Egypt's most popular breakfast staple is a modern classic that's also been around for millennia. We take a look at taamiya for our summer series on breakfast around the globe.

Transcript

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

This summer, we've been sampling breakfasts from around the world with NPR's international correspondents. Today, we bring you a classic combo from Cairo, where NPR's Aya Batrawy tastes an ancient staple grown for millennia and beloved by millions.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORN HONKING)

AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: I meet two women having breakfast at Nasser Al Fayoumi, an unassuming food cart and small shop in downtown Cairo with metal chairs and tables on the street. They're eating ta'ameya, crunchy doughnut-hole-sized bites that are nearly identical to falafel, except made of fava beans, not chickpeas.

MARWA EZZAT: (Non-English language spoken).

MAHA DAQAQ: (Non-English language spoken).

EZZAT: (Non-English language spoken).

BATRAWY: Marwa Ezzat says she loves ta'ameya but doesn't eat it every morning because it's fried and not great on her stomach. Her friend Maha Daqaq says, this is the kind of breakfast for bonding with friends.

DAQAQ: (Non-English language spoken).

BATRAWY: And for millions of Egyptians, ta'ameya is a staple food that pairs with a mashed fava bean dish called ful medames. This classic duo - one creamy and zesty, the other dry and crispy - is known locally as ful wi ta'ameya. And fava beans have been in Egypt for millennia. A version of these beans were depicted being served in symbolic offerings to ancient Egyptian gods some 3,000 years ago.

(SOUNDBITE OF FRYER RUNNING)

BATRAWY: These days, 21-year-old Yousef Ahmed mashes up fava beans into a paste of herbs and spices - like cilantro, dill and cumin - to make ta'ameya at the food cart.

It's green. It's, like, a greenish color. And then he takes, like, little balls of it, and he just dumps it into this huge frying pan of oil. It's not really a pan. It's more like a cauldron of oil.

So how many of these golden fried balls does he make here a day, I ask.

(Non-English language spoken).

YOUSEF AHMED: (Non-English language spoken).

BATRAWY: He says he makes more than 4,000 of these a day. Each one is about the size of - like, they can fit in your palm. They're not all exactly the same size. It's not an exact science at all. He just sort of eyeballs it.

Nearby, the fava beans for ful are pulsed in a blender.

(SOUNDBITE OF BLENDER WHIRRING)

BATRAWY: This creamy texture is then given some oil, sesame paste and lemon squeeze.

So now he's mixing, mixing, mixing.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOOD MIXING)

BATRAWY: And now he's opening up a half-piece of Egyptian pita bread, and he's just putting a spoonful of this ful in every half-loaf.

And each one of these mini sandwiches costs 10 Egyptian pounds. That's 20 cents. Samir Helmy, a doorman in the neighborhood, knows what he came for.

SAMIR HELMY: (Non-English language spoken).

BATRAWY: With a third of Egyptians living in poverty on just a few dollars a day, this breakfast of ful and ta'ameya is what fuels people like Helmy, who doesn't hesitate to share his breakfast with me.

(Non-English language spoken).

HELMY: (Non-English language spoken).

BATRAWY: (Non-English language spoken).

But I already have a plate of ta'ameya waiting for me, and I dig in.

(SOUNDBITE OF FOOD CRUNCHING)

BATRAWY: Did you hear that crunch? It's perfect - crunchy, filling, a little warm, amazing.

Aya Batrawy, NPR News, Cairo.

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