Santorini fava
Santorini's best-known meze, made on the island from a small yellow grass pea (Lathyrus) with a protected designation of origin, grown on volcanic soil. Elsewhere fava is made with yellow split peas, which taste and look very similar. Despite the name fava, it has nothing to do with broad beans. It is a velvety purée that turns out smooth thanks to two steps: skimming the foam in the first minutes, which gives a cleaner flavour, and blending hot with olive oil, which binds into it smoothly. Cold purée stiffens, so it is served lukewarm.
Your own work in that: 5 min.
- Rinsing the peas 5 min
- Cooking 75 min
- Blending 5 min
- Cooling 40 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneRinse the peas until the water runs clear
Rinse the peas in a sieve under running water until it runs clear. Yellow split peas need no soaking, but carry a starchy dust on the surface that produces a huge amount of foam.
Ingredients: 300 g yellow split peas · 1200 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs bay leaf · 80 ml olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · 1½ tsp salt
Bring to a boil and skim
Cover the peas with cold water, bring to a boil and skim the foam for the first 10 minutes, until no more forms. The foam is protein and starch from the peas; skimming it gives a paler purée with a cleaner flavour.
Ingredients: 300 g yellow split peas · 1200 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs bay leaf · 80 ml olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · 1½ tsp salt
Skim for ten minutes — the purée will be paler.Cook with onion until collapsed
Add the onion, garlic and bay and cook 50–60 minutes over low heat, stirring now and then, until the peas collapse completely and the water has nearly evaporated. Stir more often at the end — the thickening mass catches.
Ingredients: 300 g yellow split peas · 1200 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs bay leaf · 80 ml olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · 1½ tsp salt
Salt near the end
Salt in the last 10 minutes. The water evaporates and the flavour concentrates, so purée salted at the start is easy to oversalt. Remove the bay leaf before blending.
Ingredients: 300 g yellow split peas · 1200 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs bay leaf · 80 ml olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · 1½ tsp salt
Blend hot with the olive oil
Blend the hot peas, adding the oil in a thin stream, until completely smooth and velvety. Hot peas combine with oil most easily into a smooth mass; cold ones blend less well and the oil may stay on the surface.
Ingredients: 300 g yellow split peas · 1200 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs bay leaf · 80 ml olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · 1½ tsp salt
Hot, oil in a stream — the purée turns velvety.Add lemon and adjust the texture
Stir in the lemon juice and season. The purée should be like a loose hummus — slowly sliding off a spoon. It thickens noticeably as it cools — if already very thick, loosen with a spoon of hot water.
Ingredients: 300 g yellow split peas · 1200 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs bay leaf · 80 ml olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · 1½ tsp salt
Cool to lukewarm
Spread on a flat plate and cool 30–40 minutes, to lukewarm. Fava served hot is too thin and bland; cold from the fridge, stiff as paste. Lukewarm has the fullest flavour.
Ingredients: 300 g yellow split peas · 1200 ml water · 1 pcs onion · 2 cloves garlic · 1 pcs bay leaf · 80 ml olive oil · 1 pcs lemon · 1½ tsp salt
Top with capers and onion
Swirl the surface with a spoon, scatter with capers, thinly sliced red onion and oregano and drizzle generously with oil. Sour capers and raw onion balance the mildness of the peas. Serve with pita or bread.
Ingredients: 2 tbsp capers · ½ pcs red onion · 3 tbsp olive oil · ½ tsp oregano · 4 pcs pita or bread
Capers and raw onion — they balance the mildness.
Before you start
Split peas, not broad beans
Greek fava is a purée of yellow pulses — grass peas on Santorini, mostly yellow split peas in the rest of the country — not broad beans, whatever the name suggests. Broad beans would give a greenish, earthier purée, an entirely different dish.
The caramelised onion version
Santorini also serves fava pantremeni, "married fava" — topped with onions slowly stewed in olive oil, sometimes with tomatoes or capers. This version is sweeter and richer.
Four days in the fridge
Fava keeps four days in the fridge and sets firm. Before serving warm it briefly with a spoon of water, stirring, and cool to lukewarm. Always add the topping fresh.
