فول أحمد العظيم

inspired by the blog of sy and my previous roommate (who makes a mean paneer btw), i decided to start posting my chef de jour recipes for the benefit of all the bachelors out there. unfortunately, i don’t cook as much as i should (but i have been fairly lucky in terms of the output of my few attempts). so perhaps documenting my experiences as a master chef will help me to stop slacking and cook more.

what is this: this is a dish known as “فول” in arabic (pronounced ‘fool’). it’s a bean dish famous in the middle east as a breakfast or late night snack.

ingredients:

• 1 (or more) cans of fava beans

• 1 (or more) cans of sliced tomatoes

• lemon juice

• tahina (ground sesame seed)

these ingredients can mostly be obtained at any middle eastern or desi grocery store.

instructions:

• obtain a pot.
• open beans and put beans in the pot.
• add tomatoes to the pot.
• mix together well.
• add a little bit of tahina to the pot - enough to make it slightly lighter color, but not too much. maybe 2 or 3 tablespoons at most
• heat together and mix well.
• add lemon on top and serve (with pita bread usually).

for an upgraded experience: of course if you want to go all out, try replacing the canned tomatoes with fresh tomatoes, the canned beans with fresh ones that you must first leave in water for some time, and replace the lemon juice with real lemon. experts can try placing the aforementioned mixture with the fresh ingredients into a pressure cooker for better results.

the meaning of the title: the title, which means ahmed’s great fool, is a pun on the arabic comedy movie, “فول الصين العظيم”, in which the main character cooks fool in a cooking competition in china.