Ful Medames

Way back in the fall of 2007, when I was speaking at my first "big" conference, P and I had dinner at a North-African restaurant just up the street from our hotel in Minneapolis.

Our (enormous) appetizer was a place of what they called "Fool Madame," and what I have more recently discovered is usually referred to as "ful medames." A few months ago, when we had our Moroccan chicken, I served this as an appetizer, and the guests scarfed it.

Since I've had requests for it since, here is my version, adapted from what we had in Minneapolis plus several on-line recipes.

Ful Medames

Soak 1.5 cups of dried beans (I use a mix of cranberry/borlotti and rosa) in water for a few hours or overnight. Pick over, drain and thoroughly rinse the beans until the water runs clear. Boil, just covered, until firm and mashable but not mushy. While the beans are cooking, mash a few cloves of garlic in a mortar and pestle with salt. Mix the garlic and salt with the juice of one or two lemons, 2 tbsp. olive oil and 1 tsp. cumin or zataar.

Once the beans are cooked, gently crush 2/3 of them to a coarse paste. Stir in the remaining beans and the garlic mixture. Add more oil, salt and lemon juice for taste and texture; garnish with (I actually stir these next items in) finely chopped fresh tomatoes, white onions, scallions, mint and cilantro (these last three are optional, but lovely when possible).

This makes for an excellent, nutritious and hearty dip, which we serve with pita. Yum!