Foul medames blended with sweet, oven-roasted garlic for a deeper, mellower flavor than the raw-garlic version.
Roasting garlic in the oven brings out a sweet, concentrated flavor that is quite different from raw garlic.
In Levantine cooking, roasting garlic softens its bite and makes it easy to eat with fava beans without worry. Suhoor shifts from traditional beans to beans with an unfamiliar depth.
Heat the oven to 180°C. Place the unpeeled garlic cloves in foil with a spoon of olive oil and wrap the foil closed. Bake for 20 minutes until they soften and turn brown.
In a pot, warm the drained beans with 1/4 cup water and mash half the beans with the back of a spoon. Add the cumin and salt and stir.
Take the garlic out of the oven and leave to cool for five minutes. Squeeze each clove so the soft, roasted flesh slips out of its skin.
Add the roasted garlic flesh to the beans and mash together. Roasted garlic adds a sweet, concentrated flavor.
Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice and olive oil. Garnish with parsley and serve with country bread.
The glycemic index (GI) measures how quickly a food raises blood sugar, while the glycemic load (GL) measures how much a full serving raises it. Together they give the complete picture.
A low value (≤55) means a gradual rise in blood sugar — the most suitable range for diabetes and insulin resistance.
Glycemic load reflects the impact of the full serving. To lower it: take half a serving, or pair the recipe with a source of protein and fiber.
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet per FDA food-label reference values — your daily needs may be higher or lower. Values are derived from the recipe's ingredients via the USDA database.
The most common problems when preparing Foul Medames with Roasted Garlic, and how to fix them:
Lower the heat to 160°C and wrap the foil completely.
Reduce the cloves to 10 and add a spoon of honey to soften.
Add a spoon of water and stir. Roasted garlic fills the texture.
Double the cumin and add a spoon of tahini.
Three days. Reheat with a spoon of water.
Garlic loses its flavor after thawing.
| Original Ingredient | Tested Substitute | Ratio | Flavor Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roasted garlic | Crushed raw garlic | 5 cloves | A faster version with a stronger flavor. |
| Olive oil | Local ghee | 1:1 | Gulf-style flavor. |
| Cumin | Dried coriander | 4 g | Different flavor. |
| Ingredient | 2 people | 4 people | 6 people |
|---|---|---|---|
| Foul medames | 400 g | 800 g | 1200 g |
| Garlic | 20 cloves | 40 cloves | 60 cloves |
| Olive oil | 50 ml | 100 ml | 150 ml |
Bake the garlic in foil with olive oil. The foil traps the steam and cooks the garlic from inside. The skin browns and the flesh turns soft as honey.
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