Bigilla 1, A Traditional Maltese Broad Bean Paste
Bigilla1, A Traditional Maltese Broad Bean Paste Made With Dry Boad Beans
Steve Lister
This a simple and basic recipe to make a topping for slices of crusty hobz (Maltese bread). You can substitute any nice crusty bread of your choice.
Traditionally this has been made by families as its tasty and cheap spread, but works well at parties as finger food or even for packed lunch for school/work. Some families may add more garlic or extra/different fresh herbs to suit their tastes than given here.
Comment from Marcel, a Maltese friend of Steve's, who first introduced Steve to Bigilla;
"My grandma would have been very proud of you Steve, if she had tasted your bigilla. It was brilliant, perfect and like her original tasted, just perfect! I will have to look at your recipes from now on! Honest!"
Ingredients
400-500 gm. dried broad beans
1 large red, fresh chilli chopped
1 small bunch parsley, chopped
1 really small bunch of mint leaves, about 5 large leaves, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic chopped
75 ml. Extra Virgin Olive oil
250 ml. cooking stock*, see step 5 of the instructions.
1 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Instructions
Put the broad beans in a large bowl and cover with boiling water, leave to soak overnight. Note that they will double in size after soaking, so make sure the bowl is big enough and the water twice the height of the beans.
Next day rinse the beans until the water is completely clear.
Place beans in a large pan, add enough water to cover, and add salt.
Bring to boil, then turn down the heat to a low simmer. Lower and longer cooking works better to soften the beans, it might take 2-3 hours.
*Drain the beans, saving the cooking stock.
Add chilli, pepper, olive oil, garlic, parsley, mint and pur?e. I used a stick blender, you can use any blender you have.
It will start to make a very thick stiff paste, to which you add some of the cooking stock, a little by little, until it is a spreadable consistency.
Serve in a bowl with an extra drizzle of olive oil on top. Garnish with a few parsley/mint leaves if you like.
Notes
If you want to keep it for a few days, put it in a tub while still hot, allow to cool and then cover with a thin layer of olive oil. Keep in the fridge.
