I’ve always been into smoothies and juicing, but every once in a while I fall out of routine.  Then my Vitamix just SITS there. After all, it takes time to plan to purchase all the fresh produce you need for smoothies, and then it takes more effort to think of new or creative ways to blend up some concoctions that actually taste great. So naturally, when I heard about Green Blender, I was intrigued. It’s a food delivery that provides you with at least 5 different smoothie recipes and all the ingredients you need to make them. They source their ingredients responsibly with almost all produce being organic, and everything is non-Gmo. The best part though is their incorporation of superfood supplements for protein and nutrients so that I can try new things I have never heard of and would certainly never think to purchase on my own. In just two deliveries you get to try unique ingredients such as  camu camu (the most potent source of vitamin C), matcha green tea, yacon root, quinoa flakes, goji berries, maqui berries, chlorella, and ginseng. The recipes also teach you to incorporate a variety of nuts into your smoothies to boost your protein and nutrient intake. I just love that!

The recipes are really unique too and taste great. They provide a delicious range of flavors you wouldn’t think to pair. For example one of my favorite green smoothies I’ve tried is with squash, spinach, banana and tahini! It’s a sweet and creamy blend with a hint of cinnamon. My absolute favorite out of everything I have tried, is the persimmon mango. This is one tropical and delicious treat loaded with vitamin C, and who doesn’t need that boost at this dreadful time of year?

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The box delivers in a thermal ice box and will stay fresh for at least a few hours until you get home to receive your fresh ingredients. Everything is already prepped and portioned, which is a great bonus!

So go ahead and give Green Blender a try, whether you don’t have the time or energy to buy and prepare what you need, simply need new inspirations like I did, or are just plain lazy, these smoothie deliveries are going to get you right on track! You do need your own blender, or you could rent/buy a VitaMix blender from GreenBlender.com. I use Vitamix and I highly recommend it; their patented push stick makes all the difference in achieving a smooth and silky texture when larger products are built up at the top of the blender. You can skip or cancel deliveries whenever you want. And now as one of my readers you can get 20% with this code: sugarandgarlic. Enjoy!

Do you know about this super food? This dish is a classic favorite for Egyptians and is prepared in its uniquely flavored broth and usually served over rice, or with pita bread. Its savory, garlicky flavor is an instant hit and its slipper texture makes it perfect for use in soup and sauces. This dish is outstanding in flavor, and less known for how incredibly nutritious it is, and most importantly very easy to prepare! Mulokhia leaves are incredibly nutrient dense leafy greens full of  phytonutrients that support heart health, immunity, bone health, and anti-inflammation, which may be why this dish used to only be served to the royals and Pharaohs of Egypt.  These super greens are said to have more beta carotene and calcium than spinach, kale, and broccoli, and are also rich in Vitamins A, C, E, K as well as selenium and iron. If only Popeye knew about these leaves!

Mulokhia is not commonly grown or sold in the US, but it is easy to find in the frozen aisle of any Middle Eastern market, as it is a staple. The frozen leaves tastes just as great and as fresh, and they are a lot easier than all the work of picking and mincing. There are two kinds of mulokhia in the frozen aisle, and for this Egyptian version you must use the minced leaves, not the whole. 

Mulokhia is one of the first greens I have introduced to both of my babies, and they absolutely LOVED it. It is perfect for babies starting solids because it is minced and served as an easy to swallow soup. Needless to say, it is a favorite in my household and I am glad it is so easy to prepare.  Egyptians always use the minced mulokhia leaves to prepare this recipe, and visions of my grandmother chopping the fresh leaves with an old fashioned mezzaluna blade is a great memory that makes this dish the ultimate nostalgic comfort food. 

To start, you need a good chicken broth. Insert here your preferred source, but I always love making my own broth with a whole chicken or a few chicken legs and later enjoying the freshly cooked, then roasted chicken along with my mulokhia. Simply boil a whole chicken or a few bone-in legs with an onion, cardamom, bay leaves, salt and pepper for 30-60 minutes. You could also enjoy this as a vegan dish however, by using a vegetable broth, which will work just as perfectly.

The savored and distinct flavor and scent of mulokhia is achieved when you make the “taqliyya” (which means fried mixture in Arabic). In Egypt, you will often find this scent wafting from homes as you pass them by as this is a favorite traditional dinner served weekly. Simply sauté about 10 beautiful cloves of crushed garlic in olive oil with 2 tablespoons of ground coriander seed. The smell in your kitchen will lure every one in, but no worries you are almost done! Once you stir this garlic-coriander mixture into the broth, place the frozen mulokhia block into the broth and stir it every so often until it has melted. It is important to not over-boil this soup, as the leaves may end up sinking and separating from the broth and you will not have the homogenous consistency that is desired. 

I like to pan fry or oven roast the chicken I used to make the broth by rubbing it with garlic, salt, and pepper, then searing it in lemon and onions. Yummy!

Serve the mulokhia with rice or pita, and you may eat with roasted chicken on the side. Sometimes, when I wish to take a healthier route than white rice, I use quinoa as a side. Bil hana wil Shifa! (With health and healing!)

Ful mudammas (pronounced f-ool, rhyming with pool or tool, but why would I spell it like that, or foul?!)  is a vegetarian dish that is a staple food item in Egypt. It is the national dish of Egypt. You cannot go to Egypt without trying ful at least several times. It is eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, but most often as breakfast.  Ful is the name of the broad bean used in Arabic and Mudammas in Arabic literally means “buried in the pot” as this dish is meant to simmer away for hours, allowing the vegetables and spices to build a deep medley of flavor. The flavorful stew of fava beans with spices, lemon, garlic, and olive oil thickens up into a delicious mixture that may be wrapped up into a pita sandwich, scooped up with little pieces of pita bread or chips, or even eaten straight out of the bowl with a spoon. This hearty dish consists of cooked fava beans and chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, spices, and a variety of fresh chopped toppings such as tomato, green onions, and parsley.Unlike most recipes for ful you will find, this does not originate from a can. In fact, many people are a little intimidated as to how to get the dried hard little beans to that infamous “mudammas” phase quoted so perfectly on the can. If you set aside one nice afternoon to do this, you can prepare enough ful and freeze it for later to last you a couple of months! You also get to control exactly what spices, flavors, and herbs are going in, and it’s preservative free 🙂 Two cheers for clean eating!

You can find the dried brown fava beans at any Arabic market, and most international markets. Make sure it is the small, brown bean, with a black mark on top. Do not get peeled, green, or the large fava beans because those are used in different dishes. I actually find my fava beans from the bulk bins at Whole Foods; they are organic and from a local farm. I cook about a pound at a time, which makes about 4-5 family sized (serving 4) portions or 10 single portions. So I estimate at least the equivalent of about 10 cans of ful. You want to wash and sort the beans. Because I love adding chick peas to my ful, I usually pressure cook a cup of chickpeas first, before the fava, for about 60 minutes. I set these aside while the ful is cooking. The kids LOVE eating the cooked chickpeas, plain with nothing added! What a perfectly healthy and fun snack for the kids! Simply cook the fava beans in a pressure cooker with water, onions, and garlic (no salt, it inhibits the cooking) for 45-60 minutes. There is no need to soak the beans overnight when you use a pressure cooker. Once the beans have cooked soft, I uncover the pressure top and continue to simmer the stew for another hour or so, this time with the addition of spices, olive, oil, lemon, onions, more garlic, and salt. We are getting those beans mudammas, or buried in flavor!

Once the beans are nicely tender and deliciously infused with the garlic, onion, cumin, and lemon,  you can prepare it for being served. First, I take the extra batches and portion them into glass storage containers to freeze for later. When I am ready to serve it, I give it a light mashing (some people completely puree it), add olive oil, fresh squeezed lemon juice, a drizzle of tahini, some cooked chick peas, chopped tomatoes, parsley, and scallions. The dish is served warm with pita bread. Ful mudammas in our family is often served for breakfast along side some small plates of hard boiled eggs, falafel, cheeses, olives, pastrami, pickled turnips, and refreshing slices of cucumber.

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Fava beans are an excellent source of protein and fiber, and this healthy recipe is quite filling and has minimal fat. It is an excellent and favorite meal for suhoor, which is a meal Muslims eat in early dawn before the daytime fast begins. Once you taste a batch of freshly stewed homemade ful, you will never go back to cans! Once you go scratch, you’ll never go back 😉

Ful Mudammas (from scratch)

2014-07-03 06:33:21

Yields 12

The BEST recipe for ful mudammas, or stewed fava beans, cooked from scratch.

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Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

2 hr

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

2 hr

To cook the fava beans in a pressure cooker

1. 1 lb of dried brown fava beans
2. 10 cups of water
3. 1 yellow onion, cut in half
4. 4 cloves of garlic, sliced in half

To simmer the fava beans before serving

1. 1/2 c lemon juice
2. 2 tsp salt
3. 1 1/2 tsp cumin
4. 2 tbsp minced garlic
5. 1 yellow onion, diced
6. 1/4 tsp black pepper
7. 3 tbsp olive oil

To serve 1 cup of stewed beans

1. (optional) 1/4 cup cooked chickpeas, reserve some for garnish
2. (optional) 1/4 cup tahini paste OR 1/2 cup tomato sauce
3. 1/4 c fresh squeezed lemon juice (no lemon juice if cooking in tomato sauce)
4. 1 tsp minced garlic
5. 1 tomato, diced
6. 1 green onion or scallion, diced
7. 1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley, reserve some for garnish
8. 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

1. Wash and sort the fava beans.
2. Place beans into a pressure cooker, add the onion and garlic, and cover with 10-12 cups of water. Cook on high pressure for at least 60 minutes. Do not add salt, as it inhibits cooking.
3. Once the beans are cooked soft, you can remove the lid and add the spices and additional diced garlic and onions, lemon juice, and olive oil. Simmer for another 30-60 minutes, until the beans are very tender and flavorful.
4. Portion the cooked beans into storage containers or ziplocs and freeze; be sure to store it with some of the cooking liquid. If you will add cooked chickpeas, you can place them in the container and freeze them with the fava beans. When you are ready to serve the beans you simply can pour them into a pot to reheat it and add the final toppings.

To serve

1. Simmer 1 cup of stewed fava beans with the tahini OR tomato sauce, and 1/4 cup of cooked chick peas, over medium-high heat. If there is not enough liquid with the beans, add 1/4 c water to prevent drying out the beans. Remove from heat after 5 minutes, or after most liquid is absorbed.
2. If you like you beans softened, as Egyptians do, this is the time to mash them gently with a fork or masher. Some people even puree it smooth, but we definitely like some texture and chunky beans. After mashing the beans, add the lemon juice (omit if you are cooking in tomato sauce), chopped tomato, onions, garlic, and parsley. Add 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Toss lightly.
3. Garnish with the remaining chickpeas and parsley on top, and drizzle remaining olive oil. Serve with warm pita bread.

Notes

1. If you will serve the fava beans simmered in tomato sauce, you will omit the lemon juice because the tomato sauce provides enough acidity. You can add a dash of lemon or vinegar if you prefer.
2. The flavor with the tahini or the tomato sauce make for two very different dishes. Try them both!

By Noha ElSharkawy

Sugar & Garlic https://sugarandgarlic.com/