Michirones, Murcian Stewed Fava Beans
Michirones are the beans you eat standing at a bar in Murcia, from a clay bowl, with a toothpick. The dish is dried fava beans stewed slow with pimentón, garlic, and a dried guindilla chile until the broth turns thick and brick red. The traditional pot leans on chorizo and ham bone for depth, but the smoked paprika and a long, gentle simmer carry it just as far without them. What matters is the soak and the low heat: rushed favas stay chalky, while a patient pot turns them creamy inside their skins. Toast the paprika in the moist onion rather than a dry pan, crush a few beans to build body, and let the vinegar do at the end what salt does in a saltier kitchen. Serve it warm, with more bread than is wise, or as a side to anything roasted.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Fava beans, dried, soaked overnight
- 1 medium Yellow onions, finely chopped
- 4 cloves Garlic, sliced
- 1 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 tbsp Smoked paprika
- 1 tsp Cumin seed, toasted and ground
- 1/2 tsp Red pepper flakes
- 2 leafs Bay leaves
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, ground
- 1 tbsp Red wine vinegar
Method
- Drain the soaked favas. Dried whole fava beans need a full overnight soak to swell and cook evenly, and the water they shed carries away some of the compounds that make them heavy. Skinned dried favas cook faster but the whole bean holds its shape in the stew.
- Cover the beans with fresh water by two inches (5 cm), bring to a hard boil for 10 minutes, then drop to a simmer with the bay leaves. Cook partly covered for 75 to 90 minutes until tender. No salt goes in the pot, which keeps the skins from toughening and the sodium near zero.
- While the beans cook, sweat the onion and garlic in 3 tablespoons water (45 ml) over medium heat until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Water does the work oil would, softening the aromatics without frying them.
- Push the onion aside and add the tomato paste, smoked paprika, cumin, and chile to a moist part of the pan, off the direct heat for a moment. Paprika scorches and turns bitter the instant it hits a dry hot surface, so folding it into the wet onion protects it while it blooms.
- Tip the beans and enough of their cooking liquid to nearly cover into the aromatics. Simmer 20 minutes, mashing a handful of beans against the side of the pan. Those crushed beans give up their starch and thicken the broth into a glossy sauce, the job flour or oil would do elsewhere.
- Finish with black pepper and the vinegar. The acid lifts the smoke of the paprika and reads as seasoning where salt would go. Let the pot rest 10 minutes so the beans drink up the sauce before serving.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 200 calories, 13 g protein, 12 g fiber, 55 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
