Here is Fava Puree a different way of using broad beans. For this dish you will need dry fava bean/broad bean seeds. They are generally sold in supermarkets next to dry beans and dry lentils.
This is a vegan side dish. Easy to prepare. This puree can also be used as a paste in a sandwich. My kids like fava, although they don’t like Fresh Broad Beans with Olive Oil, they really enjoy this as a starter.
What is Fava made of?
It is made of dry broad bean seeds as seen below. Broad beans are cultivated in Europe and Far East.
Soak the seeds the night before so you can cook faster the next day. But not the end of the day if you have forgotten you can still prepare.
Chopped dill adds a lot of flavor to this dish. Either include the chopped dill inside the paste itself or just garnish with chopped dill, which is what I prefer. You can also consider adding the dill inside the fava and on top of it.
Broad beans, even when eaten as fava are good for lowering cholesterol levels and stabilising sugar levels in your blood. Do take into consideration that fava beans are legume, if you have severe favism or legume allergies, you might not want to eat it.
You can serve it in a serving dish or you can cut it nicely as in the picture. The texture is nice and shapeable, so feel free to play around with the shape.
You can prepare a day ahead. Enjoy.
Fava Puree / Fava
Ingredients
- 500 grams dry fava beans
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 garlic clove chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 500 millilitres water
- 5-6 stalks dill chopped
Instructions
- The night before, soak the dry fava beans in a bowl full of water. If you forget or did not have time for this, cooking will take longer, but you can still prepare this dish.
- The next day rinse and drain the beans.
- Always use a wooden spoon for this dish as the fava beans tend to change color.
- Place the fava beans into a large pot and add about 500 milliliters water. Bring to boil and let simmer until the beans are soft enough to be mashed. Skim away uggly foams. Add additional water if necessary. Stir occasionally. This should take about 20-30 minutes. If by the time the fava beans are ready there is still plenty of water drain, but do not discard the water.
- In another pot, sauté first the chopped onions and then add the minced garlic clove with olive oil, until the onions are translucent.
- Add the onion mixture to the fava beans. Also add, the sugar and salt and stir.
- Either use a hand blender or food processor to turn the mixture into a smooth mixture. If necessary, add the water you had saved or an additional tablespoon of olive oil.
- If you want to make sure your mixture is perfectly blended use a wire drainer. Pour all the mixture into a drainer with another bowl under it. Press down any remaining particles the wire drainer and do not forget to scoop in the thick creamy part under the drainer.
- You may add the dill at this stage to the mixture or on top to garnish or both.
- Choose a shallow glass serving dish and spread a thin layer of olive oil with an egg brush.
- While the paste is still warm, pour it to your dish. Smooth the top of the paste with a spoon or a knife. Put into the fridge until serving.
- When you remove it from the refrigerator, the paste should have set and become firm enough to cut.
- Before serving you can turn it up-side-down to another plate. You can also obtain a fancier look using different cutting techniques.