Green Fava Bean Soup (Low-Carb)

Recently, for the first time ever, I bought fava beans. Fava beans, also known as broad beans, are very common in the Middle East, where I currently live. They are most often seen in the dish "foul" (pronounced fool) in which they are cooked from their dry form. If you haven't tried "foul," it's delicious and you definately should some day, but it is also very high in carbs. Oddly, fresh (or frozen) green fava beans are much lower in net carbs than their dried future selves, though still not a super low carb food. I was surprised to discover that cooked green fava beans taste much like peas and this inspired me to make a soup. The fava/pea flavor is very mild in this soup, but I found it to be silky smooth, rich, and satisfying. Adding a little bit of acid (lemon/lime juice) at the end brightens up the flavor. I've topped my soup with some crunchy kimchi and a few canned peas, which added a satisfying popping texture. Fava beans have a decent bit of protein, but this is still a pretty low protein dish, so consider adding a protein-rich side. I had this bowl with some of my Pecan & Pumpkin Seed Crackers.
Yield: 6 servings of about 1 cup (250g) each or 4 servings of about 1½ cups (375g) each, totaling roughly 6 cups (1,500g) ​✎
​Macros (per 1 cup serving): 220 calories | 5g protein | 18g fat | 7.5g net carbs ​
​Macros (per 1½ cup serving): 330 calories | 7.5g protein | 27g fat | 11g net carbs
Prep: 20 minutes | Cook: 30 minutes
Storage: refrigerated for up to 5 days.
Ingredients:
  • 2 tablespoons (30ml) light olive oil or neutral-flavored oil of choice
  • 1 medium (61g) carrot, diced (about ½ cup)
  • 1 medium (40g) celery stalk, diced (about ⅓ cup)
  • ½ medium (55g) onion, diced (about ⅓ cup)
  • 2 cloves (6g) garlic, crushed or chopped (equal to 1 teaspoon)​
  • 3 cups (720ml) vegetable broth or 1½ boullion cubes and 3 cups (720ml) of water ✎
  • 1 13.5-ounce can (400g) full-fat coconut milk
  • 2 cups (360g) shelled and peeled fava beans (fresh or frozen) ✎
  • 1 tablespoon (5g) nutritional yeast flakes
  • ½ tablespoon dried herb blend (e.g. Herbes de Provence or Italian seasoning) or some chopped fresh herbs ✎
  • ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes ​(optional or to taste)
  • 1 tablespoon (15ml) lemon or lime juice​ (optional) (about a third of a lemon or half a lime)
Directions:
  1. Prepare the carrot, celery, onion, and garlic as per the ingredient list.
  2. In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the oil on medium-low heat. When hot, add the onion and garlic and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes or until onions are soft but not brown. Stir often and adjust heat as necessary. If using fat-based bouillon cubes, you can add them now to melt them.
  3. Add the carrot and celery and sauté for an additional 3 to 4 minutes.
  4. Add all remaining ingredients, apart from the lemon/lime juice, to the pan. Bring to a simmer, reduce to low heat, cover with a well-fitted lid, and cook for 20 minutes.
  5. Transfer the soup to a heat-safe blender, add the lemon/lime juice, and blend to smooth.
  6. Divide equally between 4 or 6 soup bowls (about 1½ cups [360ml] or 1 cup [240ml] per bowl) and enjoy hot. Optionally, top with additional coconut or soured cream, chopped fresh herbs, pesto, and/or crushed black pepper. Or, like me, kicmchi and peas. Could also be served with lemon or lime wedges.
Green Pea Soup: replace the fava beans with an equal weight of frozen green peas, about 2⅔ cups. ✎
Macros (per 1 cup serving): 230 calories | 5.5g protein | 18g fat | 9g net carbs 
​Macros (per 1½ cup serving): 345 calories | 8g protein | 27g fat | 13g net carbs
✎ Notes:
  • Soup yield can vary quite a bit depending on how much water is lost while cooking. Using a well-fitted lid will help reduce water loss. If you want to be sure to have 6 cups (1,440g), I suggest you weigh the final amount and add additional water or broth to bring it up to 6 cups (1,440g) if necessary.
  • Vegetable broths and boullion cubes, pastes, or powders are often high in net carbs due to added sugars and starches, so check your labels. I use Edward & Sons bouillon cubes, which have almost no carbs, and water.​
  • Fava beans come in big pods and also have thick fibrous skins covering each bean inside. You want to use beans that have been removed from both their pod and their skin. If using completely fresh beans in the soup, you'll have to do some work to first extract the edible bean portion from all it's layers to add to the soup. If using a frozen product, I suggest buying one that has been peeled. If the frozen beans have not been peeled, you can soak them in warm water to thaw and then remove the skins by hand. This is a bit of a tedious process.
  • To keep things easy here, I've just used a dried herb blend. Other fresh herbs that would be nice in this soup include basil, oregano, sage, dill, and parsely.
  • Make sure to buy peas that have no sugar added. Sugar is often added to canned and frozen vegetables.
  • Macros for this recipes are calculated with American national nutritional data (i.e. NCCDB & USDA entries in Cronometer) for all ingredients apart from the bouillon cubes (Edward & Sons), coconut milk (Aroy-D), and nutritional yeast flakes (blend of Bob's Redmill and Foods Alive unfortified).
  • Macro numbers are rounded. Numbers equal to or greater than 10g are rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g. 10g, 11g, 12g, etc.) and numbers below 10g are rounded to the nearest 0.5g (0.5g, 1g, 1.5g ... 9g, 9.5g). Any numbers below 0.5g are given as is (e.g. 0.1g, 0.2g, etc.). Calories are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.