00:00 Foul is one of the most popular breakfast dishes
00:03 in the whole of North Africa and Middle East.
00:05 And what makes Ethiopian and Eritrean foul
00:08 very different and unique
00:10 is the special spice blend called berbere.
00:14 Foul is widely known both in North Africa, Middle East,
00:17 and it goes on to the Mediterranean, including Greece.
00:20 Every country has their own version.
00:23 The one that I'm gonna be making is the original foul,
00:26 which comes from Ethiopia.
00:29 I'm Chef Aden Gobregziab here,
00:31 born in Ethiopia from Eritrea heritage.
00:35 And today I'll be making
00:37 traditional Ethiopian-Eritrean foul breakfast.
00:41 (upbeat music)
00:44 Foul is a fava bean stew simmered down with onions,
00:51 a little bit of spice, jalapeno, and garlic.
00:54 And then we have our different types of topping
00:57 with berbere.
00:59 Onion is such a big part of Ethiopian-Eritrean cuisine.
01:03 We love onion.
01:04 I don't think we have a dish that onion is not included.
01:07 The full dish is no different.
01:09 So we're gonna add a good amount of onion,
01:12 both for the topping,
01:14 as well as to simmer down the fava beans.
01:17 We're gonna do garlic.
01:18 You just smash it, add a little bit of salt,
01:22 and then you chop it finely.
01:23 My mother, grandparents,
01:25 almost everyone that I know would do it like this.
01:27 Jalapeno is traditionally found
01:30 in Ethiopian-Eritrean foul.
01:32 Other cultures would add their own choice of spice
01:36 mixed in with garlic.
01:38 All right, so we're ready to layer up the flavors
01:42 and cook the fava beans.
01:43 A little bit of olive oil,
01:46 and we're gonna add in our onions.
01:48 It doesn't have to sweat.
01:50 Add our garlic paste.
01:54 I know that most of the time
01:55 you may not be able to find fresh fava beans
01:58 that's readily available.
01:59 It's very seasonal.
02:00 Using canned fava beans is actually not skimping
02:03 on the authenticity in regards to flavor
02:06 and everything else is fairly similar.
02:09 We're gonna add jalapeno.
02:10 We're gonna add in our cumin.
02:12 Cumin is great for any type of stew,
02:16 especially when it comes to fava beans.
02:18 It needs a lot of flavoring.
02:20 Fava beans may not be a very popular bean
02:23 on the American side,
02:25 but it's a very ancient legume consumed for centuries.
02:28 It dates back all the way to fourth century.
02:32 People have used it as a great source of protein, iron,
02:36 which makes it great for breakfast.
02:38 Put a good amount of salt.
02:40 It has been cooking for a little bit.
02:43 We're gonna mash the beans.
02:45 You don't necessarily want it to be like similar
02:47 to a mashed potato.
02:48 You don't wanna completely mash it.
02:50 This breakfast is very nostalgic.
02:52 This is something that I grew up eating
02:55 every single Saturday.
02:57 I'm gonna just take a small bite
02:59 just to see if it has enough seasoning.
03:02 Oh, this is perfect.
03:05 Now that we have cooked our food,
03:10 there are different toppings that go on full
03:13 to bring the whole meal together,
03:15 and one of them is the berbere spice.
03:18 When you're talking about Ethiopian and Eritrean food,
03:22 the most distinctive flavor that we have
03:24 is the spice blend.
03:26 It's very versatile.
03:27 Anywhere from stews to stir fries to condiments,
03:31 you can use it cooked or uncooked.
03:34 There are two components to it.
03:36 One is your ground spices.
03:38 We have rosemary, garlic, onion, and ginger,
03:43 and on the other side, you have your warm spices.
03:47 The Ethiopian cardamom is an absolute must.
03:50 Another name for it is false cardamom.
03:52 Basobela, which is sacred basil.
03:55 We have kosaret, black cumin, coriander,
03:58 white cumin, black peppercorn, and fenugreek.
04:02 And lastly, but the most important, is the Kashmiri chili.
04:07 If you don't have access to that,
04:08 you would wanna pick a milder chili.
04:10 Typically, an Ethiopian Eritrean chef
04:14 wouldn't use such a small grinder.
04:17 Since this is such a big staple spice blend,
04:20 it's usually made in big batches,
04:23 enough to last you anywhere from six months to a year.
04:27 And so, after you sun-dry every single ingredient
04:30 that you have here, you actually take it to a special place
04:34 that they can grind every product that you have
04:37 and make sure that it is at its perfect quality.
04:41 I'm gonna toast my cardamom.
04:44 Coriander goes in there.
04:46 A little bit of white cumin, fenugreek, black cumin.
04:51 We're gonna toast this for a couple of minutes.
04:54 Toasting it actually wakes up the flavor,
04:57 especially with the cardamom.
05:00 It just really transform it.
05:01 So Ethiopian cardamom is fairly similar
05:05 to other types of cardamom,
05:07 but what makes it very distinct
05:09 is how concentrated and potent it is.
05:12 You don't need a lot of it.
05:13 All you need is a very small amount of it.
05:16 Oh, I smell the cardamom.
05:17 It smells really, really distinctive and powerful.
05:21 I'm gonna add the basobila,
05:23 the kosaret, black peppercorn, a small amount of salt,
05:29 the rest of my spices.
05:32 Berbere is an extremely important part
05:36 of Ethiopian Eritrean cooking.
05:38 Every single person and family member
05:40 have their own version of this berbere spice,
05:43 and so I actually take pride and joy
05:46 in saying that this is a berbere
05:48 that's prepared from my family.
05:50 We are finally ready to plate our ful.
05:55 You're gonna start with your fava beans, your ful.
05:59 The tomato is gonna give you that softness,
06:02 liquidy, in a way, wet texture.
06:05 And then jalapeno and bell pepper.
06:08 I like the texture of bell pepper.
06:11 The onion is gonna give you that sharp crunchiness.
06:14 Parsley is something that I've added
06:16 which gives it a nice garnish.
06:18 I have my hard-boiled egg.
06:20 Usually, Ethiopians and Eritreans,
06:23 they might either choose hard-boiled eggs or scrambled eggs.
06:27 It's kind of up to your preference.
06:29 And it goes with yogurt
06:31 because we're gonna be sprinkling the berbere spice.
06:34 As you're eating this in the morning,
06:36 for those that want that spice, they can have that,
06:38 but also cool you down with this yogurt.
06:41 And finally, it is our berbere spice.
06:46 Gonna add a drizzle of olive oil.
06:48 This plate loves olive oil.
06:50 You can dig in with a spoon.
06:53 Usually, it's served with some sort of flat bread.
06:56 I'm gonna use this flaky, beautiful fatira bread
07:00 that is also native to Ethiopia.
07:03 It looks flaky and somewhat similar to croissant,
07:08 but it doesn't have the amount of butter that croissant has.
07:12 I'm just gonna dig in with my hand.
07:14 The fava is so creamy.
07:18 It's not dry at all.
07:19 I taste the crunch of the jalapeno.
07:22 The yogurt is giving a nice cut
07:25 from that spice that I taste from the jalapeno.
07:28 You can serve it up to three or four
07:30 and you can eat it together.
07:32 A lot of Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisine is very communal,
07:37 which is perfect because each person
07:39 can kind of customize to their liking.
07:42 It's not an overwhelming spicy dish.
07:44 Super packed with protein, flavorful, great breakfast.
07:48 [music]
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