrown Brad’s Black Heart.
Parsley
Parsley is another of those ingredients that is used in many dishes across the Middle East, including Egypt. They tend to use the flat leaved parsley rather than our English curly variety. But I grow the English variety, so that’s what I use. Personally, I think it’s juicier and has a sweeter flavour.
Like the tomatoes, this is finely chopped and scattered over the finished beans.
Spring Onions (Scallions)
In Egypt, they use chopped yellow onions, but I prefer milder sliced spring onions for this recipe. Again, these are scattered over the top of the beans.
Olive Oil
As I’ve already intimated, it’s important to use good quality ingredients for simple dishes like this. A well flavoured peppery extra virgin olive oil adds to the overall taste experience.
Aleppo Pepper
I like to sprinkle my ful medammes with aleppo pepper, also known as pul biber. This is a fairly mild sweet and fruity chilli pepper used throughout the Middle East. It’s not traditional to the original Egyptian dish, but I’ve noticed lots of recipes now use it. It’s entirely optional.
How To Make Ful Medames
This dish of partially mashed fava beans is combined with cumin, garlic and lemon. It’s then dressed with chopped tomatoes, parsley, spring onions and olive oil.
If you use a tin or already cooked fava beans, ful medames is an incredibly quick recipe to put together. All you need to do is heat the beans, add cumin, garlic, lemon and salt, then partially mash. Quickly chop a tomato, parsley and some spring onions (scallions) and you have yourself a most delicious meal.
Although it’s a classic breakfast dish, it makes a speedy and tasty midweek meal. It’s one of those “I need something in a hurry” type meals when I get home from work.
Ful medames is meant to be slightly runny or at least loose. It’s not a dip as such, more of a stew. Although bread is used to scoop it up.
The amount I’ve given in the recipe card at the bottom of the post serves two as a main or four as a side or part of a meze spread. To serve more people, just double or triple the quantities.
Layer Up The Ful Medames Bowl
Once you’ve mashed the beans, taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. It’s then just a case of adding toppings. And this dish is all about the toppings.
Layer 1. Fava Bean Mash
Transfer the partially mashed fava beans into a suitably sized serving bowl.
Layer 2. Diced Tomatoes
Dice the tomatoes with a sharp knife. Then pile them on top of the fava bean mash. Pour on any juice that’s escaped whilst cutting.
Layer 3. Chopped Parsley
Although I’ve added tomatoes as the second layer in the photos you can see here, it actually looks nicer with a layer of green in between the fava beans and tomatoes. So finely chop a good handful of parsley and scatter it over the mash first if you like.
Otherwise, scatter it over the tomatoes as shown.
Layer 4. Sliced Onions & Oil
Slice the spring onions (scallions) and scatter over the parsley.
Drizzle with olive oil and then sprinkle on the chilli flakes, if using.
Serve whilst still hot with warmed flatbread.
Ful Medames: Make It Your Own
My recipe for ful medames is based on the original Egyptian version, though I often use tinned beans for convenience. In Egypt, they often serve it with tahini sauce or boiled eggs, which gives the dish a bit of a protein boost.
There are plenty of other versions out there though. The Lebanese add chickpeas, the Yemenis cook theirs with onions, tomatoes and peppers and in Syria they add tahini and olive oil to the cooking beans. Some make it thick like a dip and some have it as a more liquid stew.
You can mash it completely, partially mash it, as in my recipe, or leave the beans completely whole. It’s quite an adaptable dish.
Here are a few ideas for add-ins and toppings.
- Fry an onion in a little olive oil along with the garlic. Then add the beans and continue as per the recipe.
- Whilst the beans are cooking, add half a teaspoon of smoked paprika or up to half a teaspoon of your choice of chilli flakes.
- Drizzle tahini sauce over the beans instead of, or as well as, olive oil.
- Chop some fresh mint in with the parsley.
- Sprinkle with chopped olives.
- For something more substantial sprinkle with chopped boiled eggs or crumbled feta cheese.
- Serve with radishes, pickles, a chopped salad or lebneh.
Alternatively, serve your ful mesdames as part of a meze feast. Mix and match with any of the following: baba ganoush, olives, falafel, tahini sauce, pickles, caramelised onion and yoghurt dip, balela salad, corn feta salad, hummus, courgettes with yoghurt and za’atar, spinach and goat’s cheese filo pastries.
Then finish your meal with a glass of hot or cold sahlab and a maamoul cookie or two.
How To Cook Dried Fava Beans
Ful medames is traditionally made with dried fava beans. If you’d like to cook your own from scratch, here’s how.
To make the equivalent of one 400g (15 oz) tin of fava beans, soak 100g of dried beans overnight in cold water.
Rinse thoroughly, then place in a lidded saucepan. Cover with water, add a bay leaf to aid digestion. Bring to the boil and simmer for an hour or so until the beans are tender, but still hold their shape. Drain and use as per recipe.
Alternatively cook in a pressure cooker for thirty minutes or in a slow cooker overnight.
Top Tip
Cook 500g of beans at one time. It won’t take much longer. You can then divide the cooked beans into five tin-sized portions and freeze any you don’t immediately need. I put mine into freezer bags.
Other Egyptian Recipes You Might Like
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Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make my recipe for ful medames, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Ful Medames. PIN IT.
Ful Medames (Egyptian Fava Bean Stew)
Ingredients
- 1 400g (15oz) can fava beans (or 250g cooked from 100g dried)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 clove garlic crushed or grated
- ½ lemon juiced
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 small bunch of parsley finely chopped
- 1 large tomato diced
- 2 spring onions (scallions) thinly sliced (optional)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil a good quality, well flavoured one is best
- ½ tsp Aleppo chilli flakes (pul biber) (optional)
Instructions
- Pour the whole can of beans into a medium sized saucepan. If using home cooked beans add 100ml of water.Add the cumin and garlic and bring to a gently simmer. Cook for ten minutes with the lid off.1 400g (15oz) can fava beans, 1 tsp ground cumin, 2 clove garlic
- Turn the heat off and add the lemon and salt. Give the pot a good stir.½ lemon, ½ tsp salt
- Using a potato masher, crush the beans until about half of them are puréed, but some still remain whole. Taste test for seasoning. If you feel more cumin, garlic, lemon or salt is needed, stir it in now.
- Transfer to a serving dish.
- Scatter the parsley, tomatoes and onions, if using, over the top. Either way, drizzle with olive oil. Finally, sprinkle with the chilli flakes, if using.1 small bunch of parsley, 1 large tomato, 2 spring onions (scallions), 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, ½ tsp Aleppo chilli flakes (pul biber)
- Serve hot with warmed flatbreads for scooping and tahini sauce or boiled eggs for additional protein, if liked.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
Sharing
I’m sharing this recipe for a simple fava bean stew with Peachicks Bakery for #CookBlogShare.
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Such a satisfying meal and a great way to use fava beans!
Glad you enjoyed my ful medames and thanks for letting us know. It’s our favourite way to eat fava beans.
You always introduce me to new dishes. I love trying new beans at the moment so this ful medames is perfect for trying Fava beans. I definitely always prefer cooking dried beans rather than tinned, although more time consuming. I love how quick and easy this dish is to make and that it’s packed full of nutrient dense ingredients and different flavours.
Cooking from dried is the way to go if you have time. I need to plan better and do it more often, as I used to in the past. Hope you manage to make ful medames and enjoy it Lucy.
What a delicious stew! It turned out so so flavorful and hearty!
Glad you like the stew Andrea. Thanks for letting me know.
i love this Egyptian breakfast – so warm and soothing on the tummy. i think i may have this for an easy dinner too!
Yay, it’s a good one for gut health for sure. Although, I have to confess, I usually have it for dinner rather than breakfast.
Love this hearty and delicious stew! The flavor was so good—will definitely be making this often!
It’s a keeper for sure Rachel. Glad to have introduced you to it.
Many thanks for this recipe for Ful medames, Choclette. I’ve got Claudia Roden’s version but could not see whether it was meant to be served hot or cold! Your instructions are very helpful.
Glad it helped and thanks for letting me know. I’m very happy to be mentioned alongside the great Claudia Roden.
I love this side dish! It was something quite new to me, thanks!!
Good to hear you like it Natalie. It deserves to be better known.
sounds healthy and tasty. i do love me some beans! 🙂 Tho i’ve never seen tinned fava beans here in Oz. Maybe in european delis? Funny how aquafaba became all the rage. we were always told to rinse your beans and throw out the ratty liquid they came in! Times change.
True times do change, though I still mostly throw out the liquid in tinned beans. I’m not convinced. Having said that I do use the aquafaba for vegan baking sometimes. Although fava beans grow really well here in the UK, they’re not easy to find. You have to actively look for them – online in my case.
Looks creamy and comforting! I always thought fava beans were green :-/
angiesrecipes
They’re green when they’re fresh, but unlike broad beans, they’re generally dried. This turns them brown.