Fuul – A Syrian Breakfast

One of our favourite Syrian snacks is Fuul – a broad bean stew drizzled with lemon juice, olive oil, and tahini. We often found it at small stalls in the souk (market). Each stall serves it in a slightly different manner.

Our local Lebonese halal grocery store has some nice big (about 1 inch long and 1/2 inch wide) fava beans. With some experimentation and Web research, I’ve manage to reproduce something similar to one of our favourite types of fuul. I tested it out on Scott’s extended family this weekend, and it met rave reviews.

I hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients

• Large fava beans (one can or about 2 cups dried) *
• 4 tbsp olive oil (separated)
• 2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 tomato chopped
• salt
• sprinkle of cumin powder
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2 tbsp of tahini (sesame paste)**

* If you cannot find fava beans, you can substitute white kidney beans or another large bean. It won’t taste the same, but it will still be good 🙂

Directions

1. If using dried fava beans, soak them overnight with 1/2 tsp on baking soda. Cook until tender – this is best done with a pressure cooker, as boiling tends to make them mushy.
2. Peel the brown shell off the fava beans. This is required for both canned and dried beans.
3. Heat the fava beans. I use the microwave, but you could also bring them to a quick boil.
4. Sprinkle salt over the fava beans. This is necessary when using dried beans. Canned beans are sometimes salted.
5. In a deep frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil.
6. Fry the garlic for 30 seconds.
7. Add the fava beans and stir – fry for 1 minute.
8. Add the onions and stir – fry for 1 minute (you don’t want to cook the onions too much, they should be crunchy).
9. Remove from heat and add the tomatoes – stir.
10. Divide into serving bowls (makes 3-4 servings).
11. Sprinkle with cumin.
12. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
13. Sprinkle with the remaining olive oil.
14. Drizzle with tahini.**

** Optional.  If you can find it, Lebanese tahini (which is a thick liquid rather than a paste) tastes better than Greek tahini.