الاثنين، 27 نوفمبر 2017

How To Cook Fava Beans

By Carl Hill


Fava is a really good source of fiber, proteins and several vitamins and minerals, such as potassium and magnesium, but it also tastes great and can be used in various delicious recipes. The beans have interesting flavor, especially when they are used fresh from the pod, and they look really nice, brightly green and shiny. If you would like to try them, you first need to know how to cook fava beans.

There are several ways of preparing them. If you have freshly picked pods, you have to remove them from these pods first. You will find four or five of them in each pod. You should put them into water and bring the water to boil. Cook them for 30 to 60 seconds. Drain them immediately and place into a bowl of ice cold water.

They have waxy and hard shell that has to be peeled of first. It looks like it will take a lot of time, but it is actually quite easy and the shell will simply fall of under your fingers. Shiny and lovely green, once peeled they will find place in various salads and other dishes, and can also be additionally cooked or steamed to become softer.

Dried fava is brown, and comes in small and large variation. Both need to be prepared and peeled first. Soaking them in a large quantity of water overnight or longer, up to 24 hours, is for the best. After that, when they double their volume, drain and rinse them. It's always for the best to peel them, even if some people say that small ones don't have to be peeled.

In some occasions you might not have enough time to let them soak overnight, but there is one much faster method you can use. Cook them for several minutes and let them soak for an hour in one covered large pot. It is important to provide enough water, because they will increase their volume considerably. Now it's time to peel them all.

Once peeled, cook them in a pot of fresh, salted water until soft, but not mushy. It usually takes for about 45 to 50 minutes, depending on their size. They should only simmer. Once cooked, you can use them in various recipes. They can also replace chick beans in some recipes, or a part of some other ingredients you would normally use.

Fresh green ones are great for making spreads, as an addition to various salads and side dishes, rice, potato puree or pasta dressings. Both dried and fresh fava have very nice flavor, high nutritional value and are great sources of fiber. You will also find them in cans, already peeled or not, as well as deep frozen.

Fresh ones should be kept in your freezer, already cooked and peeled. Dried ones can be stored as they are, although you could also soak, cook and peel them first, and keep them deep frozen. Considering the time needed to preparing them when they are still dried, preparing larger quantities and storing them this way may ease the future meal preparation.




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