Floury dark fava beans set down in a nest of yellow choumous and a beige ring of tehinah, topped with a brown hamine (long-cooked) egg. Parsley, to offset the earthy flavors. Lemon juice, to balance the dish with a little acidity, and a generous drizzle of good olive oil. On the side, pickles for piquancy, and a little bowl of hot sauce. Onion, just because. And fresh pitas. Nutritious, cheap, comforting. Satisfying in every sense. It’s ful ve-choumous: the Middle Eastern workingman’s lunch.
Well, I may be a Western housewife transplanted to Israel, but it took me about one minute to acquire the taste.
Your restaurant pics are making me hungry. Delish. And the gentleman has a nice smile, too. That tea with mint looks like summer to me.
We have mint and basil year ’round here. It didn’t used to be that way. I’ve been cooking with tomatoes and cucumbers and photographing for summertime posts. The tomatoes are from hothouses at this time of year, but prices are still quite low. Difficult for the Israeli to manage with chopped salad, I guess.
this post was awesome, it made me so hungry too! i am going to be in israel in february and i can’t wait to eat some…
a question: i thought huevos alchamiados were a traditional pesach food? and i thought they were made in the oven? i didn’t know they were eaten all year round. i’ve never actually had them but i’m so enchanted by the descriptions i’ve always read (creamy eggs….the words just sell me) that i’m planning to make them for pesach this year. i’ve only found a few recipes but all are oven based. do they all come out the same way? thanks:-)
Sometimes I’ll put eggs in the cholent (washed and nestled in between a chunk of meat and a potato). That’s a Sephardi custom I picked up. Those eggs are also called alchamiado. No particular season to eat them, ‘sfar as I know! If you ask the owner of a ful-ve-choumous joint what she calls the eggs, she’ll say, beitzey chamin, or if she’s older she might say haminados/alchamiados.
The only times I’ve eaten baked heuvos alchamiados is when the whole cholent cooks in the oven instead of simmering on the stovetop. I think that cholenttastes best from the oven, but that depends on the electricity setup in the kitchen.
Why wait till Pesach? Make some for Shabbat, or just for dinner (start them in the morning). You can achieve a very dark color by adding a Tblsp. of coffee to the eggs, but I’m not sure if that’s traditional.
You take such mouth watering pictures! I’m drooling. lol
oops that was miriam
[...] for a bar mitzvah. Proudmommyof4 finds and cooks interesting beans. While Mimi introduces us to ful ve-choumous: the Middle Eastern workingman’s lunch and experiments with potato and nettles omelet. Hindy [...]
Finally, a recipe for the real thing! I have lots of family in Israel, but noone was able to teach me how to make choumous, because – surprise – they just run to the store when they crave some.
Yeah, not that lucky over here in Germany. All we get is the Turkish or Lebanese stuff and, quite frankly, I don’t like it. So thanks for this recipe. My chickpeas are soaking right now and I can’t wait to taste the finished product tomorrow.
Hi, Julia,
Let us know how your choumous turned out. I agree, there’s nothing like homemade.
It was actually quite easy to make. It did take me a while, but after all, I made everything from scratch, even the raw tehina paste (couldn’t find it here). It was definitely worth the effort. I went a little overboard on the garlic, but it was still very good. I almost doubled the recipe and there’s nothing left now. I will make this again in the future, but I’ll probably get a better food processor first – my old and cheap one almost exploded on me.
Wow, Julia, even the techinah from scratch! I’m impressed.
And yes, it sounds like one well-loaded food processor to me.
Thanks for letting us all know how your choumous turned out. I love hearing back.
Hi -
As an Israeli expat I loved reading your recipes and dreaming about eating this stuff. Tell me, do you have a recipe for amba? I’ve been trying to find one, but have only found one that’s obviously very traditional and not very practical for someone working in a small NJ kitchen. If you’ve got something, I’d be truly indebted.
Sharon, I must say that it never occurred to me to make amba. And like you, I love it. I’ll have to scout out a recipe. Where did you find yours?