Fried Snack · Breakfast Cart

Ta'ameya (Egyptian Fava Bean Falafel)

📷 Closely related photo — Photo: Anton / Unsplash · Unsplash License

Egypt's fava-bean version is often argued to be the original falafel, later remade with chickpeas in the Levant, though that origin is contested.

Ta'ameya is made from skinned dried fava beans blended with fresh herbs, onion, and garlic rather than chickpeas, giving it a strikingly vivid green interior once fried. Cairo breakfast carts shape the mixture into patties, coat them in sesame seeds, and deep-fry them to order, stuffing them hot into pita with tahini, salad, and pickles.

Why it's made this way: Fava beans have grown along the Nile since Pharaonic times, and one popular theory credits Egypt's Copts with creating ta'ameya as a meatless food for fasting periods, though falafel's origin is still debated.