AI-generated image
Ful nabit
Sprouted fava bean soup
Ful nabit: thin, lemony soup of sprouted fava beans with cumin and garlic, a Cairo winter comfort
Sprouted beans are ladled out with their cooking liquor in Cairo homes when the weather turns cold or someone is feeling run down, and Egyptians swear by the broth as a pick-me-up. The beans are soaked and left to sprout for a few days, then simmered with onion, garlic and cumin into a light, earthy soup that is sharpened at the table with plenty of lemon. You can eat the beans with a spoon or pop them from their skins. Allow 3 to 4 days for sprouting, although the hands-on work is only about 20 minutes. People with G6PD deficiency (favism) must not eat fava beans. Chef's tip: stop the sprouting when the shoots are about 1 cm long; longer sprouts taste grassy and bitter.
- Total time
- 70 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 10 ½ oz dried whole fava beanssmall brown ful baladi, unskinned (skinned beans will not sprout)
- 1 onionfinely chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 cloves garliccrushed
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 6 ¼ cups water
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 2 lemonscut into wedges
To finish
- 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley (optional)chopped
- ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (4)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/7 doneStep 1: Rinse 10 ½ oz dried whole fava beans and soak them in plenty of cold water for 24 hours, changing the water once.
Step 2: Drain, rinse and spread the beans in a colander or sieve set over a bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a cool, dark place for 2 to 3 days, rinsing under the cold tap morning and evening so they never smell sour. They are ready when most have a white shoot about 1 cm long.
Step 4: Add 4 cloves garlic and 2 tsp ground cumin and stir for 1 minute until fragrant, without letting the garlic colour.
1 minStep 5: Add the sprouted beans and 6 ¼ cups water, bring to the boil, skim off any foam, then cover and simmer gently until the beans are tender when squeezed and the broth is cloudy.
40 minStep 6: Stir in 1 ½ tsp salt and simmer 2 more minutes. Taste the broth; it should be well seasoned but still light.
2 minStep 7: Serve in bowls with the broth, 2 lemons for squeezing generously, and 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley and ½ tsp chilli flakes on top if you like.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 290 kcal
- Protein
- 20 g
- Carbs
- 42 g
- Fat
- 5 g
- Fibre
- 15 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does ful nabit take?
- About 70 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 50 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of garlic?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Tiyula itumBlack beef soup
Tiyula itum, 'black soup', is the pride of the Tausug people of Sulu in the far south of the Philippines, cooked for weddings, Eid celebrations and when guests come home. Beef (it is a halal, pork-free dish) is simmered with ginger, lemongrass and turmeric, then darkened with pamapa itum, a paste of grated coconut toasted until almost black and pounded with spices. The broth looks dramatic but tastes smoky, earthy and gently peppery, with heat from chillies. Serve it with plain rice. Chef's tip: toast the coconut slowly, stirring all the time, until it is very dark brown but not ashy; burnt-to-ash coconut tastes bitter and ruins the soup.
Filipino
Miso soup
Miso soup (味噌汁) is drunk every day in homes all over Japan, at breakfast as well as dinner, beside a bowl of rice. The base is dashi; this vegan version uses kombu and dried shiitake instead of bonito, which gives it a deep, rounded flavour. Silken tofu and wakame seaweed are the classic fillings. It takes ten minutes; just remember not to boil the miso. Chef's tip: add the miso at the very end and never let it boil. Boiling kills the miso's fresh, fermented aroma; Japanese cooks say the soup should only 'smile', with the surface barely trembling.
Japanese
BabboucheSpiced snail broth
After dark in Marrakech's great square, the babbouche stalls are recognisable by their steaming cauldrons and the toothpicks laid out by every bowl. Small land snails simmer in a dark broth of liquorice root, aniseed, thyme, caraway, bitter orange peel, chilli and a bundle of herbs that sellers say has fifteen ingredients, believed to soothe the stomach and warm you on a cold night. You pick the snails out with a toothpick, then drink the peppery, herbal, faintly sweet broth. At home, buy live snails sold for cooking, already purged by a reputable seller, discard any with broken shells or that do not move or retract when touched, and cook them through for at least 45 minutes. Chef's tip: keep the spices in a muslin bag; the broth stays clear and you avoid crunching on seeds.
Moroccan