Cooking with Fava Beans
Recipes with Fava Beans — Morocco's Beloved Broad Bean, Fresh and Dried
Fava beans (foul), also called broad beans, are a deeply loved staple across Morocco, eaten fresh and green in spring and dried through the rest of the year. Their most famous form is bissara, the thick, warming purée of dried favas doused with olive oil, cumin and paprika that fuels cold mornings across the country. Fresh favas go into tagines and cooked salads, sweet and tender. This guide covers fava beans in both their fresh and dried guises, the dishes they define, how to peel and cook them, and how to buy them.
How Moroccans use fava beans
Fava beans have two seasons and two forms. Dried favas, skinned and split, are simmered soft and blended into bissara, a silky soup-purée eaten with bread, olive oil and a dusting of cumin and paprika — classic winter and breakfast food. Fresh green favas, in spring, are podded and cooked into tagines, stews and cooked salads, where they are tender and sweet. Both are humble, nourishing and cheap. Fresh favas often need their tough individual skins slipped off after a quick blanch for the sweetest result, a small labour that markedly improves the dish.
The best Moroccan recipes with fava beans
Bissara — the thick dried-fava purée with olive oil, cumin, paprika and garlic, eaten hot with bread. Fresh fava tagine — spring favas with artichokes, peas and preserved lemon, or with lamb. Fava bean cooked salad — dressed with garlic, cumin and olive oil. Favas with couscous. Fresh favas with olive oil and cumin as a simple side. Start with bissara — soaking, simmering and blending dried favas into a smooth, garlicky purée is deeply satisfying and a true taste of everyday Morocco.
Peeling and cooking fava beans
For dried favas, buy them already skinned and split where you can, soak them, then simmer until completely soft — an hour or more — before blending into bissara with garlic, cumin and olive oil, loosening with the cooking water to the consistency you like. For fresh favas, pod them, then for the sweetest result blanch the beans briefly and slip off the pale skin around each one, revealing the bright green inner bean. Young, small fresh favas can be cooked skin-on. Season fava dishes generously with cumin, garlic and good olive oil, which are their natural partners.
Buying and storing fava beans
In spring, buy fresh favas in their pods — choose plump, bright green, firm pods, avoiding yellowing or bulging over-mature ones whose beans turn starchy. A large weight of pods yields a smaller weight of beans once podded. Dried favas, whole or skinned and split, are sold cheaply year-round in the souk; buy skinned split ones for bissara to save work. Store dried favas airtight in a cool, dry cupboard for months. Keep fresh favas in the fridge and use within a few days, podding them just before cooking for the best flavour and colour.
Cook's tips
- Buy dried favas already skinned and split for bissara to save considerable work.
- Simmer dried favas until completely soft — an hour or more — before blending.
- Blanch fresh favas and slip off the pale skins for the sweetest, brightest green.
- Season fava dishes generously with cumin, garlic and good olive oil.
- Buy plump, bright green fresh pods in spring; yellowing ones are over-mature and starchy.
Questions about cooking with Fava Beans
What is bissara?
Bissara is a thick Moroccan soup or purée made from dried skinned fava beans (or sometimes split peas) simmered soft and blended smooth with garlic, then served hot in a bowl with a generous pool of olive oil and a dusting of cumin and paprika. Eaten with bread, it is beloved winter and breakfast food, cheap and warming.
Do I need to peel fresh fava beans?
For the sweetest, brightest result, yes — blanch the podded beans briefly, then slip off the tough pale skin around each one to reveal the tender green inner bean. Very young, small favas can be cooked with their skins on. Skinning is a little fiddly but makes a real difference to the texture of a fava tagine or salad.
What is the difference between fresh and dried fava beans?
Fresh green favas are a spring vegetable, podded and cooked tender and sweet in tagines and salads. Dried favas are available year-round and are simmered soft for purées like bissara. They are the same bean at different stages, but they behave differently — fresh is delicate and seasonal, dried is hearty and storable.
How long do dried fava beans take to cook?
Skinned split dried favas, after soaking, usually need about an hour of simmering to turn completely soft for bissara, sometimes longer if old. Whole dried favas with skins take longer still. Cook them until they collapse easily, then blend. Older dried beans can be stubborn, so buy from a shop with good turnover.
How should I store fava beans?
Keep dried favas airtight in a cool, dry cupboard, where they last for months. Store fresh favas in their pods in the fridge and use within a few days, podding them just before cooking for the best flavour and colour. Fresh favas do not keep long, so buy them in season and cook them promptly.
Cook these dishes with a local in Marrakech
Learn to handle fava beans the Moroccan way in a hands-on cooking class, or taste it across the medina on a guided food tour.