Welcome December! The last month of the year, the month in which many of us look back and reflect on what we have done so far and the month in which we start hoping and making plans for the year ahead.
December is also a festive season. A festive season that is very often associated with big meals that go on and on throughout the month. We have enormous feasts and gatherings around the table to celebrate with work colleagues, friends and family. And very often those big feasts are anything but healthy.
I am glad to say that we can always enjoy delicious yet healthy recipes at this time of the year and all year long. As I always say: eating well is not something that we just do for a limited period of time but something that should be part of our daily lives, a routine and a pleasure at the same time. So let the festive season begin with healthy and tasty Mediterranean recipes!
Today’s recipe – Lebanese Foul Moudammas (Fava beans) – is one of my husband favourite meals, a Lebanese dish that reminds him of his childhood. A simple yet delicious legume dish that is a good source of protein, fiber, iron, B group vitamins and other nutrients that help prevent cancer and heart diseases.
If you try this healthy and delicious vegan and gluten free Mediterranean diet recipe, please let me know, leave a comment and rate it. I would love to know what you come up with.
- 360g (1⅔ cup) Dried fava beans
- 1l of water
- 3 Garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- The freshly squeezed juice of 2 lemons
- 1 Small bunch of fresh mint
- Sea salt
- 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Soak the dried fava beans in cold water for 10 hours (ideally leave them soaked overnight). Rinse them well and drain.
- Have the ingredients well washed and prepared as indicated in the ingredients description.
- Add the drained fava beans in a cooking pot, cover with water and add one-tablespoon extra virgin olive oil. Cook over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes or until tender. Add 1 teaspoon of sea salt, stir and remove from the heat.
- Add the freshly squeezed lemon juice, the garlic and two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Serve and garnish with fresh mint.
Hi, how long would you cook these in a pressure cooker after soaking . Also would Zhatar work well along with any other herbs or spices
Hi Jacky, I don’t have a pressure cooker, but I guess they would be cooked in about 25 minutes. Maybe check if your pressure cooker has instructions for cooking beans and that would give you the exact time to cook them 😉 As per the zaatar, you could give it a try, honestly I have never added zaatar to the foul moudammas, I just follow my Lebanese family recipe the traditional way, but the beauty of cooking is that you can adapt any recipe to your taste, so why not giving it a try? 🙂 Enjoy and happy healthy cooking!
Hi, do you peel the beans after soaking?
Linda McKenzie
Hi Linda, no there is no need to peel the beans neither after soaking nor after cooking them. Enjoy and happy healthy cooking!
A friend made this recipe, he threw tomato pieces, and mint in with all the ingredients you listed above…..it was absolutely delicious, he MAY have also added fresh parsley leaves ( not sure) ……would parsley also give it ‘pizazz’? The ‘tartness of his version was very mouthwatering.
Hi Darrell, I’m glad to know that your friend made my recipe and you were able to enjoy it! 🙂 The beauty of cooking is that you can play with adding some extra ingredients to an original recipe to adapt it to your taste. The addition of tomatoes seems perfect to me, since the foul moudammas are usually consumed with fresh tomatoes as indicated in my recipe. As per the fresh parsley leaves, why not? Enjoy and happy healthy cooking!