For the last few years I've been buying a five pound bag of organic fava beans from our food co op just for planting....this year they are different, greener and less mature looking and don't sprout well at all....so I guess we have to eat them.
any good recipes and advice? The last time I cooked dry ones the skin was still tough and the bean part mush. I hardly ever throw something right into the compost but I did those. Way back, I did shell and steam, I think, some fresh green ones that I grew and we liked them alright.
I was excited to find a recipe in my 'The Art of Mexican Cooking' for Sopa De Habas...dried fava bean soup. But in the second paragraph she says "Always buy the peeled yellow fava beans, not the unpeeled chocolate-colored ones, which are better for planting than for cooking" Until this five pound bag, mine have been the chocolate colored ones and definitely still have the peel on....even though this year they are greenish I think I am still out of luck.....
Judith Browning wrote:The last time I cooked dry ones the skin was still tough and the bean part mush.
I cook fava beans with the skins on. That is part of their allure to me: The tough, chewy, tasty skin with the tender mush inside. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. And something different than any other bean that I eat. I'd get really bored if all my food was just like all the rest of my food.
Beans removed from the pods - dried - then cooked, and the tough skins removed. A bit of a challenge, but possible, then 'meat' pureed and turned into a dip like hummus - add garlic, tahini and lemon juice.
Nice also made with fresh beans to make a lovely green spread.
I follow the same cooking method for favas as for other beans. Soak overnight (or more) in water. Change the water about every 4-8 hours. Bring to boiling. Cook about as long as others bean.
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