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Best Fava (Turkish dish) in Chicago
“Split fava beans boiled soft, pureed with lemon and olive oil, chilled until it holds its shape.”
What the real thing tastes like
Fava, also known as bakla ezmesi, is a traditional Turkish dish made of dried fava beans (broad beans, called bakla in Turkish), which are soaked and dehulled, leaving the deeper green split inner seeds. These are boiled, typically with onion, until very soft, mixed with salt, pepper, sugar, lemon juice and olive oil, and pureed. The resulting paste is chilled until it sets and can be cut into cubes. This dish is served cold, sprinkled with olive oil and chopped dill. Fava originated in Byzantine cuisine; it was widely served in tavernes.
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Fava is a Byzantine legacy made simple: dried broad beans split open to reveal their pale green hearts, boiled until they surrender completely, then blended with lemon and olive oil into a paste that sets firm enough to cube. Served cold and glistening with more oil and fresh dill, it's the kind of dish that tastes like it's been perfected over centuries—because it has.
Order it here when it has
- deeply savory
- chilled and refreshing
- historically rooted
- simple ingredients
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