[Sca-cooks] Fava beans

[A F Murphy]

Look for Ful Medammes. The spelling may vary a bit - it is, after all, a
transliteration. Or just Egyptian fava beans. The skins are still a tad
chewier than on other beans, but you can and do  eat them. They're not
that easy to find, though, outside Egyptian neighborhoods. (You can
count on them, there, though - ful is considered the national dish of
Egypt!)

Oh, and, ful...

You take the canned (or cooked *G*) beans and mash them up in a skillet
with lots of olive oil, garlic, and then a squeeze of lemon. Enough
cooking liquid to make it a bit soupy. Serve with pita.  It's eaten all
day, but is particularly traditional for breakfast. No, I don't have a
"real recipe"... I learned it by watching my friend, he learned by
watching his mother... it's one of those dishes!

Anne

Elizabeth wrote:

> Back in August, Anne (A. F. Murphy) wrote:
>
> ...
>
>> If I were making that dish, I would consider using Egyptian fava beans -
>> used in  ful. It's probably a cheat, since the recipe specifies large
>> beans, and the Egyptian ones are small, but the skins aren't as much a
>> problem. Cook the stuff enough, and you don't have to skin them...  I
>> got them in one of the odd little stores along 10th Avenue just south of
>> the Port Authority, and Sahedi has them, too. You might find them in
>> Jersey in an Egyptian neighborhood, but you might not... I could only
>> find the canned version in Jersey City. (The Egyptian friend who
>> introduced me to ful didn't know they were dried beans... he'd never
>> seen one that didn't come out of a can.)
>
>>
>
> That is very interesting, since our favorite period lentil dish gives
> "Egyptian beans" as an alternative, and I have never had any idea
> what they were, other than assuming them to be some kind of favas.
> (The dish in question is in the Miscellany under "A Cooked Dish of
> Lentils".) Of course one doesn't know for sure that modern Egyptian
> beans are the same as period ones, but I will have to find some and
> try it.
>
> Elizabeth of Dendermonde/Betty Cook
> _______________________________________________
>