Split Yellow Peas

Fava Santorini is a simple but delicious dip that evokes the rugged volcanic beauty of the Aegean island of Santorini.

Outside Santorini the dish is most often made with split yellow peas, as in our recipe. Despite the name it is never made with fava beans and references to different ingredients, such as yellow lentils, in some recipes only add to the confusion.

True Fava Santorini is in fact made with a local variety of grass pea, an unusual pulse from an entirely different species of the family of leguminous plants, Lathyrus clymenum. Little grown and hard to find outside Santorini and a few other parts of Greece, this pulse is known locally by the same name as the dish, Fava Santorini. But Split Yellow Peas make an excellent substitute!

Pease pudding - also known as pease porridge, pease pottage or even "Geordie hummus" - is extremely easy to cook and very, very satisfying to eat – hot or, as the nursery rhyme says, cold.

Traditionally pease pudding is served with pork and was often cooked in a muslin with the ham. My version is vegetarian, it’s really good hot with roast vegetables and leafy greens or cold in a sandwich – much in the way you might use houmous. If you eat meat, search out a stottie and some good quality ham.

Serves: 4 to 6