A spicy bean stew which is often eaten for breakfast throughout the Middle East and North Africa. In 1980 I spent a month in Egypt staying in youth hostels and with very little money, and this is what we ate, daily. This version is from ” The Little Book of Brunch” by Caroline Craig and Sophie Missing.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ small red onion diced
- 1 garlic clove crushed
- a pinch salt
- 2 x 400g tins cooked fava or broad beans rinsed and drained
- 1 tsp cumin seeds ground
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper plus extra
- 2 tomatoes cored and chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 200 ml water
- 1-2 eggs per person
- For the salad
- ½ small red onion sliced into thin half-moons
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 10 cherry or baby plum tomatoes quartered
- 8 radishes quartered
- 10 cm piece Cucumber cut to similar- sized chunks as the radishes and tomatoes
- A drizzle of olive oil
- salt
- For the sauce:
- 1 garlic clove
- a large pinch salt
- 2 tsp tahini
- juice of ½- 1 lemon
- To serve:
- a large handful parsley leaves chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Warmed flatbreads
Servings:
Instructions
- Put a frying pan over a medium heat and add the oil. When warm, add the onion, garlic and a pinch of salt (to draw out the moisture) and cook for a few minutes, until softened and starting to caramelise.
- Add the beans, cumin, cayenne, tomatoes, half the lemon juice and 200ml water. Cook for 10–15 minutes over a medium to low heat until the tomatoes break down, and the liquid reduces to a reddish sauce.
- Taste for seasoning and adjust the salt, lemon juice and cayenne accordingly.
- While the beans are cooking, give the onions for the salad a head start by putting in a small bowl and covering with 1 tbsp lemon juice. Set aside.
- For the tahini sauce, pound the garlic and a large pinch of salt to a paste using a pestle and mortar, then mix in the tahini. Add the lemon juice and a splash of water and mix until thin and drizzleable.
- Hard-boil the eggs for 8 minutes. Remove from the heat immediately and run under cold water before peeling and slicing in half.
- Add the remaining chopped salad ingredients to a bowl and mix together with the remaining lemon juice, a drizzle of oil and some salt.
- To serve, put a large spoonful of salad on each plate, topped with a few lemony onions. Spoon on some beans, drizzle the tahini dressing over them, then top with parsley and a sprinkle of cayenne.
- Nestle the egg halves on the plate and serve with flatbread for mopping.
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