Adas Medames (Arabic: عدس مدمس) is a dish prepared in the same way as ful medames, but using lentils in place of fava beans, it can be found in Egypt as well as other countries like Palestine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ful_medames
Time for one final stop on the ful medames portion of this journey. Only this time we’re not using ful! Adas is Arabic for lentils, which, according to Wikipedia, are sometimes prepared in the same manner as ful.
My research leads me to believe that this isn’t a particularly common practice, or at least that’s not what people actually call it. In two pages of Google search results, only one recipe dominated the results, a recipe from Boustany: A Celebration of Vegetables From My Palestine *by Sami Tamimi, reprinted in the New York Times and from there into a couple of other recipe aggregator sites, as well as a video from the author posted across all the social media platforms. Between those and the results that were only hitting on one word or the other, it became pretty clear that this dish hasn’t gotten much attention on the internet. I did see some indication that maybe it isn’t generally called adas medames, but I didn’t put energy into chasing down that rabbit hole.
I did manage to find one or two other recipes to include in my averaging process, so I’m not directly ripping off Mr. Tamimi’s recipe, but there are only a few differences.
That said, I do think this is a dish that deserves some attention, if for no other reason than it’s maybe a more accessible introduction to the medames family of dishes for those of us who don’t live in a big city and might have trouble finding fava beans to make the more famous version. I did use canned lentils here, which might be only slightly easier to find than fava beans, but dry lentils cook in under an hour with no soaking necessary, and are stocked in most grocery stores. ( Brown or black lentils preferred, but green are acceptable; don’t use red lentils for this recipe)
Like ful medames, this dish is often served as breakfast, with an egg. I include this in the recipe, but don’t show it in my photos, because I tried a new-to-me method for timing soft-boiled eggs, which didn’t work out as advertised, and since it was already very late for dinner, I wasn’t about to wait around to cook more eggs.
Mr. Tamimi’s recipe calls for putting eggs into cold water and bringing them to a boil, timing ten minutes “from cold”, before draining, allowing them to cool, and peeling. I tried this and found that the water had just come to a boil after ten minutes. I dutifully drained them and left them to cool. However, when I went to peel them, it was clear that the whites, while mostly set, were not going to separate nicely from the shell or hold together well without its support. This method probably works great for the classic soft-boiled egg in a special cup to dip your toast soldiers in presentation, but not so great if you want to peel it and use it as a visual element in another dish.
In the future, I would use the method we used back in my restaurant days. placing eggs into already boiling water for 6 minutes, then submerging them in an ice bath, which gives you a white that holds up to peeling and handling (gently) like a hard-boiled egg, but a yolk that is still runny.
There are two distinctive elements from Mr. Tamimi’s recipe that I retained, even though they didn’t show up in other recipes. I followed his recipe for pan-fried turmeric bread* (although regular pita would be just as delicious), and I made a batch of “sumac onions”, aka Turkish onion salad, to garnish with, for which I didn’t really follow a recipe, but used this one* as my inspiration.
While this recipe is delicious, I imagine that most of my other ful medames recipes would be equally delicious with lentils substituted as well.
Adas Medames
Serves: 2-4
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 25 minutes
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
¼ cup olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, mashed
1 small green chili, minced
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 14-oz. can beluga lentils or brown lentils, drained and rinsed
2 small tomatoes, diced
⅔ cup cilantro, chopped
3 Tablespoons tahini
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
5 Tablespoons water
1 ⅛ teaspoon salt
Black pepper, to taste
Cilantro
1 medium tomato, diced
Sumac onions*
2 soft-boiled eggs, peeled and halved
Turmeric bread*
Heat the oil in a sauté pan and add the garlic, green chili, and cumin. Fry for a minute or two, until fragrant.
Add the lentils, 2 small tomatoes, and ⅔ cup cilantro. Cook for a few minutes, until the tomato begins to soften.
Add the tahini, lemon juice, water, salt, and black pepper. Reduce the heat and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes or so, until hot and thickened. Mash some of the lentils until the desired consistency is reached. Portion into individual bowls, and top with sumac onions, diced tomato, cilantro, and eggs. Serve with turmeric bread or pita.
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
I receive no compensation for mentioning any other websites or product.
Lorin cooks Legumes 