Vegan Egyptian Breakfast Recipe Ideas - Arabic Foul-Mudammas and Bessara
Who else struggles with finding delicious plant-based savory breakfast items!? Growing up in North America, we pretty much grew up on either sugar-based cereal, fried meat, fried egg, or ultra-healthy smoothies as our main options.
As a plant-based person that isn’t a big smoothie fan, the options seem limited when it comes to having an easy and delicious breakfast option.
This is why us plant-based people need to look abroad for inspiration! Enter, vegan Egyptian breakfast recipes. These Egyptian breakfast recipes are an absolute lifesaver. These vegetarian/vegan recipes happen to be delicious, easy to make, and high in protein.
If you are a Lebanese or Mediterranean food fan, you will appreciate these recipes.
What is a typical breakfast in Egypt and is it vegan friendly?
A typical Egyptian breakfast can include fava beans made into foul-mudammas or bessara dip, bread, cheese, olives, and eggs! Most of these options are extremely vegan friendly and all of them are obviously vegetarian friendly.
If you are fully vegan, I’d suggest looking into some delicious spreadable or crumbly vegan cheese to sub out regular cheese.
When it comes to egg, you can use egg flavored tofu or check out this new extremely egg-like product called “Justegg” (that I am still dying to try!). For now, I usually eat these items without the egg replacement.
It is still delicious, high in protein, and extremely filling!
Foul-Mudammas Vegan Egyptian Breakfast Recipe
Is Foul-Mudammas Healthy?
According to the USDA, 1 cup of fava beans can have around 10 grams of protein, 111 calories, 4% of your daily calcium, 7% vitamin C, 11% of your iron intake, and 10% Magnesium. Fava beans are extremely low in fat, sitting at 1% of your daily value.
The Egyptian breakfast dish, ‘foul-mudammas’ usually includes onion, parsley, tomatoes, lemon, garlic, olive oil, and other topping options, all of which are full of different nutrients.
Nothing is fried in this dish.
Of course, if you are adding eggs to foul-mudammas as many traditionally do, you run the risk of adding a high amount of cholesterol to the dish. One egg alone can have around 62% of your maximum suggested cholesterol.
Be mindful of how many eggs you are adding to your foul-mudammas if you want to be aware of keeping it healthy. For more information on eggs and cholesterol, check out this link.
How to make Foul
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cook Time: 5 Minutes
Total Time: 10 Minutes
Ingredients:
2 cans of fava beans, rinsed
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup of water
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp Kosher salt, or to taste
1 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 medium/small tomato, diced
Garnish (all are optional according to taste):
Diced red onion, 1 - 2 tbsp
Green onion, sliced
Olive oil poured over
1/2 a lemon freshly squeezed
Vegan Feta - Optional
Some Depitted olives, chopped
Some chopped up pickles
Some crisp shredded lettuce
Directions:
In a pot throw in the minced garlic, fava beans, water, oregano, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, finely chopped parsley, and diced tomato.
Optionally for the vegetarian version of this Egyptian breakfast bean recipe, boil some eggs in a separate pot.
Bring the fava bean mixture to a simmer for a couple of minutes with the lid on.
When the beans are hot and tender, mash with a potato masher or whatever you have on hand to so absorb the water and get a thicker consistency.
Serve in a bowl, drizzle the desired amount of olive oil on top, perhaps 2-4 tbs.
Squeeze a bunch of fresh lemon juice all over.
Crack some black paper for good luck.
Add all your desired fresh/pickled toppings and eggs if you are making this vegetarian. Not all my suggested toppings are ‘traditional’ per se, but they extremely tasty!
Eat with a spoon or scoop it up with delicious whole wheat pita bread. Enjoy!
Bessara Dip Breakfast Recipe
What is Bessara Dip?
I included this as an option because it is pretty much Foul-Mudammas amped up with herbs! Egyptian bessara dip is traditionally used as a breakfast item or Mezza side!
This recipe has many of the same ingredients that a falafel has, just mashed together with fava beans instead of formed into cute balls using chickpeas.
Bessara Dip Ingredients:
2 cans of fava beans, rinsed
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1/4 cup dill, finely chopped
1 small white onion, finely chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried mint (optional)
1 tsp salt or to taste
Directions:
In a pot, throw in the 2 cans of rinsed fava beans, water, parsley, cilantro, dill, small white onion, and garlic cloves.
Bring to a simmer for 4-6 minutes.
Drain the mixture and reserve about a cup of water.
Put the mixture in a blender or food processor and puree. Use a bit of the remaining water if you need to for a smoother consistency.
Place the puree back in the pot on medium-low and add in the cumin, min, and salt and pepper to taste. Allow the mixture to thicken up (it should be thick enough to pick up using pita bread).
Put the mixture on a plate. Traditionally people add fried onions on top of their bessara dip, but I’ve excluded it here in order to keep this a speedy and simple recipe. You can add fried onions or even find pre-fried onions at most Arabic or Persian local grocery stores. Another delicious topping would be fresh red onions and capers.
Enjoy!
Foul-Mudammas and Bessara Dip - 2 incredible vegan/vegetarian arabic breakfast options you have to try!
Both these options are nowhere near your typical North American breakfast option. However, they are extremely tasty, quick, and high protein vegetarian/vegan breakfast for the savory at heart. Embrace trying something new this week!
Both these options are nowhere near your typical North American breakfast option. However, they are extremely tasty, quick, and high protein vegetarian/vegan breakfast for the savory at heart. Embrace trying something new this week!