How Much Do They Pay You, Brother?
Feb. 1st, 2011 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purejuice...that's what the crowds were calling out to the police before the police abandoned the cities, according to superb radio coverage by the BBC. When I visited there years ago, the answer to that was about $13 a month.
In today's news, Egypt's economy is tanking as Mubarak says he will not run:
“I’m going to try to eat the cheapest foods, ful and falafel,” said Azza Aladin, 47. Ful is a simple dish of beans. A single mother with six children, Ms. Aladin said she had been forced to cut out a meal a day.
Many Egyptians are paid on the last or the first day of the month, and their wages often come in cash-filled envelopes. With A.T.M.’s empty and banks closed, many bosses just cannot pay.
Muhammad Soudan, 54, had a banner on his car at Monday’s protest in Alexandria that read “I would rather live hungry than die in fear.” It is not an abstract notion here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/world/middleeast/01economy.html?scp=1&sq=ful&st=cse
This is one of Egypt's national dishes, a speciality of which rich and poor alike never tire. It is welcome at all times, for breakfast, lunch or supper.
The Christian Copts, who are said to be pure representatives of the ancient Egyptians, claim this dish as their own, along with melokhia soup (page 111). Their claim is quite probably justified, since these dishes, whose origins cannot be traced, are nevertheless believed to be extremely old. During Coptic religious festivals, and particularly during Lent, when they are not allowed to eat meat for many weeks, every Coptic family produces platefuls of ta'amia daily; it consumes large quantities itself and distributes the rest to non-Coptic friends.
Ta'amia are patties or rissoles made from a dried, white fava or broad bean (ful nabed), splendidly spiced and flavored, and deep-fried in oil. They are delicious, and I have never known anyone who has not liked them instantly.
The best ta'amia I have eaten were in Alexandria, with my aunt and uncle. Every year they rented an apartment there, the balcony of which was directly above a cafe which specialized in ta'amia. My relatives were both rather large, which was not surprising, since we always seemed to come upon them eating; and I could never visualize them eloping, gazelle-like, in their youth, which was the romantic legend related to us.
On each visit, we would sit with them for hours on their balcony overlooking the sea. Time and again, a basket would be lowered on a rope to the cafe below and pulled up again with a haul of fresh ta'amia, sometimes nestling in a pouch of warm, newly baked Arab bread. We would devour them avidly with pieces of the bread dipped in tahini salad, and then wait anxiously for the basket to be filled up again.
1 lb. dried white fava beans (ful nabed)
2 red or Spanish onions, very finely chopped or grated, or 1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1-2 t ground cumin
1-2 t ground coriander
1/2 t baking powder
Salt and cayenne pepper
Oil for deep frying
The dried white beans can be found in all Greek stores and in many delicatessens. Buy them already skinned if possible.
Soak the beans in cold water for 24 hours. Remove the skins if this has not been done. Drain, and mince or pound them. Mix this with the onions, garlic, parsley, cumin, coriander, baking powder, and salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Pound the ingredients together to a smooth paste. This will take a long time and much effort, so if a grinder is available, put the mixture through the fine blade twice before pounding it. Let the paste rest for 1/2 hour at least.
Take walnut-sized lumps and make flat, round shapes 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Let them rest for 15 minutes longer, then fry them in deep hot oil until they are a dark, rich, golden brown.
Serve hot, accompanied by a tomato and cucumber salad and tahini cream salad (page 42). Ta'amia are delicious served as an appetizer, or as a main dish for a luncheon party, accompanied by a variety of salads and bread.
I have recently been told that the baking powder is sometimes replaced by 1/2 oz. (1 cake) fresh yeast, or 1/4 oz. (1 package) dried yeast dissolved in a few tablespoons of lukewarm water. A dry falafel "ready mix" is now available in all Greek and Oriental shops. Add water as directed on the package, allow the paste to rest for a while, then shape and fry them in deep fat as above. This "ready mix" is not nearly as good as the real thing, but you can use it for making appetizers if you are short of time. To improve the flavor, add a little finely chopped parsley, finely chopped scallions, crushed garlic, and other seasonings to taste. Israelis have practically adopted ta'amia as a national dish. They are sold, ready to eat, in the streets and cafes all over Israel, and are prepared in the same way as the Egyptian ones, but chickpeas are substituted for the beans, and I am told that yeast is often used instead of baking powder.
An Egyptian dish which has become "the" national dish. Ful mesdames is pre-Ottoman and pre-Islamic, claimed by the Copts, and probably as old as the Pharoahs. According to an Arab saying: "Beams have satisfied even the Pharoahs."
Although basically a peasant dish, the rich and middle classes also delight in these small, dark beans. Since time immemorial, they have faithfully been served in the same manner: seasoned with oil, lemon and garlic, sprinkled with chopped parsley and accompanied by hamine (hard-boiled) eggs, and since time immemorial people have adored them.
Ful mesdames is eaten in the fields and in village mud houses, in luxury restaurants and on town terraces by masters and servants alike. It is sold in the streets, sometimes buried in Arab bread, garnished with tahina salad and accompanied by a tomato and onion salad.
The broad brown beans can be bought in all Greek stores and some delicatessens. Ready-cooked, canned beans can also be found.
2 lbs. ful mesdames, soaked overnight
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed [optional]
6 hamine eggs [page 136] or hardboiled eggs
Finely chopped parsley
Olive oil
Quartered lemons
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Boil the soaked beans in a fresh portion of unsalted water in a large saucepan until tender. In the past this took at least 7 hours (the beans were sometimes even left to cook overnight), but the quality which I buy in London are soft after 2 to 2 1/2 hours of gentle simmering. A pressure cooker will reduce the time considerably -- to 30 to 45 minutes -- but care must be taken not to overcook the beans.
When the beans are soft, drain them and add the crushed garlic to taste, or instead pass some around with the other garnishes for people to take as much as they want.
Serve in soup bowls. Put a hard-boiled hamine egg in each bowl on top of the beans, and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Pass around olive oil, quartered lemons, salt and black pepper for each person to season as he wishes. Most people like to break up the egg with a fork and crush the pieces together with the beans to allow the seasonings to penetrate.
An unusual way of serving ful mesdames is to smother it in a tomato sauce flavored with garlic.
Riddle: It is divided into two equal parts and covered by a strong skin. Praised be God who made it! And how do Arabs call it?
Answer: El ful.
Claudia Roden is the doyenne of middle-eastern cookbook authors. An Egyptian Sephardic Jew, she and her family were run out of Egypt by Nasser, and her reconstruction of that whole lost world began with her recipe for ful mesdames.
Power to the people.
In today's news, Egypt's economy is tanking as Mubarak says he will not run:
“I’m going to try to eat the cheapest foods, ful and falafel,” said Azza Aladin, 47. Ful is a simple dish of beans. A single mother with six children, Ms. Aladin said she had been forced to cut out a meal a day.
Many Egyptians are paid on the last or the first day of the month, and their wages often come in cash-filled envelopes. With A.T.M.’s empty and banks closed, many bosses just cannot pay.
Muhammad Soudan, 54, had a banner on his car at Monday’s protest in Alexandria that read “I would rather live hungry than die in fear.” It is not an abstract notion here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/world/middleeast/01economy.html?scp=1&sq=ful&st=cse
This is one of Egypt's national dishes, a speciality of which rich and poor alike never tire. It is welcome at all times, for breakfast, lunch or supper.
The Christian Copts, who are said to be pure representatives of the ancient Egyptians, claim this dish as their own, along with melokhia soup (page 111). Their claim is quite probably justified, since these dishes, whose origins cannot be traced, are nevertheless believed to be extremely old. During Coptic religious festivals, and particularly during Lent, when they are not allowed to eat meat for many weeks, every Coptic family produces platefuls of ta'amia daily; it consumes large quantities itself and distributes the rest to non-Coptic friends.
Ta'amia are patties or rissoles made from a dried, white fava or broad bean (ful nabed), splendidly spiced and flavored, and deep-fried in oil. They are delicious, and I have never known anyone who has not liked them instantly.
The best ta'amia I have eaten were in Alexandria, with my aunt and uncle. Every year they rented an apartment there, the balcony of which was directly above a cafe which specialized in ta'amia. My relatives were both rather large, which was not surprising, since we always seemed to come upon them eating; and I could never visualize them eloping, gazelle-like, in their youth, which was the romantic legend related to us.
On each visit, we would sit with them for hours on their balcony overlooking the sea. Time and again, a basket would be lowered on a rope to the cafe below and pulled up again with a haul of fresh ta'amia, sometimes nestling in a pouch of warm, newly baked Arab bread. We would devour them avidly with pieces of the bread dipped in tahini salad, and then wait anxiously for the basket to be filled up again.
1 lb. dried white fava beans (ful nabed)
2 red or Spanish onions, very finely chopped or grated, or 1 bunch scallions, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1-2 t ground cumin
1-2 t ground coriander
1/2 t baking powder
Salt and cayenne pepper
Oil for deep frying
The dried white beans can be found in all Greek stores and in many delicatessens. Buy them already skinned if possible.
Soak the beans in cold water for 24 hours. Remove the skins if this has not been done. Drain, and mince or pound them. Mix this with the onions, garlic, parsley, cumin, coriander, baking powder, and salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Pound the ingredients together to a smooth paste. This will take a long time and much effort, so if a grinder is available, put the mixture through the fine blade twice before pounding it. Let the paste rest for 1/2 hour at least.
Take walnut-sized lumps and make flat, round shapes 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Let them rest for 15 minutes longer, then fry them in deep hot oil until they are a dark, rich, golden brown.
Serve hot, accompanied by a tomato and cucumber salad and tahini cream salad (page 42). Ta'amia are delicious served as an appetizer, or as a main dish for a luncheon party, accompanied by a variety of salads and bread.
I have recently been told that the baking powder is sometimes replaced by 1/2 oz. (1 cake) fresh yeast, or 1/4 oz. (1 package) dried yeast dissolved in a few tablespoons of lukewarm water. A dry falafel "ready mix" is now available in all Greek and Oriental shops. Add water as directed on the package, allow the paste to rest for a while, then shape and fry them in deep fat as above. This "ready mix" is not nearly as good as the real thing, but you can use it for making appetizers if you are short of time. To improve the flavor, add a little finely chopped parsley, finely chopped scallions, crushed garlic, and other seasonings to taste. Israelis have practically adopted ta'amia as a national dish. They are sold, ready to eat, in the streets and cafes all over Israel, and are prepared in the same way as the Egyptian ones, but chickpeas are substituted for the beans, and I am told that yeast is often used instead of baking powder.
An Egyptian dish which has become "the" national dish. Ful mesdames is pre-Ottoman and pre-Islamic, claimed by the Copts, and probably as old as the Pharoahs. According to an Arab saying: "Beams have satisfied even the Pharoahs."
Although basically a peasant dish, the rich and middle classes also delight in these small, dark beans. Since time immemorial, they have faithfully been served in the same manner: seasoned with oil, lemon and garlic, sprinkled with chopped parsley and accompanied by hamine (hard-boiled) eggs, and since time immemorial people have adored them.
Ful mesdames is eaten in the fields and in village mud houses, in luxury restaurants and on town terraces by masters and servants alike. It is sold in the streets, sometimes buried in Arab bread, garnished with tahina salad and accompanied by a tomato and onion salad.
The broad brown beans can be bought in all Greek stores and some delicatessens. Ready-cooked, canned beans can also be found.
2 lbs. ful mesdames, soaked overnight
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed [optional]
6 hamine eggs [page 136] or hardboiled eggs
Finely chopped parsley
Olive oil
Quartered lemons
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Boil the soaked beans in a fresh portion of unsalted water in a large saucepan until tender. In the past this took at least 7 hours (the beans were sometimes even left to cook overnight), but the quality which I buy in London are soft after 2 to 2 1/2 hours of gentle simmering. A pressure cooker will reduce the time considerably -- to 30 to 45 minutes -- but care must be taken not to overcook the beans.
When the beans are soft, drain them and add the crushed garlic to taste, or instead pass some around with the other garnishes for people to take as much as they want.
Serve in soup bowls. Put a hard-boiled hamine egg in each bowl on top of the beans, and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Pass around olive oil, quartered lemons, salt and black pepper for each person to season as he wishes. Most people like to break up the egg with a fork and crush the pieces together with the beans to allow the seasonings to penetrate.
An unusual way of serving ful mesdames is to smother it in a tomato sauce flavored with garlic.
Riddle: It is divided into two equal parts and covered by a strong skin. Praised be God who made it! And how do Arabs call it?
Answer: El ful.
Claudia Roden is the doyenne of middle-eastern cookbook authors. An Egyptian Sephardic Jew, she and her family were run out of Egypt by Nasser, and her reconstruction of that whole lost world began with her recipe for ful mesdames.
Power to the people.
