Before discussing our dinner, here is an update on our daughter’s plot in the community garden. With the exception of a few tiny strawberries this is the first harvest, fava beans! She and I shucked a bagful out of their large cottony pods which is the first step with fava beans.

Shucked fava beans

Next step is to blanch the beans so you can remove the outer shell.  You end up with a tender, bright green bean. We ate a bunch of them newly peeled with a little salt. They were delicious. She says I can use some of the remaining beans so maybe I will put them in a salad on Thursday.

Unpeeled fava beans on the left and bright green peeled ones on the right

For dinner we made shrimp biryani by making the rice with its tomatoes and seasonings in the Instant Pot set on the rice setting and cooking seasoned shrimp separately on the stove top. We have tried putting the shrimp in the Instant Pot with the rice but the pressure cooking is too much for them and they come out overcooked. It means we dirty an extra pan but the results are much better.

Shrimp biryani with basil garnish