If avocado toast had a Middle Eastern cousin, it would be "Ful Toast". This vegan-friendly breakfast recipe is easy to make and has a Mediterranean spin on things. Here's my favorite recipe for ful medames (a.k.a. fava beans recipe) served up on whole-wheat toast.
What is Foul Moudamas (Ful Fava Beans)?
Foul (or ful) is fava beans or broad beans. Moudamas (or medames) is the process of how the beans are cooked.
In Arabic, fava beans are pronounced "fool" and not "fowl". Because foul is an English spelling of an Arabic word, there are several ways you will see this word spelled in English: ful, foul, or fool (this is even more confusing in my opinion). You will also find many different spellings for moudamas or medames.
You get the point. All of these variations of spelling mean the same thing.
You can buy foul in a can, or make it from scratch using dried fava beans. For this fava beans recipe, I use a can.
How To Eat Ful Medames
In the Middle East, ful medames is a very common breakfast, but it varies slightly from country to country. For example, Lebanese foul has mashed garlic and Egyptian foul has ground cumin.
Either way, you serve ful medames with bread. Eat it as a stuffed pita sandwich or as a dip.
This fava beans recipe is a lighter version that's blending the best of 3 worlds - Egypt, America, and Lebanon. I've added mashed garlic to represent my Lebanese side, ground cumin for my Egyptian ties, and whole-wheat toast for the American part.
How To Make "Ful Toast" (Fava Beans Toast Recipe)?
- Prepare the foul. Boil a can of ful beans on the stovetop with some water for about 5 minutes. Drain the ful beans and return to the pot. Mash some fresh garlic with salt. Squeeze the lemon. Add the garlic, lemon, cumin, and olive oil to the foul beans.
- Prepare the cucumber tomato mint salad. Chop the cucumber, grape tomatoes, and mint.
- Toast some whole-wheat sliced bread.
- Spread some ful beans on the whole-wheat sliced bread. Top with the cucumber tomato mint salad. Drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil.
Is Ful Medames Healthy?
Ful medames is vegan-friendly and packed with nutrients such as folate, manganese, iron, and potassium. For every cup of cooked fava beans, it contains 33 grams of carbs, 1 gram of fat, 13 grams of protein, and 9 grams of fiber.
On a side note, fava beans can be dangerous for people with a rare genetic disorder called G6PD (glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency).
How To Make Ful Medames From Scratch
Making ful medames from scratch requires a lot of time but is fairly easy to do. You will need to soak the dried fava beans the night before, then boil the bean until they are soft. The larger the fava bean, the tougher the skin. I recommend removing the skins one by one (which is why it takes so long to prepare).
You can make a big batch of ful medames and freeze the beans for up to 3 months in an airtight bag or container. This is my preferred way of eating ful fava beans toast, because I make it from scratch.
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Ful Fava Beans Toast
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
If avocado toast had a Mediterranean cousin, it would be ful toast. This vegan recipe for ful medames is delicious and easy to make.
Ingredients
- 4 sliced bread
- Ful medames (1 can)
- Fresh mint leaves (about 10 leaves)
- 10 grape tomatoes
- 2 Persian cucumbers or ⅓ English Cucumber
- 3 garlic cloves
- Juice from ½ a lemon (about 3 tbsp of lemon juice)
- 1 tbsp of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
- 1 tsp of ground cumin
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Prepare Foul
- Open and rinse ful medames can of beans.
- In a pot, add ful medames and water. Allow foul to boil on high for about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Mash the garlic with some salt using a mortar and pestle.
- Squeeze the lemon in a bowl.
- Drain the foul beans and return them to the pot (not on the heat).
- Add the mashed garlic. Mash the foul beans and the mashed garlic together.
- Add the lemon juice, olive oil, and ground cumin.
Make the Cucumber Tomato Mint Salad
- Chop grape tomatoes and cucumber into small pieces.
- Chop fresh mint leaves.
Assemble the Foul Toast
- Toast the sliced bread.
- Add a layer of foul on top of the toasted bread.
- Add the cucumber tomato mint salad on the foul.
- Drizzle some EVOO.
Notes
- You can make homemade foul in a big batch and freeze it instead of using foul from a can. Soak dried fava beans overnight. Boil fava beans on high until tender (about 1 hour to 1.5 hours). Remove the outer skins. For a more in-depth explanation, click here.
- Traditional Lebanese foul moudamas does not usually have ground cumin, however, it has mashed garlic. Egyptian foul usually have ground cumin but not mashed garlic, which adds a nice dimension of flavors. The taste is awesome if you add both the smashed garlic and the ground cumin!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Lebanese
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 foul toast
- Calories: 349
- Sugar: 7 g
- Sodium: 270 mg
- Fat: 9 g
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 55 g
- Fiber: 10 g
- Protein: 16 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: foul moudamas, ful medames, recipe for foul, ful recipe
Joan
Loved this spin on toast! It’s a great high protein vegan option for the morning.
★★★★★
Lily
Thanks for the comment
Sarah
nice spin on foul... although I like it also with pita bread. Just an option to have this way as well.