Full after eating Ful? You better believe it!

I’m terrible at eating breakfast, you’d be forgiven for thinking the opposite though! I quite like my snooze button and I’m known for pressing it numerous times on a weekday. I’ve trained my daughter well too, she knows not to wake Mummy before 8.30am

I’d rather get that 5 minutes of extra blissed out sleep then wake and make myself a proper breakfast.

Shameful, I know. I can hear your tsk tsk tsk from here.

Weekends are a completely different story though. I actually wake unassisted, make myself a gorgeous cup of chai tea, and have this hearty breakfast/brunch which lasts me all day and keeps my belly happy.

Ful Medames, or commonly known as just Ful is the Middle Eastern version of baked beans.

Ful is a flavour packed bowl of hydrated Fava Beans that is cooked with garlic, lemon herbs and spices and every time I eat it, I can’t help but say ‘There’s a party in my mouth, and everyone’s invited!’

Fava beans are traditionally cooked very slowly overnight in a copper pot, and as much as I would love to do this one day, the canned variety works just as well

Here’s my ‘Wog Fusion’ version of Ful, every Middle Eastern person would have their own favourite flavour combination. Feel free to play around with these ingredients and measurements. I personally like my bowl of Ful quite tangy and put extra lemon, where my husband prefers his more earthy without as many add-ons.

Lisa’s Ful Medames: serves 2-4
* 1 can of Fava Beans
* Lemon
* 1 tablespoon cumin
* 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
* 2 cloves garlic
* 2 table spoon pepper/tomato paste
* Fresh chilli
* 2 tablespoon raw tahini paste
* Olive Oil
* 2 tomatoes, diced
* Fresh parsley/fresh oregano

Method: I like to drain the liquid from the canned Fava beans and rinse the beans well under the colander. I hear this is sacrilegious as the canned liquid is the best bit, however I personally don’t want all those salty nasties and prefer to add fresh water to the beans. Add washed beans to a saucepan and cover with enough water to completely cover the beans and then some. Add crushed garlic, cumin, paprika, generous pinch of salt and cracked pepper. Bring your bean mix to a boil, then simmer on low for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile in your serving bowl, add the tomato paste, tahini, lemon juice of ½ – 1 lemon (depending on taste) and plenty of olive oil. Mix well. You will find the tahini will thicken up the sauce and it will become harder to stir.

Once your beans have simmered for a bit, add spoonfuls of the beans liquid to your tahini sauce and mix well, this will make the mixture smooth again in texture. Add your diced tomatoes, chilli, freshly chopped parsley or oregano (or both!), the remainder of the beans and the simmering liquid. Mix well to bind the beans to the sauce and drizzle with lots of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Mop it all up with fresh Lebanese bread and drown it with another cup of tea.

Make sure your other half eats this with you as you don’t want to be the only one with garlic breath first thing in the morning!