Greek Fava Dip is a thick, creamy dip that's naturally sweet and slightly lemon-sour (similar to hummus in texture). It's amongst the most popular Greek dips. And apart from its flavor, it's very healthy and packed with protein!
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What Is Fava?
In Greece, when we say Fava we refer to either the yellow split peas or the split pea dip itself (made of mashed fava beans). The most popular variety of Greek Fava is from Santorini if you ever visited Greece or stumbled upon it online, you may know about Santorinian Fava. If not let me tell you about it.
Santorini is a beautiful island in the Aegean Sea. Historically, Greek Fava has been cultivated in Santorini and a few other islands in the Aegean Sea. Because of the volcanic soil that produces one of the best, most flavorful varieties of fava beans.
Here are two varieties of Authentic Greek Fava:
How To Make
The original Greek Fava recipe is very simplistic and minimal.
To make it slowly simmer the fava beans on the stovetop along with an onion, a carrot, a bay leaf, and a little salt. Then when the fava beans are completely soft, remove the onion, carrot, and bay leaf and mash the split peas.
When mashing the fava, also mix in some extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. And that's it. That's the popular Fava Santorini recipe.
In modern restaurants though chefs like to make it using vegetable stock instead of water. And this you can certainly do if you like to add more flavor. I don't find it necessary though. If you make it with a quality Fava the split peas are very tasty on their own.
Cooking Fava
To cook Fava, for making Fava spread you need to coat it with water and simmer at the lowest heat covered. Also, you should never stir Fava while it cooks. Because it will start to release starch and will stick at the bottom.
Don't worry about stirring it won't stick as long as the heat is very low and there's still water in the pot.
Fava is cooked when almost all of the water is drained from within the pot. You can taste some of the fava beans and check if they are completely soft. Otherwise, you can always add a splash of water and cook a little longer.
Mashing + Texture
Traditionally to make this split pea puree (aka Fava dip) people would use a spoon or in some cases a pestle and mortar. If you cook the Fava properly, then you will be able to mash it with a spoon. It becomes very soft and you'll only have to mix it and will start to break and cream up.
The texture of course won't be as smooth, but if you don't mind this, then opt for this method. The second option (how it's mostly done nowadays) is to mash split peas with an immersion blender. The texture will be smooth this way.
Eat As A Soup
You can enjoy this Fava recipe even as a thick soup by adding some more water or stock to it. Then blend with the immersion blender. It's so tasty, served with some hot red pepper and pita bread.
Or you can try this Yellow Split Pea (Fava) Soup with lemon and veggies!
Garnish
The original Greek Fava Meze Dip is topped with very thinly sliced onions and salty baby capers. Some people add diced tomatoes and some don't. I'm in the first group because tomatoes go extremely well with fava.
In modern restaurant versions, you may see Fava topped with caramelized onions. A cozier version which is great to serve in wintertime. You may also garnish with some thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes (the ones preserved in oil) or some pickled cucumbers if you don't fancy capers.
TIPS
- Never stir Fava while it cooks.
- The water that's left in the pot when fava is cooked, determines how thick or creamy the dip will be.
- Fava is cooked when small pits form, but there is still a slight amount of water left in the pot.
- Keep in mind that as Fava cools it thickens. So if the water has drained a lot from within the pot you can add a tiny splash of hot water as you blend the fava.
- Fava is best enjoyed at room temperature.
Serve With
Greek Fava bean dip is mostly served with some bread or pita bread for dipping. But it's also a favorite side dish mainly for seafood. For example Grilled Octopus, Pan-Seared Shrimp, or Squid In Tomato Sauce.
Recipe
Fava - Greek Yellow Split Peas Dip
Ingredients
For The Fava:
- 200 grams (1 cup) fava beans (yellow-split-peas)
- 600 ml water or vegetable stock
- 1 small onion skinned
- 1 medium-sized carrot peeled
- 1 bay leaf
- ⅔ teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
For Garnish:
- baby capers
- finely sliced red onion
- diced tomatoes (pulp removed)
- lemon halves to squeeze on top
Instructions
- Add the fava beans, water (or stock), onion, carrot, sea salt, and bay leaf to a small cooking pot.
- Simmer over low heat covered without stirring until Fava absorbs almost all of the water (takes about 40 to 50 minutes). Remove the carrot, onion, and bay leaf.
- Mash the Fava either with a spoon or using an immersion blender.
- Mix in the olive oil and lemon juice. If too thick add a small splash of water.
- Garnish with sliced onions, capers, and diced tomatoes.
- Serve warm or at room temperature with some extra squeezed lemon on top if you like and a drop of extra virgin olive oil.
- Store in a food container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat gently with a splash of water on the stovetop.
It smells like Greece
Hi Fotini, fava beans look like this. They’re both legumes but i don’t believe they are a type of split pea. Anyway great idea I will have to try this.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=fava+beans&t=ipad&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jessicagavin.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F05%2Fhow-to-cook-fava-beans-6-1200.jpg
Hi Marie, it seems that Fava bean refers to some other type of broad bean in other Countries. In Greece, Fava is the yellow split peas.
I was in Nydri in September, too bad I didn't know about Hotel Delfini. It would have been awesome to try this.
Really? Well, you can always visit if you ever come to Lefkada again!
This dip is actually made with Split Peas, NOT Fava Beans. (Correct?)
(It’s only called ‘fava bean’ dip.)
Hi Mel, Fava beans is a type of split pea.