Vegan easy main course: fava beans and wild chicory

Looking for a vegan main dish perfect for the cold nights and also cheap to put together? Search no more.

Firstly tasted in Puglia (Italy) as it is a farmers traditional dish, this naturally vegan and gluten free main course has become a comfort food for me over the years. The warm and comforting side of the fava beans purée is the perfect background for the quite bitter and woody taste of wild chicory. Wild chicory is quite easy to find in the countryside, you can not miss its bright yellow flowers. Or you can always look for dandelion leaves, its more common name, at the farmers market. If you can’t find it by the way, you can always replace it with spinach, kale or scarole.

Vegan easy main course: fava beans and wild chicory

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Course: Main dishCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Total time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• 200 gr / 7 oz dried fava beans

• 200 ml water

• 150 gr / 5 oz wild chicory

• A good extra virgin oil

• Garlic

• Fresh or dry chilli

How to

• Every type of fava beans has its own cooking method, if yours are similar to the ones in my picture, boil them in water for 20 minutes with a pinch of salt. Otherwise, follow the instruction on the pack 🙂
• When the fava beans are soft, blend them until you get a uniform and shiny texture.
• Clean well the chicory leaves removing all the dirt and then poach them for 1 minute in hot water and then stir.
  
• Heat a spoon of oil with some garlic and fresh chili pepper in a saucepan.
  
• Stir fry the chicory in the saucepan with oil, then add some salt and keep on high heat for 5 minutes.
• Serve the chicory over warm mashed fava beans, adding some extra virgin raw oil drops on top.

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