Breakfast Foul (Beans)

Foul Mudames (translates to mashed beans) is a breakfast specialty in Lebanon and around different countries in the Levant region. In my hometown of Saida, you can find small shops that specialize in serving foul, hummus, fetteh, and hot pockets of pita bread with endless vegetable platters and pickles for breakfast. We usually enjoy this type of breakfast on the weekend because it’s known to make you feel full afterwards for a while.

Note we use canned fava beans but you can also soak the beans and cook them at home. We do make our own chickpeas at home though.

Recipe (serves 4 people)

1 can of plain fava beans, drained

2 cups of chickpeas, cooked

1 juice of lemon

1 large clove of garlic, minced

a small bunch of cilantro

1 tsp salt

Toppings: olive oil, diced tomatoes, green onion or sweet onion, Lebanese pickles, olives, mint

Side of pita bread

Directions:

1. Drain the canned beans and add them to a pot separately with fresh water halfway of the beans. (so 1 cup of beans 1/2 cup of water). Bring to a boil, then simmer for a few minutes.

2. Note: if you make your own chick peas at home and freeze like us, the remove before to thaw for defrost and add it to a pot with water. The beans must be hot!

3. In a bowl, add garlic and use a wooden pestle to mash the garlic in the bowl, then add the salt, and add the juice of the lemon.

4. Add half the fava beans and half the chickpeas into the bowl and lightly mash them down with the pestle.

5. Then add the remaining beans with their water into the bowl.

6. Add the minced cilantro on top of the beans and mix the ingredients together.

7. Serve into smaller individual bowls and drizzle with olive oil. Top or side with your favorite vegetables. Use pita bread to scoop the foul and enjoy!