Vegan Broad Beans (Foul Akhdar)

Here's another simple side dish which you can also eat as a main, especially as a light dinner.

Broad beans are commonly used in Mediterranean cooking, and in Lebanon we do them in many ways.

The best thing about them is that they cook very fast and add a savoury freshness to dishes

The broad beans

You can wait for broad beans to come into season and make it fresh but it's just as good frozen.

Some people like to peel the broad beans but that takes ages and there's goodness in the skins which are not too tough to chew.

Also if you do peel them they will mush together and you will have some sort of mushy peas.

I really feel broad beans are underrated they are so versatile and this recipe makes them the star of the show.

The spices and herbs

My mum uses both black and white pepper though of course you can use whatever pepper you have at hand.

The main herb used is coriander (fresh cilantro) which can also handle being frozen so really this is a store-freezer recipe you can pull out of the bag without much preparation.

How to eat foul akhdar

The Lebanese eat this with flatbread but there's nothing to prevent you eating it with another starch of your choice such as pasta or a nice jacket potato.

If cholesterol is not an issue you might even like to finish it with a spoon of salted butter at the end to make it more luxurious, but really this is a humble healthy dish perfect for vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters alike.

📖 Recipe

5 from 1 vote

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Vegan Broad Beans (Foul Akhdar)

Vegan Broad Beans with cilantro and Lemon (Foul Akhdar)

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Vegan

Cuisine Lebanese

Keyword Healthy, vegan

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Servings 4

Author Zaatar and Zaytoun

Ingredients

• 1 bag frozen broad beans approx 500g
• 1 large onion
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• Regular olive oil
• A good handful of cilantro (coriander)
• Pinch of black and white pepper
• Approx 1 tablespoon salt
• Juice of 1 lemon

Instructions

1. Take the bag of broad beans out of the freezer to defrost

2. Chop the onion and garlic, squeeze the lemon, and wash and roughly chop the cilantro

3. Sauté the onion in regular olive oil until golden, then add the garlic and sauté for another few minutes on medium low heat making sure not to burn the garlic and adding a little olive oil if necessary
4. Add the broad beans to the onion garlic mix with a good drizzle of olive oil on medium high heat for about 5 to 10 minutes until they turn vibrant green

5. Add the salt, black and white pepper along with the cilantro and enough boiling water to cover

6. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover
7. After around half an hour, taste a broad bean to check it is done then turn off the heat and add the lemon juice
8. Serve with bread or starch of your choice such as pasta or jacket potato

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