In Jerusalem and surrounding areas, ful is often served on top of hummus, such a setup is sometimes referred to as Qudsiyeh (Arabic: قدسية, lit. ‘From Jerusalem’) outside of Jerusalem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ful_medames
As we’ve seen in my recent posts, ful medames is a popular dish with numerous variations across the Middle East. In Jerusalem, ful is often combined with chickpeas, either mixed together or, as I did here, served as a layered dip, with the ful on top of hummus. This is known as “qudsiyah”, which seems to be most often translated as “holy” or “sacred”.
Ful is Arabic for fava beans, and mudames means something like “stewed”, so since that’s pretty much the only way to cook beans, it seems like most fava dishes get called ful medames, no matter what else is done to them. Meanwhile, hummus is actually the Arabic word for chickpeas, so similarly, lots of dishes that aren’t ground to a paste have “hummus” in their name in Arabic. In this case, we are in fact making the chickpeas into the dish we call hummus here in the West.
Once you’ve found fava beans, nothing else in this dish is particularly unusual, and although it takes a little longer to prepare than ful without the hummus, it still comes together pretty quickly, perfect for breakfast, which, just like other ful dishes, this often is. My only real ingredient suggestion is to make sure you have some high-quality olive oil.
I’ve broken my recipe down into four elements: dagga is a mixture of garlic, green chilies, and lemon that is used to season the beans as well as garnish the dish. Then you’ve got the hummus, the ful, and garnishes. You could certainly use store-bought hummus if you prefer, although making your own isn’t hard to do.
I made this for Thanksgiving lunch, something for people to snack on while we cooked the big meal. Since we had most of the family together, I doubled the recipe. I was working in my brother’s kitchen, which lacked some of my usual tools, so I had to improvise in a couple of places, primarily with the mortar and pestle, as his was too small to handle the quantity I needed. The serving dish I chose also proved to be a little too shallow for the amount I had, and when I drizzled the final olive oil garnish on, it started overflowing, hence the baking sheet underneath it in my photos.
The last mistake I made was not equipment-related; I added a little too much water to the fava beans, and that preparation wound up soupier than I would have liked. I’d suggest starting with about 1/4 cup; it’s a lot easier to add water than remove it once you start mashing the beans.
I did learn a new trick for making hummus while researching this recipe. Adding cold water, or even ice cubes, helps get the smooth, creamy, almost white appearance of restaurant hummus. I don’t know that I fully embraced that idea with only a couple of tablespoons of water in my recipe, but most of the recipes I looked at used fresh water or ice, rather than the liquid from the can of beans that I’ve usually used to make hummus in the past. I was also sceptical that the quantity of olive oil my recipe creation process came up with would be sufficient, but was pleasantly surprised to find I didn’t think it needed more. Feel free to adjust the recipe to suit your tastes.
Ful Medames Qudsiyah
Serves: 3-4
Prep: 15 minues
Cook: 15 minutes
Total; ~30 minutes
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Dagga:
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 jalapeno, or other green chili of choice, roughly chopped
½ teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 small lemon.
Hummus:
1 14 oz. can chickpeas, drained (reserve 1 Tablespoon for garnish)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 Tablespoons cold water
1 Tablespoon tahini, or to taste
Juice of 1 small lemon
1 ¼ Tablespoons olive oil, or to taste
Salt to taste
Ful:
1 14 oz. can fava beans, drained
⅓ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Water, as needed
1 large tomato, diced
Garnish:
3 Tablespoons parsley, minced
1 Tablespoon chickpeas
¼ cup diced tomato
Extra virgin olive oil
Optional:
Prepared hummus, instead of making from scratch
2 ½ Tablespoons olive oil, added to the dagga
½ teaspoon cumin, in the dagga
Juice of 1 lime (in place of lemon in hummus)
¾ green bell pepper, in place of or addition to jalapeno)
For the Dagga: place the garlic, jalapeno, and ½ teaspoon salt in a mortar and pestle or small food processor. Grind to a smoothish paste. Stir the paste into the juice of 1 small lemon, and set aside.
For the Hummus: place the chickpeas in a blender with 2 cloves of garlic and 2 Tablespoons cold water. Blend until well ground, then add tahini and juice of 1 small lemon. Blend well, then drizzle in the olive oil with the motor running. Add salt to taste.
For the Ful: place the fava beans in a small pan with ⅓ teaspoon salt, cumin, and black pepper. Add a little water, and place over medium heat. As the beans begin to warm, mash them with a fork, potato masher, or pestle. Stir in 1 large diced tomato and cook for a few minutes. Add about half of the dagga and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
To Serve: Spread the hummus in a large, shallow bowl, then spread the ful on top of it. Garnish with parsley, chickpeas, diced tomato, and remaining dagga. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and serve with plenty of warm pita, olives, and fresh and pickled vegetables.
Lorin cooks Legumes 