Maltese Bigilla: Broad Bean Dip with Garlic, Parsley and Crisp Galletti

Drain the soaked beans and slip off any loose skins. Put them in a pot with the bay leaf and 3 garlic cloves, cover with 2 inches of cold water, and bring to a boil.

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried broad beans (fava), soaked overnight
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
• Sea salt and black pepper
• Galletti or water crackers, for serving

Instructions

1. Drain the soaked beans and slip off any loose skins. Put them in a pot with the bay leaf and 3 garlic cloves, cover with 2 inches of cold water, and bring to a boil.
2. Lower to a steady simmer and cook 50 to 70 minutes, skimming the foam, until the beans collapse when pressed. Add water as needed to keep them submerged.
3. Drain, reserving a cup of the cooking liquid, and discard the bay leaf. Let the beans cool for 10 minutes.
4. Mash the beans and their cooked garlic with a fork or pulse briefly in a food processor — bigilla should stay coarse and rustic, never smooth like hummus.
5. Mince the remaining 3 raw garlic cloves and stir them in along with the olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and chili flakes. Loosen with splashes of the reserved cooking liquid until the dip is thick but spreadable.
6. Season generously with salt and black pepper, then fold through most of the parsley and mint.
7. Spread into a shallow bowl, make a well with the back of a spoon, and pour in a good slick of olive oil. Scatter the remaining herbs and a few extra chili flakes over the top.
8. Serve at room temperature with crisp galletti, letting people scoop it rough and thick.
9. Bigilla is Malta's oldest street snack, sold from kiosks in paper cones long before anyone called it an appetizer, and it is traditionally made with the small brown ful ta' Ġirba bean. What makes it Maltese rather than generically Mediterranean is the double hit of garlic — cooked soft with the beans and again raw at the end — plus the parsley folded in at the last second. Serve it the local way, with hard galletti crackers that shatter on the first bite, and it stops being a dip and becomes a whole evening.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 270 kcal
• Protein: 11g
• Fat: 15g
• Carbohydrates: 25g
• Fiber: 9g
• Sugar: 3g
• Sodium: 320mg