Mashed Fava Beans

Here is another of my favorite traditional Greek dishes, the mashed fava bean.

A dish with poor origins, very ancient that you will find in any tavern perhaps with some small variant type in some they will serve it with a decoration of raw onions, or caramelized or with two simple black olives or with a sprinkling of paprika, in short, each one gives vent to the his imagination but the result is always the same, a delicate cream to be enjoyed perhaps with a nice hot pita.

This type of fava bean is found only in Greece and for example on the island of Santorini it has been cultivated for over 3500 years, in reality it is a legume very similar to broken yellow peas or to our cicerchie just to give you an idea of the product. It is an excellent dish, also perfect for vegetarians or vegans.

It is certainly one of the fruits of the earth that best represents Greece together with olive oil and feta (did you know that feta in Homer's Odyssey was the cheese that produced the Polyphemus Cyclops?).

Mashed fava bean is usually served as a mezedes (appetizer) and until a few decades ago it could only be found in traditional taverns. Nowadays even the most chic restaurants offer it perhaps with gourmet variants.

Preparing it is not difficult, you can very well propose it again at home to remind you of your holidays in Greece and have a nutritious and tasty alternative.

Here is the recipe for 4 people

Half a kilo of yellow beans (if you can find those from Santorini they are the best)

Half chopped onion

A sliced onion you can put both the white and the red one (the red one I like to caramelize it)

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Salt to taste

Pepper as needed

Preparation time about 10 minutes, cooking 50/60 minutes.

Fry the chopped onion with three tablespoons of oil over low heat until it begins to become transparent, if it dries, add a little hot water, then add the beans and season for about a couple of minutes, turning them continuously. Put in the water (usually the ratio is for one cup of beans to five cups of water) and let it all simmer. Stir every now and then and check that there is always enough water to keep the beans from sticking to the pot. Cook for a total of 50 minutes, it will be ready when it seems almost undone. Let it cool until it becomes firm. Add salt and cook for another five minutes. Remove it from the heat and to obtain a cream use an immersion blender (even here the consistency will be to your taste, if you like it more rustic do not blend completely) and let it cool. Serve it with ground black pepper, and garnish as you see fit, or with raw onion rings, or with caramelized red onion or with simple strictly Greek black olives.

An extremely simple dish but rich in proteins, vitamin B, PP, calcium, phosphorus, many fibers, low in fat but with a massive energy power.

A delicious alternative both as an appetizer and as a side dish or to accompany meat.In short, you can really indulge yourself with this fantastic legume and return even for a moment to our beloved Greece.