Ful Medames

The beans cook overnight in a narrow-necked pot, so almost nothing evaporates and they collapse in their own liquid.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg.

Ingredients

the beans

• 500 g small dried fava beans, soaked 12 hours
• 1.2 litres water
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

to dress, at the table

• 120 ml olive oil
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• juice of 2 lemons
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste with salt
• a handful of parsley, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• chilli flakes
• salt

to serve

• flatbread
• hard-boiled eggs

Method

1. THE BEANS COOK OVERNIGHT IN A NARROW-NECKED POT, so almost nothing evaporates and they collapse in their own liquid. The vessel it is cooked in is a tall jug with a narrow mouth, set over the lowest possible heat for eight or ten hours. The shape is the point: a narrow neck means a tiny surface area, so the beans sit in a near-sealed humid space and soften to the point of collapse without the liquid boiling away or needing topping up. At home, a deep narrow saucepan with a tight lid on the lowest ring, or a slow cooker overnight, does the same job. A wide pan loses its water in two hours and the beans are still firm when it does.
2. THEY ARE SMALL BROWN FAVA BEANS, NOT LARGE GREEN ONES. The small dark variety sold for exactly this. Large split green broad beans turn to purée in a quarter of the time and make a different, smoother dish; the small ones hold their skins and collapse into something coarse and distinct.
3. THE BICARBONATE SOFTENS THE SKINS AND NO SALT GOES IN. A teaspoon in the water. Fava skins are tough and bicarbonate breaks them down over the long cook; salt does the opposite and would leave them leathery after ten hours. All the seasoning happens at the table.
4. THEY ARE NOT STIRRED AND NOT DRAINED. Left alone, and served in their own thick cooking liquid, which has become starchy and is part of the dish. Drained, ful is dry and dull.
5. EVERYTHING ELSE GOES ON AT THE TABLE, NOT IN THE POT. Oil, cumin, lemon, garlic, parsley, tomato, onion, chilli -- all raw, all added by whoever is eating, in whatever combination. The pot is deliberately plain. Cooked in, the cumin goes dusty and the lemon dull over ten hours, and the dish loses the thing that makes it worth eating every morning.
6. SOME BEANS ARE CRUSHED AGAINST THE SIDE OF THE POT. A spoonful or two, pressed with the back of the spoon just before serving, to thicken the liquid. Whole beans in thin liquid will not hold on bread.
7. The beans SOAKED 12 HOURS, then drained and rinsed.
8. Put in a DEEP NARROW pan with the water and the bicarbonate. NO SALT.
9. Brought barely to a simmer, lid on TIGHT, over the LOWEST possible heat.
10. Cooked 8 to 10 HOURS, or overnight in a slow cooker. NOT STIRRED, NOT TOPPED UP.
11. TESTED: the beans should have collapsed and the liquid should be thick and starchy. Firm beans mean the pan was too wide and lost its water.
12. A spoonful or two CRUSHED against the side of the pot to thicken.
13. Spooned into bowls IN THEIR OWN LIQUID, undrained.
14. The oil, cumin, lemon, garlic paste, parsley, tomato, onion, chilli and salt all taken to the table SEPARATELY and added by whoever is eating.
15. Served with flatbread and hard-boiled eggs.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

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