Ful at Home

For lunch, I had ful mudammas, some miniature heirloom tomatoes, and greek yogurt with pomegranate syrup.

The ful has been sitting around in the pantry through two moves, so I figured this was a good time to finally eat it. To clarify, ful (pronounced "fool", also spelled "foul") is an Egyptian breakfast/lunch item made from fava beans cooked with olive oil and spices to the preferred degree of mushiness, served with pita. The ful I had on hand was simply canned favas pre-seasoned for ful. I'd never tried canned ful before, and quickly decided the seasonings were too sweet. To remedy this, I mixed in about a teaspoon of sumac. When that wasn't sufficient, I added several huge pinches of Ethiopian berbere powder I had lying around, along with a little olive oil. The result was interesting and a little spicy. If I'd wanted to make a pita, my Greek yogurt probably would've been a nice contrast to add.

Instead, I prepared the Greek yogurt with my favorite obscure condiment, pomegranate molasses. Pomegranate molasses is just pomegranate juice, cooked down into a thick syrup for use in cooking, but the flavor is like the best tart, bright, earthy, fruity candy you can imagine. Really tart. The effect is similar to passion fruit puree, with a less acidic finish. It's excellent over yogurt or ice cream, and I've even used it to successfully sweeten olive oil & oatmeal cookies. It's one of my favorite snacks that's vaguely healthy yet delicious.