Spiced pottage
- Easy
A luxury take on a medieval staple made with whole fava beans.

Published:
You’d be forgiven for never having heard of a fava bean – but this delicious, versatile and British-grown ingredient should be a staple in our kitchen cupboards. Start your fava bean journey with this spiced pottage dish.

Ingredients
- Fava beans 250g or 200g, 250g dried whole fava beans or 2 x 400g canned fava beans in water
- Unsweetened almond milk 500ml
- Root ginger 1cm, finely chopped
- Cinnamon stick 3cm
- Red onion 1, medium
- Garlic cloves 2 o 3, finely chopped
- Honey 1 level dessert spoon
- Saffron Pinch
- Cloves 3
- Sea salt 2 pinches
- Parsley and/or rose petals (unsprayed!) to garnish
Method
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Step 1
Soak dried beans overnight, rinse, bring to the boil and simmer for 60 minutes (or pressure cook for 45 minutes). If using canned beans, simply drain and rinse.
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Step 2
Chop the onion finely and cook on a low heat until transparent. Add ginger, garlic, cloves and cinnamon and cook for 5 minutes. Add the beans, cook for a few minutes more, then pour in the almond milk and stir in the saffron. When it’s simmering, stir in the honey.
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Step 3
Cook gently for 20 minutes. The pottage should reduce and the beans will begin to break up. Season with salt and mash the beans with a fork to create a paste – you might need to add a little water.
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Step 4
Before serving stir in some chopped parsley or use as a garnish with rose petals.