Ful Medames

Smash garlic cloves with a flat part of the knife and remove the outer layers. Chop parsley.

In a small skillet toast cumin seeds until you can smell their intense aroma. Transfer to a pestle and mortar and grind.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or pot and add the garlic cloves and cumin. Saute one minute and add drained fava beans. Cover with water, put a lid on and simmer for about an hour or until beans are soft.

Drain cooked beans through a sieve, reserving the flavorful water. Let them cool down a bit and start shelling them. Make a small cut or tear a small opening on one end of a bean and squeeze the content back into the flavorful water. Throw away the shells.

Bring back beans to a boil and using potato masher, mash them slightly. Add parsley, lemon juice and tomatoes and simmer few more minutes until slightly reduced and thick. Stir from time to time.

At the end season with salt and pepper and serve with pita bread.

Note: This can be made either with young fava beans or old ones. I used older ones which have a brown color; young fava beans are very green in color. If you use young beans you probably won’t have to shell them but honestly I’ve never seen Ful Medames made with green beans, that’s why I used older, brown beans. If you’re discouraged by the process of shelling beans, don’t worry, it’s not that bad and since the beans are really large, it goes pretty fast. Some people prefer to shell fava beans before cooking but I find it easier to do it after they’ve been simmering for an hour. That way you can just squeeze them and they easily pop out of their shells.