Fried broad bean pods

[igenlode]

I got a couple of pounds of fresh broad beans (which doesn't equate to all that much actual bean!) and, as usual, ended up with a vast heap of empty pods once I had finished shelling them. So I thought I'd try this Abel & Cole recipe for broad bean pod fritters.

It does actually work. You string the beans, dip the pods in flour (I cut mine into half-inch pieces, not being sure how large "3-4cm" was, and they were too small and fiddly), then in milk/egg, then in flour again, and shallow-fry them until they are brown and crisp. As the recipe says, they taste much the same "as anything that's fried and dusted with salt" -- I'm not sure how much nutritional value you get out of the result (flour and oil mainly, I suspect!) but they're certainly edible.

It only used half a dozen pods before my pan was full, though -- and so was I, having eaten a massive vegetable stir-fry beforehand! -- so I still had to dispose of an enormous heap of broad bean pods afterwards :-p

Comments

[watervole]

When broad beans are young, we often slice up the pods with the beans still inside, and cook them lightly or not at all.

Had them like that for tea. Just poured on a white sauce with some added Marigold yeast.

Tasted very good.

[igenlode]

Yes, you can eat them when they aren't fully developed, if you grow your own.
What impressed me about this recipe was that it worked with the full-grown adult pods, all lined with white fluff...