Foul Nabet
March 28th, 2010
When you go out in the evening in Syria, you will see a man in the street pushing his cart with a huge pot and selling boiled fava beans with cumin, salt and lemon, this is called Foul Nabet.
The post is about how to make Foul Nabet, but if you get a chance to visit Syria, I highly recommend to try Foul Nabet from the cart.
Let’s make Foul Nabet:
1. Put dried fava beans in a deep pot.
2. Rinse with water in several changes.
3. Cover dried fava beans with water.
4. Soak for twelve hours.
5. After twelve hours, drain fava beans, rinse with water, and again cover with water and soak for twelve hours.
6. After twelve hours, drain fava beans, rinse with water, and cover with water.
7. Turn on heat, and bring to boil.
8. Once water is boiling vigorously, lower the heat.
9. Simmer until beans are soft and tender, test by pealing some of the beans and see if they are soft or not. I can’t give you exact time, because time varies according to the type, size and the brand of fava beans, some may take 15 minutes, another may take 90 minutes.
10. When the beans are soft and tender, turn off heat.
11. Skim fava beans from water using a slotted spoon.
12. Serve in a bowl.
13. Add cumin and salt.
14. Serve with lemon wedges.
When you eat, peal the bean then eat it.
Foul Nabet
From: Family Recipe / Servings:
PDF Text Only / Print With Images
| Dried fava beans with skins
Water To Serve Ground cumin Salt Lemon wedges |
Put dried fava beans in a deep pot.
Rinse with water in several changes. Cover dried fava beans with water. Soak for twelve hours. After twelve hours, drain fava beans, rinse with water, and again cover with water and soak for twelve hours. After twelve hours, drain fava beans, rinse with water, and cover with water. Turn on heat, and bring to boil. Once water is boiling vigorously, lower the heat. Simmer until beans are soft and tender, test by pealing some of the beans and see if they are soft or not. I can’t give you exact time, because time varies according to the type, size and the brand of fava beans, some may take 15 minutes, another may take 90 minutes. When the beans are soft and tender, turn off heat. Skim fava beans from water Using a slotted spoon. Serve in a bowl. Add cumin and salt. Serve with lemon wedges. When you eat, peal the bean then eat it. |
Hi Dimah,
I’m looking for a recipe I used to eat from a cart in Lattakieh. I though this might be it, but now I’m not so sure, because of two reasons.
The first is that we didn’t peel the beans (we ate them with a toothpick), and the second is that when it was served in those little paper cups, the man put some liquid with it which was brown and acidic and had soaked in the beans. He also didn’t put seasoning on top, as they were already seasoned from the liquid. They were served warm.
I previously thought that maybe there was some pomegranate molasses, because of the colour. But this recipe is the closest I have found so maybe it was just a version where he had seasoned them in the pot?
If you have any idea, please tell me and I will try. I really miss this taste.
Hi Elias,
Yes it is the same recipe.
Eat it with or without peeling the beans.
The liquid is the the water used to cook the beans, they usually keep the beans for long time inside the pot with water and it turns into brown color. The beans are served with some liquid “Cooking water” mixed with lemon juice and cumin.
Thanks so much for the response, Dimah.
I have tried the recipe, and the taste is very good but the texture is not exactly right. The brand that I can find in my area seems to be very long to cook but also have brittle skins that tend to fall apart before the interior is well cooked.
So I wanted to ask you if you simmer them with the lid on or off?
I will do this recipe again and try to make adjustments, and I trust that I will eventually be able to make it as I remember it. I am very grateful for your work on this blog. It means so much to me to be able to have a little piece of Syria in my home.
You are welcome, Elias
I suggest to keep the lid partially on – same here: https://orangeblossomwaterphotos.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/img_4473.jpg
Recently I found Syrian beans here in Dubai – I’m planning to make foul nabet again and to post it with better photos and details.
I’m pleased you enjoyed my blog. Thank you so much for your support.