I pity the fuul (that I eat for breakfast)

Fuul is one of my favorite breakfasts in Ethiopia. Eating fuul is basically eating bread dipped in a spicey bean paste. Currently, the going rate for a serving of fuul and a couple of bread rolls for dipping is 6 bir, roughly 40 cents (USD).

The following fuul recipe can be attributed to Wande, a friend of mine who runs one of the more popular breakfast houses in town. You can see his hand in the photo above preparing to remove a ready-to-eat fuul from the charcoal stove.

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Fuul / Fuulii
Total preperation time: 25 ? 67 min, depending on the quantity served.

Ingredients:
Beans
Oil
Birbire (substitution: peprika or chile powder and the like)
Water
Onion
Salt (optional)
Butter (optional)
Bread - for dipping into the fuul

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Bean Prep (20-60 min, depending on amount of fuul desired):
Add 1 part bean, 2 part water, and a couple teaspoons of salt in a pot (for 2 people or 1 hungry person, try 1 cup of beans and 2 cups of water). Boil the beans until the water has mostly left it and the beans look like a thick stew, where bubbles look like they are making an effort to escape. This may take up to 30 minutes.

For a large pot- reteraunt style, it takes about an hour. Bean paste prep can be and is usually done the night before fuul for breakfast is to be made.

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Fuul prep (5-7 minutes):
Fuul is made on demand so it can be eaten as soon as it's finsihed cooking. After the bean paste has been made, individual servings follow the procdures below. Use a small frying pan and stir frequently to avoid burning.

1. Peal and chop a medium sized onion and brown it in a small frying pan. Then,
2. Add 2 tablespoons of oil
3. Add 1/2 tablespoon of birbire (peprika can substitute)
4. Add 3-4 tablespoons of water
5. Add heaping spoon fulls of bean paste until desired consistancy of fuul is reached. Personally, I like it thick.
6. When the fuul has reached desired heat and consistancy salt to taste and throw in a dallop of butter 'cause you're done! Eat that fuul!

For the Special Fuul (Fuulii Special)
After the fuul has reached desired heat and consistancy, throw in an egg and scramble it in there. Avocados would probably be great, too. Experiement a little and you can claim a fuul for your very own.
- If you make it, let me know what you think!