Fava Bean Soup is another classic dish in Mexico for Lent time. My siblings and I weren’t too fond of this soup when we were growing up, so my Mom would add slices of hot dog sausages so we would eat it! Nowadays when we eat it at home, all those childhood memories come rushing back to me and put a smile on my face, because this time I actually enjoy having this soup for lunch or dinner.
Fava Bean Soup Recipe
Lent time is a Christian religious observance that starts on Ash Wednesday and ends just before Easter, a period of about six weeks. During Lent, some people avoid consuming certain types of foods in order to purify their spirits (people used to fast during Lent, but the traditions have changed with time). Usually, people abstain from eating the meat of land animals and only eat fish and other types of seafood. Consequently, fish, seafood, legumes, and vegetables take center stage at the dinner table during Lent each year.
Every region of Mexico is rich in resources and has a vast variety of fruits, vegetables, and herbs. This wealth of ingredients allows for a large number of variations to this recipe, as every cook seasons this soup according to their taste and the supplies available to them. Some cooks make this soup with Serrano peppers, others add dried peppers, and still, others use mint instead of cilantro. Whatever way you may prepare it, I hope you enjoy this soup, since it is a delicious part of our Mexican traditions.
How to make Fava Bean Soup Recipe
DIRECTIONS:
- cups of cold water and cook over medium-high heat. Once it starts boiling, reduces heat to a simmer, and partially cover with the lid. They will take somewhere around 40 minutes to be tender. (Please check the ingredients list below)
- While you cook the beans, prepare the “recado”: heat one tablespoon of oil in a medium-size skillet for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic and onion and keep cooking until the onion is transparent. Mix in the chopped tomato and stir, cooking for another 5 minutes or until the tomato mixture starts to thicken.
- Stir the tomato mixture frequently to avoid it from sticking to the skillet.
- Add the tomato mixture to the fava beans before they finish cooking to let all the flavors combine. Stir in the drained nopales, season with salt and pepper, and keep cooking until the beans are tender or at the desired consistency. You can use a bean masher to mash some of the beans and give the soup a creamy consistency. Mashed fava beans will thicken the soup.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. I love to serve this soup with slices of French bread to dip into the soup.
Fava Bean Soup is not only delicious, but it also has a high content of fiber, protein, Vitamin A & C, and Iron.
¡Buen provecho!
Mely,
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Fava Beans Soup
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup dried peeled fava beans soaked overnight.*
- 5 cups of water
- 1 slice white onion to cooking the beans
- 2 plum tomatoes or 1 large tomato peeled and diced**
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
- ⅓ cup white onion finely chopped
- 1 large garlic clove finely chopped
- 1 cup nopales cooked and drained.
- Salt and pepper to taste***
- ⅓ cup cilantro chopped
- Thick French bread slices to serve optional
Instructions
- cups of cold water and cook over medium-high heat. Once it starts boiling, reduces heat to a simmer, and partially cover with the lid. They will take somewhere around 40 minutes to be tender.
- While you cook the beans, prepare the “recado”: heat one tablespoon of oil in a medium-size skillet for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic and onion and keep cooking until the onion is transparent. Mix in the chopped tomato and stir, cooking for another 5 minutes or until the tomato mixture starts to thicken.
- Stir the tomato mixture frequently to avoid it from sticking to the skillet.
- Add the tomato mixture to the fava beans before they finish cooking to let all the flavors combine. Stir in the drained nopales, season with salt and pepper, and keep cooking until the beans are tender or at the desired consistency. You can use a bean masher to mash some of the beans and give the soup a creamy consistency. Mashed fava beans will thicken the soup.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. I love to serve this soup with slices of French bread to dip into the soup.
Joanna Raygoza
There are some mistakes in the recipe that make it difficult to follow unfortunately. One of the ingredients is: "1 slice white onion to cooking the beans". Does that mean "1 white onion, sliced, to use when cooking the beans"? Also, the first cooking step says, "1. cups of cold water and cook over medium-high heat. Once it starts boiling, reduces heat to a simmer, and partially cover with the lid. They will take somewhere around 40 minutes to be tender." Presumably this is talking about cooking the beans, but am I supposed to add the onions to the beans while they are cooking?
Mely Martínez
Hello Joanna,
Exactly how it is there. We love to add a slice or more, to the cooking water of the beans, also to lentils, garbanzo and other legumes. The other mention of onion (1/3 cup of white onion chopped) in the ingredients, it is to make the recado. I hope you try the recipe and enjoy it!
Happy cooking!
~~louise~~
That is one soothing looking soup, Mely. There is quite a chill in the air today. I sure wouldn't mind warming up with that soup! I'll be pinning it on Pinterest!
Thank you so much for sharing...
Mely Martinez
Hello Louise,
I hope you enjoy it as much as my husband and I do.
Happy Cooking!