Paul Bass Photo
Sublimity, in a bowl.
Omar Rajeh had the slow-cooked fava beans ready to go. A little mashing, pinches of seasoning, a drizzle or two, and a signature dish was ready to go.
The signature dish is ful madammas (among its various spellings). Regulars of Rajeh’s Mediterranea Cafe like me have been ordering and reordering it since the eatery opened at 140 Orange St. Before the lunch crowd started sweeping in the other day, Rajeh agreed to reveal the ful story of how he manages to strike the balance between light and filling, bright and rich.
It starts of course with the fava beans, the heart of the dish. Rajeh cooks them in advance, slowly — periodically pinching beans over three to four hours until they arrive at the ideal firm yet moist consistency. Now, as he prepared the ful, he reheated the beans over a flame in water rather than in a microwave, so they’d remain that way, rather than dried out.
Rajeh grew up eating ful madammas in his native Syria with three generations of his extended family as a brunch main course before weekly Friday afternoon prayers at the masjid. Originally on track to become a civil engineer, he came to the U.S. in 1989 and dived into the food business, with the ful recipe in tow. (Click here to read more about his back story.)
After draining the reheated beans, Rajeh slid them into a bowl and headed for the spice counter.
He dipped a spoon into mini-bins of salt, mint, black paper, sumac, cumin, spices imported from the Middle East and purchased in New York.
Next came squirts from bottles of olive oil and lemon juice …
… a dribble of tahini, a dabble of garlic …
… a firm mash of some, but not most, of the beans, to give the dish body while preserving the integrity of the core beans, then tomato and slices of cucumber to top it off.
“Ready to eat now,” Rajeh proclaimed with a shrug in his voice.
He was asked why ful ranks up with kebabs and felafel and hummus as his long-running top menu items. “It’s very healthy, because it contains lots of fiber, iron, manganese, magnesium, and phosphorus,” he said. “It’s very healthy, very light and filling at the same time.” It packs protein, while remaining a light meal. And, he did not add, it’s made with a light touch by a master.
Mediterranea Cafe at 140 Orange St. is open seven days a week. Click here for hours and the full menu.