Foul Mankoub

Don't mistake this for bissara. Bissara is crushed smooth and spooned like a thick soup; foul mankoub keeps the bean whole, tender under the tooth, sitting in its own garlicky sauce. That is the difference, and you protect it from the beginning.

Soak the dried favas well, then cook them gently. A violent boil breaks the skins and muddies the pot before the beans have had time to soften. Let them swell, let the garlic sweeten, let the paprika stain the oil red. The sauce should be loose enough for bread to travel through it, not so thin that the beans look lost.

This is winter food, market food, the kind you eat when the evening is cold and the loaf of khobz is still warm. It's budget cooking, yes, but never careless. La balance est dans les yeux, the scale is in the eyes: add water when the beans ask, salt when they are tender, olive oil when the dish is ready to shine. Put the bowl in the middle. A table is a door you leave open.