🍢 SNACK
Termis (Egyptian Brined Lupini Beans)
Dried lupini beans soaked, boiled until bright yellow and leached in fresh water for days until the bitterness is gone, then kept in salty brine with lemon, cumin and chili.
Egyptian · easy · serves 8
prep 15 min · cook 30 min · plus 4 days hands-off time
~173 cal · 11g protein · 31g carbs · 1g fat · 8g fiber · 1g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Termis are lupini beans, and in Egypt they are street food: sold from carts and stalls by the paper cone, with a squeeze of lemon, a pinch of cumin and a shake of chili, and eaten by popping each bean out of its skin with your teeth. They are the classic snack of Sham el-Nessim, the spring festival when Egyptian families picnic in parks and along the Nile.
Lupins are bitter and cannot be eaten straight from the pod. Dried beans are soaked, boiled until they swell and turn a vivid yellow, and then left in fresh water, changed every day, for several days until the bitterness has leached away completely. Only then are they salted, and they keep for weeks in brine in the fridge.
The waiting is the whole recipe: taste a bean each day, and when there is no bitterness left at all, they are ready. Lupin is a food allergen in its own right and some people with a peanut allergy react to it too, so anyone with a peanut allergy should be careful with termis.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
- 400 g (14 oz) dried lupini beans (lupins), lupin is a labelled allergen in the EU and can cross-react with peanut allergy
- plenty water, for soaking, boiling and leaching
- 1/4 cup salt, for the brine
- 1 litre (4 cups) water, for the brine
- 3 tbsp lemon juice, plus lemon wedges to serve
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin, plus more to serve
- 1 tsp red chili flakes (optional)
- 1 tsp olive oil
Instructions
- 1Rinse the lupini, cover them with plenty of water and leave to soak for 24 hours. They will swell a lot.
- 2Drain and rinse, put them in a large pot with fresh water and boil for 30 minutes, until puffed and bright yellow. Drain and rinse under cold water.
- 3Put the beans in a large bowl of fresh cold water in the fridge. Change the water at least once a day for 3 to 7 days, rinsing the beans each time, and taste one each day.✎ Chef’s noteThey are ready only when there is no bitterness left at all. Bitter lupins carry alkaloids that are unsafe in quantity, so do not cut this short.
- 4For the brine, dissolve the salt in the brine water, warming it if needed, and leave it to cool. Put the beans in a clean jar, pour over the brine, add the lemon juice, cumin, chili flakes and olive oil, and leave for an hour.
- 5Serve in a bowl or a paper cone with lemon wedges and more cumin, with a dish for the skins. Keep the rest covered in brine in the fridge for up to a month.
Egyptian street and Sham el-Nessim tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
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Alexandria. Alexandria is Egypt's Mediterranean port, breakfasting on ful medames, fava beans stewed overnight and dressed with olive oil, lemon, and cumin. Its seafront kitchens grill and fry the day's catch, and taameya, the fava-bean falafel, is fried green and fresh.
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Egypt. Koshari's origins are argued rather than settled. The rice and lentils resemble both Indian khichri, which one account has arriving with soldiers under the British, and Levantine mujaddara, while the macaroni is usually put down to Egypt's Italian community. A traveller's account published in 1855 already describes a Suez breakfast of lentils, rice, ghee and onions under that name.
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Africa. Africa's fifty-four nations hold cuisines as different as Morocco's slow-cooked tagines and South Africa's open-fire braai, yet shared threads run through them: ancient grains like millet, sorghum, and teff; stews thickened with groundnut, okra, or palm; and fiery condiments from Tunisian harissa to Ethiopian berbere. Staple starches, fufu, injera, ugali, couscous, anchor communal meals often eaten by hand from a shared dish, where hospitality is a point of honor.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Egypt
Ta'ameya (Egyptian Falafel)Egypt’s own falafel, made from split fava beans instead of chickpeas, packed with herbs for a vivid green centre and fried to a shattering crisp.
KoshariCairo’s carb-on-carb street food: lentils, rice, and pasta under spiced tomato sauce and crispy onions.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Keeps 2 to 3 days refrigerated. Resteam or warm through gently to serve.
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Termis (Egyptian Brined Lupini Beans)?
Dried lupini beans soaked, boiled until bright yellow and leached in fresh water for days until the bitterness is gone, then kept in salty brine with lemon, cumin and chili.
Where does Termis (Egyptian Brined Lupini Beans) come from?
Termis (Egyptian Brined Lupini Beans) is an Egyptian dish from Alexandria, Egypt.
Can Termis (Egyptian Brined Lupini Beans) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Termis (Egyptian Brined Lupini Beans) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Termis (Egyptian Brined Lupini Beans) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Termis (Egyptian Brined Lupini Beans) take to make?
About 4 days in all: 15 minutes prep and 30 minutes cooking, plus 4 days of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 8.
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