Foul "Ful" Mudammas Recipe

I recently discovered "Foul Madammas" or "Ful Mudammas" at my favorite local Mediterranean/Greek restaurant ~ Mediterranean Deli in Chapel Hill.  They list out the ingredients so I created a recipe to try to duplicate this dish.  It's not exactly the same, but it's close.

Ingredients:

• 2 can of fava beans (do not rinse or drain)
• 3/4 tsp. cumin powder
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

Tomato/Cucumber Topping:

• Juice from half a lemon (I used a whole small meyer lemon)
• 1 bunch chopped fresh parsley (about 3/4 cup)
• 1-2 jalapenos - finely diced 
• 2 small cloves of garlic – minced
• Sea salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large tomato – diced
• 1/2 red onion – finely diced
• 1 medium cucumber, diced
• 2 tbsp of fresh tahini

To make the topping that is served on top of the beans, combine all above ingredients.  I used my Cuisinart Food Processor and processed the first six ingredients, then mixed in the diced tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion and tahini.

To make the beans, saute the garlic in a little olive oil in a saucepan for a few minutes, add the beans and their juices with the cumin and simmer at low-medium heat for about 20 minutes.  Remove 1 cup of the beans and put them in the food processor (blender or immersion blender) until smooth.  Mix the beans (smooth and intact) and top each serving with the tomato/cucumber topping.  Serve with hot pita bread or your favorite rice or couscous.  We served ours with Forbidden Rice - YUM!

A couple side notes -

• You'll notice that the restaurant above mixed all the ingredients together.  This is fine if you're going to eat it in one sitting.  If you're having it for leftovers, it completely changes the taste if you heat up the topping.  I highly recommend keeping the beans separate from the topping mixture for leftovers. 
• If you can find canned foods without BPA lining, I would definitely recommend buying them.  Whole Foods carries Eden brand and most of their canned foods have a BPA free lining.  Another canned food that is frequently lined with BPA is tomatoes, so try to buy them in a glass jar or a BPA free can.