Fava bean cakes & jicama salad

Last night Hugo and I enjoyed a totally unseasonal -but delicious!- meal. The bean cakes are remarkably easy to make with the assistance of a food processor or blender. Cutting everything up for the salad (which is so tasty & refreshing!) took about 15 minutes but it made a huge amount so we will be enjoying this all week. I would advise using fava beans if you can, but you could also substitute other beans if they aren't available (perhaps chick peas).

Fava Bean Cakes (adapted from Vegetarian Times cookbook)

blend the following in processor or blender til smooth:

-2 large eggs

-2 rinsed/drained cans fava beans (easily found in Middle Eastern shops)

-1 tbsp. olive oil

-large heaping spoonful flour

-chopped garlic & onions if you like (I left this out as Hugo hates onions and the garlic was too much work for a busy Monday night)

-generous dashes of the following: garlic powder, cumin, coriander, dried parsley, sea salt

In frying pan, heat a couple tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil for frying. When hot, drop in 3 very large spoonfuls of bean mixture to make 3 cakes. Allow to brown, then flip as you would pancakes. You will probably make about 3 batches, so 9 cakes in all (add more olive oil each time to avoid sticking). Garnish with diced red pepper and serve with plenty of whole-milk yogurt sprinkled with turmeric for a nice touch!

Jicama salad

-basically you just chop all the veggies as small as you like, then add the dressing items, mix, and allow to sit a few minutes so the flavors can incorporate.

-1 large jicama, peeled

-4 large radishes

-1 red pepper

-1 large cucumber

-plenty of fresh cilantro (about 1/2 cup chopped or more)

-juice of 3 limes

-1 tbsp. vinegar (should be rice, I used apple-cider)

-big drizzle olive oil (about 2 tbsp.)

-small drizzle honey

-generous dash of spicy chili powder of some kind

-sea salt to taste

This meal would have been better suited to summer-time, so we will definitely be revisiting it! FYI about planning portions: Hugo ate 4 cakes (though he could have eaten 5), and I ate 3.