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Culinary Explorer
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Habas con Chocos
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Habas con chocos is Huelva's coast and fields in one pot: Atlantic cuttlefish braised tender with spring fava beans, white wine, garlic, and pimentón, with the beans added late so they stay green and silky.
Main Dishes
Spanish
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
One Pot
25 min
Active Time
1 hr 30 min cook•1 hr 55 min total
Yield4 servings
Habas con chocos is Huelva's spring cocina de cuchara, spoon food: Atlantic cuttlefish, called choco there, simmered with small fresh fava beans in a dark, sweet sofrito of onion, garlic, tomato, and pimentón. The meeting of the coast and the spring bean harvest makes this Huelva's dish, not a general Andalusian seafood stew. The sauce should cling loosely to the choco and habas, never drown them.
The order decides whether it works. Cook the sofrito low until the onion is deep gold and the tomato has lost its raw water, then braise the choco until nearly tender before the habas go in. Cuttlefish needs patience; young favas need very little. Put them in together and either the choco stays tough or the beans turn grey and floury. Beans last. That's the line written in the Margin beside mine.
Far from Huelva, frozen baby broad beans are the honest substitute for fresh habas. Add them straight from the freezer and shorten their cooking time; they lose a little of spring's green sweetness but keep the right tenderness. If you can't find cuttlefish, use cleaned squid and expect a softer, slightly sweeter result. No hace falta haber pisado España. Siempre sale, si lo sigues. It turns out if you follow it.
Habas con chocos belongs to Huelva, where the Atlantic fish market meets the spring fava harvest of the coastal plain and inland campiña. Cuttlefish is so closely tied to the city and its coast that people from Huelva are known as choqueros. The dry white wine of the Condado de Huelva in the cooking pot places the stew firmly in the province's own larder.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
cleaned cuttlefish (choco or sepia)
Quantity
800g
patted dry; body and tentacles cut into 3cm pieces
young fresh fava beans
Quantity
600g shelled, from about 2kg pods
shelled, with the tender skins left on
frozen baby broad beans (optional)
Quantity
600g
use directly from frozen
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
onion
Quantity
220g
finely diced
garlic
Quantity
16g, about 4 cloves
finely chopped
ripe tomato or canned whole tomato
Quantity
150g
grated or crushed
sweet pimentón
Quantity
4g, about 1 1/2 teaspoons
bay leaf
Quantity
1
dry white wine, preferably Condado de Huelva
Quantity
150ml
hot water
Quantity
400ml
fine sea salt
Quantity
7g
divided
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| cleaned cuttlefish (choco or sepia)patted dry; body and tentacles cut into 3cm pieces | 800g |
| young fresh fava beansshelled, with the tender skins left on | 600g shelled, from about 2kg pods |
| frozen baby broad beans (optional)use directly from frozen | 600g |
| extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
| onionfinely diced | 220g |
| garlicfinely chopped | 16g, about 4 cloves |
| ripe tomato or canned whole tomatograted or crushed | 150g |
| sweet pimentón | 4g, about 1 1/2 teaspoons |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| dry white wine, preferably Condado de Huelva | 150ml |
| hot water | 400ml |
| fine sea saltdivided | 7g |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide heavy casserole or cazuela with lid, 28 to 30cm
- •Sharp knife and separate seafood cutting board
- •Fine grater for the tomato
- •Digital kitchen scale
Instructions
- 1
Prepare choco and habas
Shell the fresh favas and weigh out 600g. Keep the pale skins on small, tender beans; peeling every one belongs to another sort of afternoon. Pat the cleaned cuttlefish very dry and cut the body and tentacles into even 3cm pieces so they tenderize together. Pésalo, no lo adivines. Weigh it, don't guess.
Ask the fishmonger to remove the cuttlebone, beak, innards, eyes, and outer skin. The ink isn't used here. - 2
Cook the sofrito
Heat the olive oil in a wide heavy casserole over medium-low heat. Add the onion with 2g of the salt and cook for 15 to 18 minutes, stirring often, until deep gold, soft, and sweet but not scorched. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato and cook for another 8 to 10 minutes, until the sofrito, the slow onion base, is dark and thick with no watery edge around it.
- 3
Add the choco
Add the cuttlefish and bay leaf, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook for 6 to 8 minutes. Stir now and then while the choco turns opaque and releases its liquid. Keep going until most of that liquid has cooked away and the oil appears again at the bottom.
- 4
Season and braise
Take the casserole off the heat, stir in the pimentón for 10 seconds, and immediately pour in the white wine so the spice cannot scorch. Return the pot to the heat and boil for 3 minutes. Add the hot water and the remaining 5g salt, then lower the heat and simmer partly covered for 25 minutes.
- 5
Test the choco
Push the point of a small knife into a thick piece of cuttlefish. It should yield but still offer a little resistance. If it feels springy or rubbery, simmer for another 10 minutes and test again. Keep the liquid at a gentle bubble and add 50ml hot water only if the base threatens to catch. Don't add the favas until the choco is nearly tender.
- 6
Cook the habas
Stir in the fresh favas and simmer uncovered for 12 to 18 minutes, shaking the casserole occasionally, until the beans are tender and creamy inside but still green. For frozen baby broad beans, add them without thawing, let the pot return to a simmer, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. The sauce should be loose enough for a spoon but thick enough to cling to the beans.
- 7
Rest and serve
Remove the bay leaf, take the casserole off the heat, and let it rest for 10 minutes. Taste and add salt only if it needs it; cuttlefish brings some salinity of its own. Serve in deep bowls with bread for the pimentón-stained sauce. Con buenos ingredientes y paciencia, nothing else is needed.
Chef Tips
- •Fresh habas are a spring ingredient. Choose small, bright beans no larger than your thumbnail; large mature ones have thick skins and floury centres. If those are all the market has, buy frozen baby broad beans instead. A good frozen bean beats a tired fresh one.
- •Cuttlefish has thicker, firmer flesh than squid and gives the stew its proper bite. If using 800g cleaned squid, reduce the hot water to 250ml and braise it for about 15 minutes before adding the beans. The result will be sweeter and softer.
- •Use sweet pimentón and move the casserole off the heat before adding it. Burnt pimentón turns bitter in seconds. Condado de Huelva is the local wine for the pot and the table, but any dry, unoaked white wine without noticeable sweetness will do.
- •Leftovers keep for 2 days in a covered container in the refrigerator. Reheat them gently with 30 to 50ml water. The flavor settles nicely, though the habas will become softer and lose some of their bright green colour.
Advance Preparation
- •Shell the fresh favas up to 12 hours ahead and refrigerate them in a covered container lined with a barely damp cloth.
- •The stew can be prepared through the cuttlefish braise one day ahead. Cool it promptly, refrigerate it covered, then return it to a gentle simmer and add the favas shortly before serving.
- •Do not freeze the finished stew unless necessary. The sauce survives, but the thawed favas become softer and duller.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 480g)
Calories
460 calories
Total Fat
16 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
13 g
Cholesterol
225 mg
Sodium
1480 mg
Total Carbohydrates
38 g
Dietary Fiber
13 g
Sugars
18 g
Protein
46 g
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