SC - non-member submission - Re: mashing favas

[Michael Gunter]

>Perhaps a food mill would work?  That's what my mom always
>used for split peas.  Or are favas too hard for that?

What I used is, I believe, a food mill - Mouli is a brand name (shame on me!
*smile).

I had to use the coarser blade because the finer one has become too blunt to
really do any good to anything.  As well, the skins of the favas are fairly
resistant to going through the blades, which meant that the works clogged up
fairly quickly.

The other real problem - and this one was very frustrating! -  was that
although the beans mashed fairly easily once they were cooked, the mashed
beans didn't have much moisture to break up the clumps of mashed bean.  (I
can't think how to describe this problem - this is my 3rd attempt, and I
still don't think I have got my meaning across well.).  This is a problem
which some liquid would have solved, but I hadn't made the almond milk yet
and, anyway, my "logic chip" had gone walkabouts.  It didn't occur to me
that, even though the recipe says to bring the almond milk to a boil and
then add the beans, I could have taken a cup or two to moisten the beans and
make that process easier.  Next time, I would be tempted to make the almond
milk and add it to the cooked beans before the mashing takes place.  Then
press the whole lot through the Mouli - or hit it with the blending wand, or
whatever. The almond milk would certainly help the process along.

Oh, on the subject of almond milk, should it _taste_ particularly almondy?
Mine was thick and white and creamy to look at, but I didn't think it tasted
of anything in particular.  This was true the last time I made it as well.
I did use blanched almonds in both cases - bought blanched, I mean.

Gwynydd


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