It has been over a year since I last cooked with fresh fava beans, which, incidentally, is just enough time to have conveniently forgotten about the travails of preparing them. They wheedled their way into my kitchen again this week, when my mother’s coworker gave her a huge bag of homegrown beans. My mom and I worked together to shell, blanch, and peel at least five pounds of beans — if you need a tutorial, just check out last year’s post.

This time around, our hard work yielded about four cups of edible favas. All week long, I’ve been sprinkling them onto salads and eating them out of hand — believe it or not, they are delicious raw and unadorned. They also make a wonderful topping for crusty bread, according to a good friend of mine — he likes to saute them with olive oil, salt, red pepper flakes, and garlic, then mash them up into a savory spread.

Wanting to preserve the texture and shape of the beans, I went a different route and took a suggeston from a friend of my mother’s. Turkish in origin, this preparation is extremely simple and almost doesn’t warrant a recipe — in fact, the one I received had no measurements or cooking times. As such, I can’t promise you that my version is exactly like what you might find in a Turkish household, but it’s probably close! Here, the fava beans are simmered with onions and olive oil until they are tender, then garnished with lots of fresh dill and garlic-infused yogurt. I added a handful of mint as well — it pairs naturally with the dill, and makes the finished dish all the more Springy and refreshing.

Turkish Fava Beans with Garlic Yogurt Sauce

serves 4

1 C. lowfat greek yogurt
1/4 C. water
2 tsp. Garlic Gold oil
1/4 tsp. kosher salt

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 C. water
1 lb. prepared fava beans

1 bunch (7 large) green onions, sliced into 1/8″ rounds
5 dill sprigs, roughly chopped (about 1/2 C.)
5 large mint leaves, chiffonaded (about 2 Tbsp.)

1. In a small bowl, combine the greek yogurt, water, Garlic Gold oil, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a medium (10-inch) non-stick skillet, heat the olive oil over a medium flame. Add the diced onion, sauteing for about 10 minutes, or until well-browned.

3. Add the water and fava beans to the skillet. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Remove the lid from the skillet and let the beans continue cooking until the water has evaporated.

5. Turn off the heat, then add the green onions, dill, and mint to the skillet.  Toss to combine.

6. Serve immediately with a big dollop of the garlic yogurt sauce on top.