Greek Fava Dip - Recipe and Advice?

[knicks_fan87]

I had "Greek Fava Dip" once and it was delicious. It was kind of like hummus, but was green and had the flavor of herbs and lemon. I think I might have tasted some mint? Does anyone know how to make it?

Can you use yellow split peas? I like the flavor of those better. Also, many recipes I see use onion. Can I use shallots or even scallions instead? Which herbs do people tend to use? I guess I don't need to be so precise about it can, for the most part, make this by feel and substitute things once I find a recipe?

 

[PemiKanavos]

I had "Greek Fava Dip" once and it was delicious. It was kind of like hummus, but was green and had the flavor of herbs and lemon. I think I might have tasted some mint? Does anyone know how to make it?

Can you use yellow split peas? I like the flavor of those better. Also, many recipes I see use onion. Can I use shallots or even scallions instead? Which herbs do people tend to use? I guess I don't need to be so precise about it can, for the most part, make this by feel and substitute things once I find a recipe?

In Greece when we say Fava we refer to the dip (and sometimes the soup) made from yellow split peas and not the Fava beans. it is flavored with onions as well as garlic and lemon.
This dish hails from Santorini where Greek fava is cutivated. Santorini is known to produce one of the best and most flavourful varieties of yellow split peas. In fact this dip is often referred to as Santorini Fava.

You can definitely use shallots. Definitely need a good Evoo, garlic lemon and salt and pepper. Those are your must ingredients, but you can play around with it and add bay leaf, a pinch of cumin, oregano, paprika and even chili flakes while the peas are simmering for flavour.
The topping is where you can get really creative, the most common ones are chopped shallots or red onions, capers, chopped olives, sundried tomatoes. I sometimes add a sprinkle paprika.

 

[k_tsoukalas]

I had a version of this dish once that had some fresh spearmint! It was delicious. I would say that you should follow the recipe as-is until you get a feel for what you like, and then you can slowly experiment with the extra ingredients.