You’ve probably already realized that our lunches are mostly made spontaneously from the ingredients we have available. Just like at home: you look in the fridge and the drawers and create a miracle out of it and hope it is edible in the end 🙂 This time it was no different, except that we found fava beans at the market the day before!
So for lunch, we prepared fried kale with apples and pumpkin seeds, buckwheat porridge, and green salad with boiled beans.
📃 Easy ⏱ Very fast (about 25min) 💪 Quite nutritious
Fava bean (Vicia faba) is a plant that, together with peas and beans, and others, is classified in the legume family (Fabaceae). As with beans, we can also eat young pods, but more often mature grains are eaten raw, as well as cooked. Fava bean is considered one of the oldest plants that people began to cultivate a few millennia ago, especially in the Mediterranean area, and it often appeared on the menu of the Ancient Greeks as well as the Romans. Even today, it can often be found in central Italy, where a combination of fava beans with pecorino sheep cheese is quite common.
We must not forget that, like other legumes, beans also contain phytohemagglutinin, but in much lower concentrations than e.g. red beans.
Phytohemagglutinin is one of the plant lectins that are naturally present glycoproteins and perform several biological functions in plants, animals, and humans, but in high concentrations, some can also be toxic and so is phytohemagglutinin. Lectins affect cellular metabolism, membrane transport, accelerate mitosis, affect protein permeability, and also have the ability to clump red blood cells in mammals.
Phytohamagglutinin is present in various concentrations in many legumes. In the highest concentrations, e.g. in red kidney beans, but sufficient heat treatment of the beans can prevent poisoning. In the case of fava beans, the concentration of phytohemagglutinin is lower and can be eaten raw, but we should not overdo it.
Recipe, preparation, and price of a meal
|
Quantity (g or ml) |
Price for 4 people (EUR |
|
|
Buckwheat žganci |
||
|
Buckwheat flour |
160 |
0,45 |
|
Salt |
10 |
0,01 |
|
Side dish |
||
|
Cabbage |
250 |
0,27 |
|
Apple |
150 |
0,16 |
|
Pumpkin seeds |
100 |
1,10 |
|
Yeast |
10 |
0,19 |
|
Olive oil |
30 |
0,18 |
|
Salt |
10 |
0,01 |
|
Salad |
||
|
Lettuce |
150 |
0,45 |
|
Fava beans |
80 |
0,32 |
|
Pumpkin seeds oil |
25 |
0,30 |
|
Vinegar |
25 |
0,11 |
|
Salt |
5 |
0,00 |
|
Together |
3,53 |
First, we started preparing kale. We fried kale, sliced into strips, in olive oil, and added a little water to soften it. We then added sliced, not too sweet, apples and yeast flakes, which added a creamy texture. We salted the dish and added pumpkin seeds and let it cook slowly. We added a little water if necessary.
While the kale with apples was cooking and softening, we prepared buckwheat žganci. We added a pinch of salt to the buckwheat flour, fried it dry without oil, and poured hot water over it, then kneaded it all together with a spatula.
In addition to the main course, we also prepared a green salad with fava beans, which we had previously cooked. We seasoned it all together with salt, pumpkin oil, and vinegar.
The price of lunch for 4 people was € 3.53, which is just under 90 cents per person. Not only was the lunch cheap, in the end, it even turned out to be very tasty and worth repeating.
Nutritional value
|
With lunch consumed quantity |
% From daily needs |
||
|
Energy |
502 |
kcal |
25 |
|
Proteins |
19 |
g |
34 |
|
Total fats |
21 |
g |
48 |
|
Carbohydrates |
66 |
g |
|
|
Starch |
23 |
g |
|
|
Sugar |
8 |
g |
|
|
Fibers |
18 |
g |
72 |
|
Calcium (Ca) |
163 |
mg |
16 |
|
Iron (Fe) |
5 |
mg |
52 |
|
Magnesium (Mg) |
242 |
mg |
61 |
|
Phosphorus (P) |
331 |
mg |
47 |
|
Potassium (K) |
1119 |
mg |
56 |
|
Sodium (Na) |
2471 |
mg |
449 |
|
Zinc (Zn) |
5 |
mg |
51 |
|
Copper (Cu) |
2 |
mg |
168 |
|
Manganese (Mn) |
2 |
mg |
79 |
|
Selenium (Se) |
5 |
µg |
10 |
|
Vitamin A |
454 |
µg |
45 |
|
Vitamin E |
6 |
mg |
41 |
|
Vitamin D |
0 |
µg |
0 |
|
Vitamin C |
79 |
mg |
79 |
|
Thiamin (B1) |
1 |
mg |
51 |
|
Riboflavin (B2) |
0 |
mg |
25 |
|
Niacin (B3) |
5 |
mg |
34 |
|
Pantothenic acid (B5) |
1 |
mg |
14 |
|
Vitamin B6 |
1 |
mg |
38 |
|
Folic acid (B9) |
271 |
µg |
68 |
|
Vitamin B12 |
0 |
µg |
0 |
|
Vitamin K |
498 |
µg |
711 |
With lunch, we put 25% of our daily calorie needs into our body, consuming 34% of our daily protein needs, 48% fat, and 72% fiber. Fava beans, kale, and pumpkin seeds contributed the most fiber, and to a lesser extent other ingredients.
The role of fiber in the diet is important because it has a beneficial effect on digestion, affects the regeneration and function of the intestinal mucosa, and promotes the secretion of mucus and hormones.
Lunch was also very rich in minerals and vitamins. We introduced 52% of our daily needs for iron, 61% for magnesium, only 16% for calcium, and 56% for potassium. We also consumed a lot of manganese and copper (79% and 168%).
Manganese is a mineral found in small amounts in the body but plays an important role in fighting free radicals. Manganese participates as a coenzyme in many reactions necessary for the metabolism and digestion of proteins and the metabolism of carbohydrates. It is also important for cartilage regeneration.
Our lunch was the richest in vitamin C (79%), followed by vitamin B1 and B9 (51 and 68%). Of all the vitamins, we consumed were above 25%, only vitamin B5 was below, and we did not consume any vitamins D and B12, so it is important to replace them with dietary supplements.
The percentage of daily needs for total carbohydrates and starch is not stated because of the differences between individuals depending on the other nutrients consumed. However, we do not necessarily need free sugar in our diet.
If you have any questions, suggestions, praise, or, after all, criticism, you can write to us at info@hungry-pumpkin.com. We look forward to your emails and do our best to respond to you as soon as possible!
Have a nice weekend,
Your Hungry Pumpkin
