Creamy Foul Moudamas (Lebanese Fava Beans)

Lebanese fava beans are a typical breakfast comfort food called foul moudamas. Tender cooked faba beans that have been hand mashed with lemon and garlic then topped with olive oil. 

What is Foul Moudamas?

Foul moudamas is a warm stew of dried fava beans (broad beans or faba beans) that have been slow-cooked, typically for 10-12 hours.

The foul are mixed through a base sauce of garlic, salt, and lemon. Then drizzled with a generous amount of olive oil.

Foul moudamas is found throughout the Middle East as an omnipresent staple, where there are many variations. 

In Lebanon, there are specialty shops dedicated to foul.

Foul Moudamas in English

Foul moudamas in English is pronounced as fool moo·dum·mas in Arabic.

It is also known as ful, foul, foul mdamas, and ful medamas. This pronunciation is dependent on the region in the Middle East.

The word “foul” is fava beans.

😋Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• A tempting, warming and filling meal for breakfast - foul is known to satiate
• Easy to make and inexpensive
• Faba beans offer an impressive amount of nutrition
• Can be topped with various ingredients - see variations.
• Is always paired with some form of chickpea dishes such as baleela

Fava beans - to save on time, use the canned variety, which you can heat up in a pot. Otherwise, if you don’t mind cooking it from the dry variety (my preference, albeit longer prep time. The taste is way better) see how to cook the dry variety. 

Chickpeas - are popular with foul moudamas and are usually used as a topper or mixed through. This is up to you. 

Fresh lemon juice adds a nice sourness to the chickpeas.

Tahini whilst optional bolsters the creaminess of the foul and gives a nutty taste.

Olive oil - use a high-quality extra virgin olive to top the foul moudamas. Normally a liberal amount is used, I have however limited to one tablespoon in this recipe - personal preference.

If you are avoiding oils in your diet, just leave it out.

Crushed garlic clove the size is up to you.

Salt - to taste.

🔪How to Make Foul Moudamas

Step 1 - In a pot over med-high heat, heat up faba beans with their brine until completely warm. Optionally, warm up a ¼ cup of whole chickpeas separately over medium-high heat in a pot. Set aside.

Step 2 - In a bowl, combine salt, lemon juice, and garlic. Mash through the warmed ful with brine), now mash through tahini and combine everything together as evenly as possible.

The texture should be a combination of chunky and mash.

Top with olive oil and optional warmed whole chickpeas. Serve warm (ful is typically served in the famous Lebanese brown bowls.

See serving and garnish suggestions.

How to Cook Dry Fava Beans

Soak sorted beans in water for about 8 hours (1 cup fava to 5 cups water), they should be fully reconstituted.

Then pour the beans and water into a pot, bring to a boil on high heat, then slow cook on low-medium heat for 10-12 hours.

You may need to top up the water with warm water. The ful should be falling apart.

Note - As the skin of ful is tough, they are cooked for a prolonged period of time, although the flesh itself is soft after 1-2 hours of cooking.

🥗Serving Suggestion

As mentioned earlier, chickpea dishes such as musabaha are always paired with foul. Although, in my household we tend to make either or.

Use Lebanese bread (pita bread) is used to scoop the foul moudamas and enjoyed with a plate of fresh and pickled vegetables (fresh mint, tomato, radish, pickled turnip known as lifit, olives, pickled green chili, and pickled Armenian cucumbers (snake cucumbers).

A cup of cinnamon black tea or mint tea is enjoyed too.

🌿Garnish Suggestions

Some of the traditional garnishes include;

Chopped parsley and mint leaves

Whole tender chickpeas

Paprika, cumin, chili powder

Diced fresh tomato

🥄Variations

Each country and region in the Middle Eastern has its version of ful medamas, below are some variations;

Use vinegar and tahini rather than lemon juice and tahini. This version is great with spices such as hot chili and paprika powders.

Chopped tomato, parsley, onions, and radish can be mixed throughout. This is referred to as foul salad.

A spoonful of plain yogurt is mixed through. You can use tahini, lemon, and garlic with this.

This is a personal preference, but you can also mash through cooked chickpeas into any type of foul.

❓FAQ