Sequestration Meal #335

 

I am the sort of person whose impulse buys look a bit weird nowadays. Being committed to getting hold of my COVID pantry means not buying other things I might pick up on impulse, like a box of crackers; nope, not for me. So I impulsively buy eggplant instead.

And such is life.

This is baba ghanoush (recipe from Cookie and Kate), fava bean hummus (recipe from Food by Maria), and skillet flatbread (recipe from Well Vegan). It was supposed to be simple; it was not. I was too exhausted after making this to cut up some nice colorful veggies to round out the plate so I contented myself with the greenery of the thyme garnish (my neighbor gave me kind of a lot of thyme from her garden; I guess thyme is doing well this year). Eggplant is a vegetable, right? So we've got that covered, sort of.

The baba ghanoush was as "epic" as the original recipe claimed--so delicious it makes you close your eyes to savor it. The flatbread was just okay; I think mine may not have been stretched thin enough (typical of me, though). But it went well with the dips. The hummus...

See, I really wanted this hummus to be like the baba ghanoush and overwhelm me with its gloriousness; it did not. There is nothing special enough about fava beans to warrant me standing my kitchen peeling the husks off soaked fava beans for ages. But I had bought fava beans for some reason, a while ago, and, well, pantry-clearing is the name of the game here. It's why I made my own flatbread rather than buying pita chips. (Though I think I would do that again; it's not that hard and it's a lot cheaper. I just need to make sure I make it thin enough.) 

If a person began with canned fava beans, though, I would call the hummus a nice change of pace. So you do you. If you love fava beans, go forth, and make this hummus. If you can take or leave them, spare yourself the suffering and just make ordinary hummus. Or make white bean hummus.

As I face down a half a pound of raw fava beans I have left to conquer, I welcome your suggestions for a recipe that will make me believe they're worth all the trouble.

And now, a bit of housekeeping: In my brief time managing a Twitter account for Food for Dissertating, I've been reminded, to an extent, what some online vegan worlds are like and what kind of energy I want to put out into the world. I want to focus on positivity and being helpful, and I am continuously reminding myself of that in all the drama (why is there always so much drama!?).

In any case, I decided after an exchange with someone seeking advice avoiding certain allergens that I should revamp the way I tag my posts. I'm not yet sure if I'll work my way backwards in my tagging (although I might). I also think it's silly to tag meals as "dairy free" or "vegetarian" if they're already obviously so because they're vegan. That made sense when I myself wasn't vegan, but it no longer does. But in addition to tagging my posts as "gluten free" if they are, which I've done for ages, I should be tagging them as nut free and soy free when that applies. I hope this new move is helpful to you, if you're looking to avoid those allergens.