What Is Ful Medames? The Egyptian Fava Bean Dish Explained
Ful medames is an Egyptian dish of slow-cooked fava beans dressed with oil, lemon and cumin. Here is what it is and where to buy it.
African Stores Editorial Team
The short answer
Ful medames, also spelled foul mudammas, is a traditional Egyptian dish of dried fava beans slow-cooked until soft, then lightly mashed and dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and salt. It is one of Egypt's national dishes and its great everyday food, eaten above all at breakfast, scooped up with flatbread and often topped with things like chopped tomato, onion, parsley, chilli, tahini or a boiled egg. Hearty, savoury and nourishing, it is naturally vegetarian and vegan in its basic form, cheap and filling, and eaten across Egypt and the wider region. In the UK dried or tinned fava beans and the simple dressing ingredients are sold by African, North African and Middle Eastern food shops and many supermarkets.
What to remember
- Ful medames is an Egyptian dish of slow-cooked fava beans, lightly mashed and dressed.
- The dressing is olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and salt.
- It is one of Egypt's national dishes, eaten above all at breakfast with flatbread.
- It is often topped with tomato, onion, parsley, chilli, tahini or egg, and is naturally vegan in its basic form.
- Dried or tinned fava beans and the dressing ingredients are sold by African, North African and Middle Eastern food shops.
For Egyptians in Britain, ful medames is the taste of home and of morning. It is the bowl of cumin-scented beans with bread at breakfast, the street-cart ful of childhood, the warm, savoury, tangy comfort that starts the day, the food that says Egypt and home. Cooking or warming ful medames far from home brings back family breakfasts and the streets of Cairo, the warmth of home in every soft, fragrant mouthful.
There is deep heritage in it too, reaching back thousands of years. Ful medames is one of the oldest and most enduring foods of Egypt, a dish that has fed people since ancient times and remains the nation's everyday staple, and to cook and share it is to keep that ancient heritage alive. Serving ful with bread for family who grew up on it, or introducing a friend to Egypt's beloved bean breakfast, is an act of welcome and belonging. That warm, savoury, cumin-scented taste of home is the quiet gift of ful medames.
What Ful Medames Actually Is
Ful medames is one of Egypt's most beloved and important dishes, a humble but deeply satisfying preparation of fava beans that is eaten by millions every day. At its heart it is dried fava beans, sometimes called broad beans, slow-cooked for a long time until they are very soft, then lightly mashed and dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, ground cumin and salt. The result is a warm, savoury, hearty bowl of beans, rich and comforting, with the cumin and lemon giving it a distinctive fragrant, tangy flavour. It is one of Egypt's national dishes and a true everyday staple.
What makes ful medames so significant is its place in daily life. It is above all a breakfast food, the classic Egyptian way to start the day, sold from street carts and served in homes and cafes, and it is cheap, filling and nourishing, which has made it a food of the people for a very long time indeed, with roots reaching back to ancient Egypt. It is naturally vegetarian and vegan in its basic form, and it belongs to the food culture we cover in our guide to Egyptian food, sitting alongside other Egyptian staples like koshari.
The Fava Beans and the Dressing
Understanding ful medames means understanding its two elements: the beans and the dressing. The beans are dried fava beans, small brown ones being traditional, which are soaked and then simmered slowly for a long time, often overnight, until they are completely soft and tender, which is essential to the dish. Traditionally they were cooked in a special pot buried in coals, and the name medames is linked to this slow, gentle cooking. Once cooked, the beans are lightly mashed, some more than others, so the dish is part whole beans, part creamy mash.
The dressing is what lifts the soft beans into ful medames. The warm beans are dressed with good olive oil, plenty of fresh lemon juice, crushed garlic, ground cumin and salt, which give the dish its signature savoury, tangy, fragrant flavour. Cumin in particular is essential to the taste of ful. From this base, ful is endlessly customised with toppings: chopped tomato, onion, fresh parsley or coriander, green chilli, a drizzle of tahini, and a boiled or fried egg are all common, so a bowl of ful can be simple or generously garnished. This mix of soft, cumin-scented beans and fresh, tangy toppings is what makes ful medames so satisfying.
How Ful Medames Is Eaten
Ful medames is eaten above all with bread, and this is central to the experience. It is scooped up with flatbread, most classically Egyptian baladi bread or other pita-style flatbreads, torn and used to gather up the beans and dressing, so no cutlery is needed. This makes it a sociable, hands-on food, and a plate of ful with warm bread and its fresh toppings is a complete, satisfying meal. It is most famously a breakfast, the traditional way Egyptians begin the day, giving lasting energy, but it is also eaten at other times as a cheap, filling meal.
Because it is nourishing, cheap and naturally plant-based in its basic form, ful medames is a food for everyone, from street-cart breakfasts to home tables, and it has sustained people across Egypt for generations. It is often served as part of a spread with other dishes, eggs, cheese, salads and pickles, especially at a leisurely breakfast or brunch. For anyone new to Egyptian food, a bowl of ful medames with flatbread, a squeeze of lemon and some fresh tomato and parsley is a wonderful, authentic and very affordable introduction to one of the country's true staples.
Where to Buy the Ingredients in the UK
Making ful medames at home in Britain is easy and cheap, as the ingredients are simple. African, North African and Middle Eastern food shops that serve Egyptian and regional communities sell dried fava beans, the traditional small brown ones, as well as tinned, ready-cooked ful medames, which is a very convenient shortcut, often sold in tins ready to warm and dress. The dressing ingredients, olive oil, lemons, garlic and cumin, are everyday items found in the same shops and in supermarkets, which also increasingly stock tinned ful.
If you are new to ful medames, a North African or Middle Eastern food shop can point you to dried or tinned fava beans and the cumin and flatbread to go with them, and advise on the long, slow cooking if you use dried beans. You can find African food stores near you or look up Caribbean food stores near you. Tinned ful medames in particular makes the dish very quick to prepare, so a warm, authentic bowl is easily within reach, topped with fresh tomato, onion and a drizzle of oil.
Frequently asked questions
What is ful medames?
Ful medames, also spelled foul mudammas, is a traditional Egyptian dish of dried fava beans slow-cooked until soft, then lightly mashed and dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and salt. It is one of Egypt's national dishes and its great everyday food, eaten above all at breakfast with flatbread and often topped with tomato, onion, parsley, chilli, tahini or egg.
What is ful medames made of?
Ful medames is made from dried fava beans, traditionally small brown ones, soaked and simmered slowly for a long time until completely soft, then lightly mashed. The warm beans are dressed with olive oil, fresh lemon juice, crushed garlic, ground cumin and salt, with cumin essential to the flavour. It is then customised with toppings like tomato, onion, parsley, chilli, tahini and egg.
How do you eat ful medames?
Ful medames is eaten with bread, scooped up with flatbread such as Egyptian baladi bread or pita, torn and used to gather up the beans and dressing, so no cutlery is needed. It is most famously a breakfast, the traditional Egyptian way to start the day, and is also eaten as a cheap, filling meal, often as part of a spread with eggs, salads and pickles.
Is ful medames healthy and vegan?
Ful medames is naturally vegetarian and vegan in its basic form, made from fava beans dressed with olive oil, lemon, garlic and cumin, so it is plant-based unless topped with egg. It is high in plant protein and fibre and is a nourishing, filling, affordable dish, which is part of why it has been an everyday staple in Egypt for so long.
Where can I buy the ingredients in the UK?
African, North African and Middle Eastern food shops sell dried fava beans and tinned, ready-cooked ful medames, a convenient shortcut, and many supermarkets stock tinned ful too. The dressing ingredients, olive oil, lemons, garlic and cumin, are everyday items. A specialist shop can point you to the beans and the flatbread, and advise on the slow cooking for dried beans. African Stores lists African and Caribbean food shops across the UK, so you can find one near you.