Fried Snack · Breakfast Cart

Ta'ameya (Egyptian Fava Bean Falafel)

📷 Closely related photo — Photo via Pexels/Unsplash — free for commercial use

Egypt's fava-bean version predates the chickpea falafel eaten across the rest of the Middle East, which many food historians believe was adapted from it.

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, so historians see ta'ameya as a direct descendant of ancient Egyptian bean cookery, making it arguably the oldest fritter in the falafel family tree.