My mom mentioned this recipe that she recently learned. Since I had some fava beans growing in our backyard, I had to try it out. Since we hardly consume rice, I used bulgur to make this pilaf. Amazing combination of 3 main ingredients: bulgur, fava beans and fresh dill. I would have never imagines such a result, but here it was.

Later I made the same pilaf, this time also adding artichokes. Try that, too if you like artichokes.

I must say that shucking the fava beans takes quite a time. Don’t spare.

• About 1 cup of shelled, shucked fava beans
• 1 cup of coarse bulgur
• 1 medium size onion
• 4 tablespoon olive oil
• 1.5 - 2 cups of hot water (use broth if you have any)
• salt to taste
• fresh fill, chopped, about 3 - 4 tablespoons

1. Cut the onions small, shell and shuck the fava beans
2. Heat the olive oil, cook the onions until translucent. Add bulgur and fava beans. Add salt and hot water, stir well and cover. Reduce the heat to medium - low, cook your pilaf until water is absorbed
3. When cooked, take off the heat. After cooled a bit, stir in the chopped dill

Serve warm or cold, either way is delicious!

If you have a veggie garden in your backyard, I think one of the veggies you can grow to amend the soil is the fava beans. They boost up the nitrogen content when mixed in the soil.
Having a hard time to find the real fresh ones in the store, that was one of my choices for winter veggies to grow. As far as I know there is no one around us that has favism — no body seems to have fallen sick lately!

Now that the time for putting the summer vegetables in the ground is about to knock on our door, I finally had a chance to pick some of the fava beans. Needless to say these are the freshest fava beans I have ever had and they taste amazing. Along with favas, I also used stalks of green garlic for added flavor. Unfortunately not enough green onions, so we resorted to medium onion from the pantry. All in all, it is one of the classic dishes you can find this time of the year.

One thing you may experience when dealing with fava beans is that they turn black when you cut them. There is a trick that I can share with you: make a flour & water mix (about a handful in a 3 - 4 liters of water) and use that water to put the favas as you cut their heads.

Sometimes finding those young, fresh fava beans is not the easiest. If that’s the case, you can shell the old ones to use the inside only. That also reminds me of my other favourite dish with favas and artichoke.

One thing that is a must when eating this dish is the dill. Topping the dish with garlic yogurt mix and sprinkle fresh dill over them when serving. Usually eaten cold, maybe you may like it warmed up a bit.

• 1 lb of fresh fava beans
• 5 - 6 stalks of green garlic
• 1 medium onion (or 5 - 6 stalks of green onions)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil

1. Cut the heads of the fava beans, trim the edges if hard, cut into two and dump into flour & water mix
2. Chop the onion into small pieces, cut the garlic stalks into 1cm (about 1/2 inch) diagonally.
3. Heat up the olive oil, add the onion and garlic pieces. Cook until onions are translucent. Was the fava beans thoroughly and add to the onion & garlic. Close the lid, turn down the heat and shake the pot every now and then and cook without adding water for about 5 mins
4. Add about 1 cup of hot water, salt and sugar. Close the lid and let cook with low heat about 30 - 40 mins. Every now and then give it a shake but do not open the lid to stir. After half an hour check if the beans cooked. If so, turn the heat off. Keeping the lid closed, let the dish cool down.
5. Only after the dish is cooled down transfer into serving dish. Add garlic yogurt and sprinkle with fresh dill when eating

Enjoy!