Recipe Fuul Mudammas EGYPT

M * Fuul Mudammas * Recipe Fuul Mudammas EGYPT Egypt’s breakfast of champions is the country’s national dish. Served up YOU'LL NEED METHOD as a sandwich fi ller, this spice-fest of a stew keeps the 80-million-strong 2 cups of dried broad beans (fava Broad Beans population on the move throughout the day. beans) – the small, round kind (or Note: you can skip this step by using canned beans. cheat by using 4 cups canned cooked 1. Soak the dried fava beans in cold water for 24 hours (make sure beans) they are completely covered by the water), then drain and rinse. 7 cups of water What is It? Tasting 2. In a large pot bring 7 cups of water to the boil. Forget waking up to cornfl akes or muesli. This broad Wafts of garlic hang over the street. Some of the 1 onion, fi nely diced 3. Add the fava beans to the pot and boil for 10–15 minutes, bean (fava bean) dish is a high-energy, supremely swelling crowd are clutching empty containers ready 3–4 garlic cloves, fi nely chopped making sure to skim any foam off the top. nutritious kick-start to your day. Slow-cooked, until to be fi lled. Squeeze your way up to the front, where 1 tomato, fi nely chopped easily mashed, the broad beans are mixed with the vendor is working up a sweat and the customers 4. Reduce heat, cover pot and leave to simmer for eight hours. ⅛ cup squeezed lemon juice tomatoes, onion, garlic and lemon juice, spiced with are yelling with impatience. You’re handed a simple 5. After simmering for eight hours, check for dryness. If too dry, cumin and cayenne pepper, and drizzled with olive pita sandwich, spread with a generous dollop of fuul ½ tsp cumin add boiling water to the pot. oil. Spooned into a fresh pita pocket, it’s the perfect and garnished with fresh, crunchy salad. ½ tsp chilli powder 6. Cover and cook on a low heat for another two hours. breakfast on the run. The fi rst bite reveals the soft, comforting texture of pinch of turmeric beans and olive oil. As you chew, the tart zing of lemon, pinch of cayenne pepper Fuul the peppery taste of cumin and the powerful punch of pinch of cinnamon 1. In a large frying pan, saute the diced onion until translucent. Origin garlic come into play. It’s hearty and wholesome, and 2. Add garlic and fry on a low heat for two to three minutes. The fava bean used for fuul mudammas (often simply surprisingly fi lling. Your pita is fi nished. You look back salt called fuul) is known in Arabic as fuul-hammam due to at the crowd and nod at their intelligence. Next time pepper 3. Add the chopped tomato to the pan and fry for approximately you’re bringing a pot to fi ll as well. a quirky medieval business monopoly on production. olive oil to taste another fi ve minutes (until the tomato is at the stage where it is starting to come apart). Having stoked the great fi res for Cairo’s Princess pita bread Public Baths all day, the hammam attendants came hard-boiled eggs (optional) 4. Transfer the frying-pan mix to the pot of beans. up with a great idea: they’d use the leftover embers to 5. Stir in the lemon juice, all the spices and seasonings and olive oil. slow-cook great vats of fuul overnight to be ready for fetta (optional) the breakfast rush. Their ingenious plan proved a hit, parsley 6. On a low heat, leave to cook for 15–20 minutes. and every morning they had all of Cairo clamouring at tomatoes 7. Using a potato masher, mash mixture together to a consistency their door. cucumber of your liking (or for a less chunky version put it in a blender until smooth). 8. Serve in bowls (drizzled with extra olive oil) with pita bread, Finding It hard-boiled eggs, chunks of fetta, and a simple salad of parsley, Seek out Muhammad Ali’s fuul cart, beside Qasr tomatoes and cucumber for an authentic Egyptian breakfast. Beshtak, just off Sharia Al-Muizz li-Din Allah, in Islamic Cairo. Expect to pay 1.25EGP (US$0.20). SERVES 4 * VARIATIONS * Endlessly adaptable, fuul comes in many guises. Fuul Iskandariya, which hails from the coastal city of Alexandria, combines an extra-peppery fuul mix with a hot and spicy tomato-salsa-like sauce. For a naughty version of this nutritious snack, look out for fuul bi samna, which totally trips up the healthy contents of this dish NOTE Swap and change seasoning by adding lashings of clarified butter. © ALAMY | ROTTEM BOAZ measurements to suit your tastes. THE WORLD'S BEST STREET FOOD | 63 * By Jessica Lee * M * Sfi ha * Recipe Sfi ha BAALBEK, BEKAA VALLEY, LEBANON These bite-sized morsels have a sweet-and-sour pomegranate punch This recipe makes approximately 24 pies. Note that it’s fi ne to use basic pizza dough for the crust. that sums up the taste of Lebanon in one mouthful. Pomegranate molasses or thickened sauce can be found at Middle Eastern or Turkish specialist supermarkets. YOU'LL NEED METHOD What is It? Tasting Dough 1. In a bowl combine the milk and yeast, stirring quickly so that Sfi ha combines the best bits of both pizza and On a sun-drenched Baalbek day, there’s no better 1 cup warm milk the yeast dissolves. Set aside in a warm place in your kitchen for around fi ve minutes (the mixture will begin to froth when ready). pie. The meat fi lling is spiced up with mint, tahini, way to street feast after clambering over the Roman 1 tsp dried yeast powder yoghurt and drizzles of pomegranate molasses ruins. Luckily, the sfi ha bakeries are only a stone’s Meanwhile, sift your fl our into a separate bowl and stir in the 1½ cups plain (all-purpose) fl our 2. with a fi nal result that is purely Levantine. Baked throw from the tumbled columns themselves. Pull olive oil, sugar and salt. Once your milk mixture has begun to 1 tbs olive oil in the oven until the dough is golden and the fi lling up a chair at a dinky pavement table and order up froth, add this to the other ingredients and mix well. sizzling, these miniature meat pies are perfect for your plate. The tiny parcels arrive freshly baked, their 1½ tbs sugar 3. Cover the bowl with a cloth and set aside for fi ve minutes. snacking on in the sun. fi lling bubbling and the corners pinched in to keep it ½ tsp salt from oozing out. Drench your piled-high plate with 4. After allowing the dough to sit, knead it thoroughly for around lemon and add a dollop of yoghurt before tucking in. Filling 10 minutes, until it becomes more elastic in consistency. They’re quick to eat – two mouthfuls at the ⅓ cup pine nuts 5. After you’re done kneading, cover the dough with a cloth, place most – but with the solidly satisfying savouriness it in a warm spot in your kitchen and allow it to rise for one to 500g (1lb) minced lamb of summer’s myriad fl avours. The mint-kissed juicy two hours until it has doubled in size. 1 large onion, fi nely diced lamb has a nutty tahini twist topped off by the sharp 6. Once the dough is ready, you can begin preparing the fi lling. 1 large tomato, chopped smack of piquant pomegranate. When it’s just First, lightly toast the pine nuts in a frying pan. crumbs left on your plate, it’s the toasted crunch of 1 handful fresh mint or coriander 7. In a large bowl, combine the meat, onion, tomatoes, mint, salt pine nuts that you’re left to relish. leaves (cilantro), fi nely chopped and spices. 2 tsp salt 8. Add the yoghurt, tahini, pomegranate molasses, toasted pine 1 tsp allspice Origins nuts and butter and mix well. The original sfi ha source is unknown, leaving the ¼ tsp cinnamon 9. Divide your dough into walnut-sized balls by rolling them Syrians and Lebanese to argue over who created it ¼ tsp cayenne pepper between your palms. fi rst. The name itself derives from the Arabic root- 2 tbs yoghurt word ‘to fl atten’, maybe a reference to spreading 10. Place the dough balls on a fl oured surface and use a rolling 1 tbs tahini the meat mixture along the dough. In Baalbek, pin to fl atten each ball into a circle, about 8cm (3in) in diameter. 1 tbs pomegranate molasses where sfi ha production is something of an art 11. Place 1 tbs of the meat fi lling in the middle of each circle, Finding It form, traditionally it’s the butchers who create the 2 tbs butter fl attening the mixture into a cube-like shape. Rue Hajjar in Baalbek is home to the sfi ha bakeries. meat fi lling, each with their own special recipe. 12. Lift the edges of each circle up to encase the fi lling by A plateful of pastries will set you back 6000 Customers then take the fi lling to the bakeries to pinching the corners together. Lebanese pounds (US$4). fi nish off the cooking. 13. Brush an oven tray lightly with olive oil and place the pastries on it. VARIATIONS During the 1880s, huge numbers of Bekaa Valley Lebanese * * 14. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30 minutes or until the pastry is immigrated to South America, which has resulted in sfiha becoming one of Brazil’s most golden and the fi lling sizzling.

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