Persian recipe: Fava Bean Salad with Doogh Dressing

Ab-doogh kiar is a chilled Persian yogurt soup loaded with fresh herbs, chopped cucumbers and radishes — all signs of spring in a bowl. Chef-owner Arash Ghasemi of Walnut Creek’s Main Street Kitchen & Bar has deconstructed the traditional dish into a modern salad made with Little Gem lettuces and fava beans.

He also has a secret: Adding a splash of bottled doogh, the fizzy yogurt drink found in Persian markets, to his dressing. It gives the salad a refreshing zest.

“We like to use Strauss organic yogurt and finish it off with McCauley olive oil from Brentwood to showcase what the Bay Area has to offer,” Ghasemi says.

Fava Bean Salad with Doogh Dressing

Serves 10

Dressing ingredients:

½ cup plain yogurt, such as European-style Strauss organic

½ cup sour cream

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice

½ cup doogh, a fizzy yogurt drink found in Persian markets

1 ounce each parsley, basil, tarragon, mint and dill, washed and stemmed

Add all the ingredients to a blender (or use an immersion blender) to blend the dressing. Add salt to taste.

Salad ingredients:

6 pounds fresh fava beans, in pods

5 heads Little Gem lettuce

1 bunch radishes, sliced into thin coins

8 ounces crumbled feta

Directions:

Wash and shell the fava beans, discarding the pods. Blanch beans in boiling water for 2 minutes, then shock in a salted ice-water bath. Remove and discard the outer skin from the beans, leaving just the bright green favas.

Rinse and separate lettuce leaves, using salad spinner to dry thoroughly. Plate layers of lettuce on each salad plate or on a serving platter. Top with radish coins, drizzle with yogurt dressing, garnish with feta and fava beans and toss before serving. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and coarse sea salt.

— Chef-owner Arash Ghasemi, Main Street Kitchen & Bar