Foul Madamas

Foul Madamas (or Ful Madamas -- Pronounced "fool" like the court jester) was another of my wonderful street food discoveries from King Shwarma. It's kind of a fava bean salad type of dish. According to many sources on the internet, it's an Egyptian breakfast side-dish to be served with a fried egg, but I always liked it spooned into a pita along with some lettuce and tomato and served as a sandwich. You can do whatever you want to do with it. It will remain delicious. I made up a hybrid recipe based on several recipes from the internet and my memory of King Schwarma's version.

--1 lb of dried Fava Beans
--4 cloves crushed Garlic
--Half a Red Onion, chopped
--Handful of Fresh Mint, chopped fine
--Handful of Fresh Parsley, chopped fine
--Juice of 2 or 3 Lemons
--1/4 cup Olive Oil
--1 tsp Ground Cumin

Soak beans overnight in water. Drain, and cover with fresh water in large saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer on low for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until beans are tender. Drain and place in medium bowl. Add remaining ingredients. In my opinion, it should be GENTLY mixed together, leaving beans whole, though it is more commonly served mashed together. Refrigerate and serve cool.

Shawarma

In 1995, my folks dropped me off in Greenwich Village for college at NYU. I had a Cadillac meal plan, with enough food to keep me fed three times a day. The food was a-plenty, but it sure was tiresome. For the first time in my life, I was counting on salt just to provide the remembrance of flavor. Fortunately, a block away on MacDougal Street, my introduction to street food was about to begin. I believe that the best food I've purchased in my life has cost me either less than $5 or more than $30. Knishes, pizza, pretzels, falafel, tortas, tacos, halal meat, okonomiyaki, fresh papaya... you name it and an ethnic group sells it on the corner (or in a take-out shop) for a few bucks. One fall afternoon in 1995, I walked into King Shwarma and my life changed. I ate my first shwarma sandwich. Was it Turkish? Or Lebanese? I don't know. I never found out the origin of the shwarmas that The King used to make and I probably never will know (King Shwarma is now closed forever). And the hot sauce was outstanding too! It will also remain a mystery lost in time... Anyhoo, here's an inferior online shwarma recipe (sorry, I lost the source). It makes 6 pita sandwiches. I haven't tried it yet, so I may need to revisit this recipe.

--1 1/2 lbs boned Leg of Lamb (in a Middle Eastern restaurant, the lamb would be on one of these vertical rotating spits, a slowly cooking meat-cone)
--2 cups thinly sliced Onion
--1/3 cup fresh Lemon Juice
--1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon
--1/2 tsp ground Allspice
--1/2 tsp Black Pepper
--1/4 tsp Salt
--5 Thyme Sprigs
--(several online recipes also swear by using Mace to spice your shwarma)
--6 (7-inch) Pitas
--Yogurt-Tahini Dip or my mom's hummus
--1/2 cup Onion slices (Red or White), separated into rings
--1/4 cup chopped Fresh Mint or shredded Lettuce
--12 (1/4-inch-thick) slices Tomato, halved
--3 Gherkin Dill Pickles, thinly sliced lengthwise
--Hot Sauce such as Sriracha

Trim fat from lamb. Combine 2 cups onion and herbs and spices (onion through thyme) in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add lamb to bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator 2 hours (better yet: overnight), turning occasionally. Remove lamb from bag; discard marinade. Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Place lamb on a broiler pan; insert meat thermometer into thickest portion of lamb. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until thermometer registers 145° (medium-rare) to 160° (medium). Let stand 15 minutes. Slice lengthwise into thin strips. Spread each pita with about 2 1/2 tablespoons Yogurt-Tahini Dip (or hummus). Divide lamb, red onion, mint (or lettuce), tomato, and pickles evenly among each pita. Serve immediately.

Falafel

From:    catsmeow@aol.com

Adapted from Moosewood Cookbook (sans the oil and

frying).

 

 4 cups cooked chick peas (garbanzo beans) Canned okay (2 cans)

 4 medium cloves garlic, minced

 2 tsp cumin

 1 tsp turmeric

 1 tsp salt

 1/2 cup finely minced onion or 6 minced scallions

 1/4 cup (packed) minced parsley

 1/4 cup water

 1 Tbs lemon juice

 dashes of cayenne

 1/3 cup flour

 

 Rinse the garbanzos and drain them well.  If they were canned, just drain them.  

 

 Combine all ingredients (except flour) in a food processor or a medium sized bowl and process or mash until batter is uniform.

 

Add flour and stir/process until thoroughly combined.  The batter can be stored in the refrigerator in a tightly covered container for days.

Preheat oven to 400F.  Get a baking pan, cookie sheet, pie tin--whatever. Spray it with non-stick spray and form the batter with a spoon into a flattened ball.  It should not be much bigger than your spoon.  For a felafel in a small pita bread, make 2-3 felafel patties.  For a larger one, 4-5 will do.

 

Bake them for about 20-25 minutes.  You might flip them over halfway through baking.  They're finished when they are golden brown.  The aroma will fill  your kitchen!  Serve these in pita bread with sliced bell peppers, onions,  tomatoes--whatever you'd like.

Mom’s Hummus

1 cup dried garbanzo beans
2 tbl. fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp. salt
1 tbl. olive oil
1 medium clove garlic
¼ tsp. oregano
¼ tsp. cumin
1 tbl. tahini

Sort garbanzos, looking for anything odd. Rinse them well, then bring to a boil in cold water to cover (add a little salt). Simmer one minute, turn off burner and cover pan. Let beans soak for one hour.

Then drain well, and bring them to a boil in fresh cold water. Simmer, partially covered, until tender—this can take 45 minutes or so, but just keeping checking them. Drain and proceed with recipe. (Or just buy canned garbanzos and rinse them well, but they won’t be as good).

Mash beans, and add other ingredients. Serve at room temperature as a dip for vegetables or whatever else you want to use them for.