American Bedu

Breakfast and dinner in Saudi Arabia can involve some kind of bread or sandwich. Most families have their main meal of the day at lunch with rice usually as the featured staple.

Ful (aslo written foul) is mostly known in Egypt although it is probably eaten throughout East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant. The best type is made from the fava bean and when is made from dried beans which have been stewed slowly over a low fire in a special pot called a Fawala.

Most cooks have their secret ingredients to add to the basic dish but most will admit to adding a little bit of onion and tomato and possibly some red lentils to the pot while it is stewing to keep the color light. It takes hours to make ful and most busy cooks don’t have the time or patience to try it themselves. For the rest of us we can find canned ful in the supermarkets and specialty stores dealing in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern foodstuffs. The better quality bean is light-colored, small to medium size and the darker, larger beans are not as good eating. Some of the Italian brands feature the larger beans probably for a different use than as a warm salad.

There are many different ways to flavor ful as there are chefs and the toppings include:
diced tomatos, parsley, white or red onions, green onions, mint, hot peppers, garbanzo beans, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and cumin. No one puts all of them on the ful but usually some combination of these to enhance the flavor of the mostly bland beans.

The first version of ful is made by opening the can and pouring it into a medium skillet on medium heat. It’s better to prepare your toppings ahead of time because it takes more time to wash and chop them than it does to warm up the ful.

Once the toppings of choice are ready the ful is warmed up on the stove and depending on your preference you mash the beans with a fork. Roughly pureed ful is then called ful mudammas. Some cooks prefer to leave the mixture half and half with some beans left whole for toothiness.

You have to watch the beans to make sure they don’t dry out. They usually warm up within 2 to  3 minutes.The beans are turned into a shallow dish and staple toppings are olive oil, lemon juice and cumin, then any assortment of the herbs or tomatos. Here are some favorite combinations:

tomato, parsley, white onion (oil, lemon juice, cumin)
mint and a few whole garbanzo beans (oil, lemon juice and cumin)
parsley only with (oil, lemon juice and cumin)

I am not a big fan of using garlic but it’s not unheard of and probably goes very nicely with tomato, parsley (oil, lemon juice, and cumin).

Ful tastes very good with pita bread especially whole wheat pita bread but it also goes very well with crusty french bread or a sour dough. If using sour dough, cut back on the lemon juice. Ful can also be served with lime juice instead of lemon. It rarely needs extra salting as you are cooking it in the can liquid and not draining it.

A second version of ful is called Ful Makawy (Makkah-style Ful). I love this dish but it is the dividing line between how my husband enjoys his ful and how I do. Since a can is fairly generous for two people I make half for me my style and half for him, his style.

Ful Makawy

half a small onion
one small clove garlic
butter
half a tomato
scant tablespoon tahina

The finely diced onion is cooked in a tablespoon of butter until translucent, then the garlic is added and the tomato and cooked just until softened. Some people like to add a little finely-chopped chili pepper too and just the faintest dash of cumin. Then the beans are poured in and warmed through and all the ingredients are crushed together. A tablespoon of tahina is added to the mixture making it a little bit creamier and a little bit extra water can be added.

The mixture is served in a shallow, rimmed dish and topped with melted butter. It’s heavenly and I can’t figure out why hubby isn’t as in love with it as I am. For a busy chef (and some might scream at this) the left over Ful Makkawy can be doctored with a bit of chili powder and rolled up later in a flour tortilla with cheese, seasoned ground beef or fajita steak or chicken and either eaten as a burrito or grilled as a chimichanga. In Saudi when you can’t always get pinto beans, foul made this way is a reasonable fudge. I might add a touch of oregano as well to the bean mixture when it is posing as frijoles refritos, not because it tastes more authentic but because I like it.

Since sour dough is nearly impossible to get in Saudi I also recommend trying ful with tameez the Afghani flat bread that is made in brick ovens. Tameez comes in two basic styles, Abu Samin (the father of fat) which is softer and chewier and Abu Biskoot which is flatter, drier and crispier. Recently some versions have been stuffed with a type of cheddar cheese and baked. It’s probably Kraft cheddar which comes in a blue can and has a huge shelf life. The first time I tried it I truly wondered how anyone could call it anything but yellow wax “cheese” but it does grow on one over time, especially when made as panini with samouli bread (looks like a hot dog bun) and apricot or strawberry jam. Cheese and jam melded together in a crispy sandwich is a breakfast must try.

Saha wal Afia

Jasmin Keaton for Carol

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