You’d be forgiven for never having heard of a fava bean – but this delicious, versatile and British-grown ingredient should be a staple in our kitchen cupboards. Start your fava bean journey with this spiced pottage dish.
Spiced pottage
A luxury take on a medieval staple made with whole fava beans.
Published: October 1, 2020 at 9:21 pm
Ingredients
- Fava beans 250g dried whole fava beans or 2 x 400g canned fava beans in water
- 500ml Unsweetened almond milk
- 1 Root ginger, finely chopped
- Cinnamon stick
- 1 Red onion medium
- 2 or 3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 level dessert spoon Honey
- A pinch of saffron
- 3 Cloves
- 2 pinches of sea salt
- Parsley and/or rose petals (unsprayed!) to garnish
Method
Step 1
Soak dried beans overnight, rinse, bring to the boil and simmer for 60 minutes (or pressure cook for 45 minutes). If using canned beans, simply drain and rinse.
Step 2
Chop the onion finely and cook on a low heat until transparent. Add ginger, garlic, cloves and cinnamon and cook for 5 minutes. Add the beans, cook for a few minutes more, then pour in the almond milk and stir in the saffron. When it’s simmering, stir in the honey.
Step 3
Cook gently for 20 minutes. The pottage should reduce and the beans will begin to break up. Season with salt and mash the beans with a fork to create a paste – you might need to add a little water.
Step 4
Before serving stir in some chopped parsley or use as a garnish with rose petals.
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Louise Hagger