Ful Medames:

A traditional street food from "Iskanderia" (Alexandria. The
one in Egypt. Not the one near Balloch.)

The best way to eat el ful is with beid hamine.

Make the ful with tic beans. Some people use broad beans. Soak overnight.
Boil for about three hours with a few cloves of garlic. It makes a lovely,
savoury smell all the way up the close. Don't add salt until the end,
otherwise the ful won't soften.

At about the same time you start soaking the beans, the night before, start
boiling your beid (eggs). Put eggs in the largest pan you've got. Fill
right up with water. Throw in some onion skins. Top with oil, to stop
evaporation. Cover. Bring to the boil, then turn down as low as you can get,
and barely simmer overnight. If you have an asbestos pad, use it. The onion
skins turn the shells a gorgeous shade of browny-red.

(Actually, the skins are optional. Also, you can get away boiling them for
just three hours.)

Now, the eggs are to be eaten, crushed, as one of a series of mix-and-match
toppings for a bowl of ful. Other toppings:
Olive Oil (essential)
Lemon juice
Parsley
Tomatoes
(not authentic, but I like them) Turkish Pickles. ("Türsü") Especially
Biber Türsülu - pickled chilies.
An Egyptian spice powder, made as follows: In a dry pan, toast some cumin
seeds, cinnamon bark and fenugreek seeds (not too much - quite bitter).
Grind with dried chilli and sea salt. It's also a traditional accompaniment
to beid hamine, served in newspaper by street vendors.

A good thing to serve on the side is ......

Another fine mess from Flaming Pie....

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