Moroccan Spiced Edamame

One of the most unique items that has come in our CSA box is soybeans…on the stalk.  Trust me my first thought was, what am I ever going to do with this? A little research showed me that you can’t eat the beans on the pod.  That’s a good thing because the pods are a little bristle-y.  So I sat down and started to pull off all of the pods.  I think I had about 10 stalks/plants and ended up a huge overflowing bowl of pods.

I soaked them in a little water to remove any dirt or grime (looking back not sure why since you can’t eat the pods!) You can’t eat these soybeans raw.  So I boiled a huge pot of water and filled it with the pods.  Once they started to open up I removed them.  Extracting the beans from inside was then much much easier.  You can’t eat the outside of the pod so they all went in the garbage.

After extracting all of the seeds the options are to roast them or freeze them.  Soybeans (or edamame) can be used in a variety of ways.  I came up with this recipe for Moroccan roasted Edamame based on a snack pack I had gotten that had some Asian spiced edamame. Edamame do make a great snack because they have a ton of protein and really the only fat in this recipe is in the olive oil, making this an overall healthy snack.

 Ingredients

• 2 cups of shelled edamame
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425F.  Mix together the olive oil and spices.  Pour on top of the edamame and mix to coat all of the beans.  Line a baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.  Spread out the beans in a single layer and slide into the preheated oven.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until the beans are crispy.  Enjoy hot or cool!

**If you don’t have fresh edamame you can buy them frozen in most grocery stores.  Thaw them before coating in the spice mixture but you’ll end up with the same great results (and a lot less work!)

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