Warm mashed fava beans with tomato, cumin and lemon

Ingredients

0 of 11 out on the counter

• 1½ cups dried fava beans, soaked, then simmered in fresh water until soft: about 4 cups cooked, 697 g
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ⅜ tsp salt
• ¼ cup lemon juice, about 1¼ lemons
• ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 4 small whole-wheat pitas (4-inch, 28 g each, 112 g)
• water, to soak and simmer the beans (drained off)

All set! Everything is out. Time to bake.

Method

1. 1The night before, cover the dried fava beans with cold water by 2 inches and soak 8 hours. Drain. Put them in a pot with fresh water to cover by 2 inches and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer, with no salt in the pot.
2. 2Simmer until a bean mashes easily between two fingers. At 5,430 ft water boils near 203 °F, so give them longer than a sea-level recipe says (our kitchen practice: we extend it), and go by the finger test, not the clock. Drain, saving ½ cup of the cooking water. You want about 4 cups of cooked beans.
3. 3Set a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the diced tomatoes, cumin, garlic powder and pepper with no oil. Cook, stirring, 5 minutes, until the tomatoes slump and the pan looks jammy.
4. 4Tip in the beans and the saved ½ cup of cooking water. Mash about half the beans with a fork or potato masher and leave the rest whole, so the pan is part creamy, part chunky. Cook 5 minutes more, stirring, until it is hot all the way through and thick enough to hold a spoon.
5. 5Off the heat, stir in the salt, lemon juice and parsley. Spoon into four bowls and pour ¾ tbsp (about 2¼ tsp) of the olive oil over each.
6. 6Warm the pitas in a dry pan or the toaster, one per bowl, for scooping. Cool leftovers within 2 hours, 1 hour above 90 °F, then refrigerate, covered, up to 4 days (our kitchen practice; we hold no published source for it yet). Reheat to a boil, stirring, or to 165 °F, with a splash of water.