Not Just Anybody’s Foul

“Everyone has their own way of making it,” says Dina. I have yet again barged my way into another friend’s kitchen intent on discovering new cooking techniques . Today we are making foul, a middle eastern dish pronounced like fool made with fava beans. This is not my first experience with foul and I’m starting to get the impression that it’s one of those recipe names with an identity crisis. At my friend Sabrina’s, whose family is from Palestine, it was more like a bean salad with tomatoes and onions. We ate it for breakfast at her house; I love breakfast at Sabrina’s. A few months ago, considering myself very worldly, I ordered foul with my hummus at a restaurant in the Arabic section of Jerusalem. Instead of a bean salad, I got a dark bean paste swirled into my hummus and there was no sign of tomatoes. Now here I am with Dina and a foul that looks like Sabrina’s salad, but is cooked like the one in Jerusalem. And did I forget to mention that Dina’s has hard boiled eggs? So like she said, everyone has their own way of making it, but there must be something in the name because I’ve enjoyed it every time.

Ah, foul means fava bean in Arabic; makes sense.

Dina’s Family Recipe

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red onion (diced)
3 plum tomatoes (diced)
2 cans fava beans
1 teaspoon Berbere (optional)
2 teaspoons cumin
Salt/Pepper
3 hard boiled eggs (diced)

In a medium frying pan sauté onions in olive oil until wilted. Add tomatoes, reserving about 1/3 for garnish, and cook down until tomatoes begin to disintegrate, about 8 minutes. Add entire can of beans, including juice. Add spices, salt and pepper to taste, and simmer about 10 minutes or until beans are soft. Once beans are soft use the back of a spoon to smash them a bit but not completely. The result should be a smooth base with lot of chunks for texture. Add hardboiled eggs, reserving some for garnish. Pour finished product into a bowl and garnish with tomatoes, eggs and olive oil. Serve with warm pita bread.