How to make Ta’mayah (fava bean fritters)

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim

Salaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah.  Here is my recipe for ta’mayah.  Now, I’m not Egyptian so I’m probably doing it “wrong”, but this is my way and hubby likes it so that’s good enough for me:

1 pound dried split fava beans, WITHOUT THE SKINS!
1 medium onion
1 bunch of parsley
3 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
olive oil

Place the fuul in a large bowl and cover with water, using extra water, as the beans will soak up quite a bit.  Allow to soak for at least twelve hours.

In the bowl of your food processor, grind the onion, garlic, and parsley into a fine mush using the steel chopping blade.  I usually add my spices to this mixture as well so you can do that as well.  Empty the food processor bowl into a large bowl.

Grind the fava beans using the steel chopping blade.  You will have to do this in batches as the entire lot will not fit into the food processor in one go.  You may have to add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to “loosen” the beans enough to get a good fine grind.  Add the beans to your bowl of parsley as you go.

Once everything is ground up, tidy up – cleaning as you go makes life much easier – and then mix the contents of the bowl by hand until thoroughly combined.  The mixture should have a nice bright green color.

If you are making extra to save, now is the time to portion out the ta’maya into Ziploc bags and freeze for later use.  You can move one from the freezer to the fridge in the afternoon and it should be thawed by breakfast.  I portioned my recipe into one-pound portions, with a couple of half-pound portions for when I’m only cooking for two of us.

When you are ready to cook, you can either deep fry or shallow fry the ta’mayah.  I deep fry mine at 350 degrees.  If you shallow fry, add about 1/4 of an inch of oil to a saucepan and bring to medium-high heat.  Open one bag of ta’mayah mix and empty into a bowl.   Add the white of one egg as a binder and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda for a bit of a rise.  Using a disher or a teaspoon, portion out the ta’amayah and drop into the fryer or saucepan.  You can make them round or flatten them, and some people roll them in sesame seeds before cooking.  Cook until golden brown and delicious.

Serve these with pita bread.  Often these are served with a tahini dip.  To make this, pour out tahini and thin with water, adding salt and pepper and the juice of one lemon.

Enjoy!