Ful Nabet

The beans are sprouted for two days before they are cooked at all, which changes them into something else entirely.

Vegan.

Ingredients

to sprout

• 400 g small dried fava beans
• water, changed several times

the soup

• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1.5 litres water
• a large handful of coriander, chopped
• juice of 2 lemons
• salt and black pepper

Method

1. THE BEANS ARE SPROUTED FOR TWO DAYS BEFORE THEY ARE COOKED AT ALL, which changes them into something else entirely. Soaked, then drained and left damp in a covered bowl, rinsed two or three times a day, until each bean has pushed out a white shoot a centimetre long -- about forty-eight hours. Sprouting converts some of the starch to sugar and breaks down the compounds that make fava beans heavy, so the soup tastes faintly sweet and green and is noticeably lighter than the same beans stewed whole. The unsprouted bean gives a dense brown stew; the sprouted one gives a clear fresh soup. Same bean, two days apart.
2. THE WATER IS CHANGED TWO OR THREE TIMES A DAY AND THIS MATTERS FOR SAFETY, NOT FLAVOUR. Sprouting is warm damp conditions and anything left standing in its own water for two days will grow more than shoots. Drained properly each time, rinsed in fresh cold water, and kept covered but not sealed. If anything smells sour or looks slimy at any point, the batch is thrown away rather than rinsed and used.
3. THEY ARE COOKED THE DAY THEY ARE READY. Once the shoots are a centimetre they are at their best, and a further day in the bowl makes them bitter and tough. Refrigerated they will hold for a day, no more.
4. IT IS A SOUP AND IS COOKED FAST. Forty minutes, not ten hours. Sprouted beans are already softened and they cook quickly; held much longer they disintegrate and the soup goes cloudy and thick, which loses the clarity it is wanted for.
5. THE GARLIC AND CUMIN ARE BOTH GENEROUS AND THE CUMIN GOES IN THE POT. Six cloves and two teaspoons. Unlike the stewed version, where everything is added at the table, this one is seasoned in the pan -- it is a soup eaten from a spoon rather than scooped with bread, so it has to arrive finished.
6. THE LEMON AND FRESH CORIANDER GO IN OFF THE HEAT. Both lose their point in a simmering pot. In at the end, with the pan off the flame.
7. The beans soaked 12 HOURS, then DRAINED.
8. Left damp in a covered but NOT SEALED bowl, RINSED in fresh cold water 2 or 3 TIMES A DAY.
9. Sprouted about 48 HOURS, until each shoot is about 1 cm.
10. ANY BATCH that smells sour or looks slimy THROWN AWAY.
11. The olive oil heated and the onions softened 8 MINUTES, the garlic in for 1 MINUTE.
12. The cumin and ground coriander stirred in, then the sprouted beans and the water.
13. Simmered 40 MINUTES, until the beans are tender but the soup is still clear-ish. Seasoned.
14. TAKEN OFF THE HEAT and the lemon juice and fresh coriander stirred in.
15. TESTED: the soup should taste faintly sweet and fresh rather than heavy. Cloudy and thick means it cooked too long.
16. Served hot with bread.

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.

Filed under Egypt · All recipes