Recipes

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Ful Medames

Ful medames is stewed fava beans dressed with olive oil, cumin, garlic and lemon, and it is Egypt's national dish. It is eaten at any hour, though breakfast is when it belongs most, and it is sold from carts across Cairo and Giza in the mornings. Traditionally it is cooked and served in a large metal jug, the qedra, over a very long slow heat, often overnight, which is why street ful has a depth that a quick home version does not. What the beans are dressed with varies endlessly: parsley, onion, chilli, tomato, hard eggs, tahini. Its versions across the region are worth knowing. In Somalia, fuul is a breakfast staple served with eggs and laxoox or canjeero flatbread, spiced with xawaash, the blend of cumin, coriander, cardamom, cloves, turmeric and more that makes it noticeably hotter than the Egyptian version. In Morocco it is bissara, made from fava beans and split green peas cooked with garlic, eaten especially in the north during cold weather. This particular recipe includes tahini, which is a Levantine addition rather than a classic Egyptian one, and it uses tinned beans rather than the overnight cook.

25 minEasyEgypt

Recipe by Nympha · Africook

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Corn Dough Porridge

Corn dough porridge is a Ghanaian breakfast, particularly in the south, made from fermented corn dough thinned with water and cooked with grains of selim until thick. It is closely related to koko and to ogi across the border in Nigeria, all built on the same fermented maize. Fermentation is what gives it its character. Corn is soaked, ground and left to sour for several days, which produces a distinctly tangy flavour and makes the grain easier to digest. Fermented corn dough is sold ready made at Ghanaian and Nigerian markets and grocers, in blocks or bags, and making it from scratch takes days rather than minutes. Grains of selim, also called negro pepper or hwentia, is the spice that makes this Ghanaian rather than generic. It is a long dark pod with a smoky, slightly bitter, aromatic flavour, crushed into the water before the corn goes in. The other technique that matters is straining: the dough is slaked with water and passed through a strainer before it meets the heat, which is the only reliable way to avoid lumps. It is served hot with sugar, and often with milk, roasted nuts or coconut flakes.

30 minEasyGhana

Recipe by Amanda Dadson · Africook

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Wheat Porridge (Belila)

Belila is Egyptian wheat porridge: whole wheat berries cooked until they burst, served warm in hot milk with toasted almonds and cinnamon. It is a breakfast dish, and it is equally at home as a snack or a filling dessert. Whole wheat berries are the point, and they are quite different from any milled grain. Left whole, they hold their shape and burst open rather than dissolving, giving a chewy, almost popping texture that no flour or flake reproduces. The fuller Egyptian version carries anise seed and golden raisins in a light syrup alongside the milk and almonds, which is worth knowing since neither appears in this recipe's ingredient list. The method is soaking rather than long cooking. The berries are covered with boiling water and left overnight, then cooked briefly and rested off the heat until they pop open. Cooked wheat berries should be kept in the fridge undrained, and portions warmed with hot milk poured over as needed, which makes it a practical thing to have prepared in advance. It is eaten by children and adults alike and is regarded as comfort food at any hour.

40 minEasyEgypt

Recipe by FoodChef · Africook

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Shahan Ful (Horn of Africa Fava Beans)

Shahan ful is fava beans cooked down with onion, garlic and berbere until thick, topped with yoghurt, tomato and chilli, and eaten with bread. It is a breakfast across Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan, and no single country is claimed. It is the same dish family as Egyptian ful medames, and the source is right to say so, the difference is the seasoning. Egyptian ful leans on cumin, lemon and olive oil; shahan ful is built on berbere, the Ethiopian chilli and spice blend, and finished with ghee. That single substitution changes the whole character while the technique stays identical. The origin is generally traced to Sudan, and fava beans themselves are among the oldest cultivated crops in the region, they have been eaten around the Nile for thousands of years. It is eaten by hand with bread, no cutlery, and the toppings are stirred in by whoever is eating rather than mixed by the cook. That is why the method leaves the yoghurt, tomato and chilli in distinct piles on top: each person combines their own. Ramadan and the Ethiopian and Eritrean Lenten fasts are both when it is eaten most, being filling, cheap and, without the ghee and yoghurt, entirely plant-based.

35 minEasy

Recipe by Nympha · Africook

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