Egyptian "Ful Medames" & Baba Ganoush

Have you ever been to Egypt? If the answer is NO, then you will know one of its most popular dishes in it, and if the answer is YES, that means you know the most popular breakfast for sure, which is "Ful & Falafel", it's known for its delicious taste and nutritional value, today you will know how to make it, Egyptian "Ful" or beans has many ways to be done with, but I'm going to show you the simplest one because it's the best with "Baba Ganoush". Egyptian beans is a legume which is cooked for a long time in a special beans pot which is wide in the bottom and so narrow in the top of it, and that's because when the beans are uncovered to the air it becomes black and dry and not well cooked, so that special pot minimize the amount of beans on top.

 In addition to beans, I will talk about Baba Ghanoush which is also a famous Egyptian dish, it's usually been eaten with Egyptian beans or Egyptian roasted fish "Samak Mashwy" and grilled meat in general, or as an appetizer at lunch or dinner, the main ingredient in Baba Ganoush is roasted eggplant, and it's really appetizing.

Recipe Tips:

1 - You must not use a blender or food processor to mix Baba Ganoush ingredients, It causes changes in the taste of Baba ghanoush and get the water out of the eggplant, while using the mortar and pestle gives it a really good taste and texture.

2 - Instead of using canned beans, you can cook your own at home if you have the special pot, beans are cooked over night with the same amount of water on low heat, and if it needs water only hot water could be added to not get dried, you can also add a tomato, garlic, and 1 tbsp of lentil to enhance flavor and also because tomato helps to cook beans well.

Recommendation: This dish is wonderful with boiled eggs.

Serves: 2 people

Prep. time: 3 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1 can Egyptian beans (Americana or California Garden) 

3 medium to small eggplants or 1 big eggplant

3 tbsp Tahini

3 garlic cloves, minced.

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 tbsp vinegar

Salt, pepper to taste

1/4 tsp cumin

1 tomato, sliced

1 boiled egg

 Directions:

1- Heat the oven 250C.

2-Place the eggplants in a backing tray and put in into the oven for  40 minutes.

3- Make sure the eggplant is done by putting a knife into it and feel its tenderness (like a paste), then take it out of the oven.

4- While roasting eggplant, strain the beans and place it in a pan on meduim heat, add the water and mash 2 third of the beans.

 5- Add salt and pepper, and when boil add olive oil and turn off the heat.

6- Mash the eggplant with mortar and pestle and place it in a smal bowl, then place the garlic in the mortar and mash it with salt, pepper, and cumin.

7- Place the eggplant again in the mortar mix it with garlic then back in the bowl and using a fork mix it with the vinegar and Tahini, then prepare the serving dish like so.

8- Place Baba Ganoush in the meddle.

9- Place Ful around and sprinkle with the vegetable oil, remove the mold and garnish with tomato and boiled egg, Serve with Egyptian bread and... Bon Apetit :)