Mdammas a.k.a Kacang Pool

Kacang pool, or mdammas as it's referred to in the Middle East, is one of my favourite dishes. When I was living with my parents, my mother often prepared it for breakfast on Sundays. My mum's version is very simple to prepare. Crushed black pepper is added to the cooked beans & the dish is served with sliced onion & green chilli & sunny side up egg fried with ghee. According to her, that was how kacang pool was prepared & sold by the Arabs during the 1950s & 60s in the Kampong Glam area. In fact, fried egg was not part of the dish! 

Originated in Egypt & Sudan, mdammas is the most popular food in these countries. However, according to  Salah Jamal, the author of  Arabian Flavours, the true masters in the preparation of the most delicious version of this dish are the Arabs of Asia Minor i.e. the Palestinians, Jordanians, Syrians, Lebanese & Iraqis. In his book, Salah Jamal shared 2 recipes of mdammas, both the Egyptian & Sudanese version as well as the Asia Minor version. The former is very simple, just like how my mum often prepared hers, except it uses cayenne pepper instead of black pepper & olive oil instead of ghee. The latter involves the use of more ingredients. I used this recipe when I prepared mdammas for breakfast more than two weeks ago.  

Mdammas a.k.a Kacang Pool
(the Asia Minor version)
Adapted from recipe by Salah Jamal from Arabian Flavours, Recipes & Tales of Arab Life.

Ingredients:
1 can cooked broad beans (fava beans)
1 large clove garlic (crushed)
2 sprigs fresh coriander, chopped (original recipe uses fresh parsley)
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp tahina
salt to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
tomato - chopped (I added.)
onion - chopped
green chilli - sliced

Method:

1. Pour beans into a saucepan & heat up for about 5 minutes. Mash the beans with a folk. (You may also puree it using a blender.)
2. Add in garlic, coriander, lemon juice, tahina & salt. Mix thoroughly.
3. Pour mixture into a serving dish. Drizzle olive oil & top it with tomato, onion & green chilli.
4. Serve with bread.

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest: West Asia hosted by Shannon from Just As Delish.
I'm also linking this post to Cook Your Books No. 7 organised by Kitchen Flavours.