Where it comes from
Albanchez, Alcudia de Monteagud, Benitagla, Cóbdar, Líjar, Tahal · also Lower Andarax (tarbinas)
Talvinas are a spoon dish for a November night: wheat flour cooked in milk or water, sweetened with sugar or honey, with olive oil, cinnamon and aniseed, and on top the fried bread and almonds, crackling over the hot porridge. They are typical of Albanchez, Alcudia de Monteagud, Benitagla, Cóbdar, Líjar and Tahal, villages of the Sierra de los Filabres.
They were eaten on All Saints' Day, after the one-in-the-morning mass, and that night carried its own mischief: plugging the neighbours' door locks with porridge. Few recipes keep a custom and a prank so well at once.
In the Bajo Andarax they are sometimes known as "tarbinas": same dish, different name. If a steaming plate is ever set before you on a November night, you will know what you are tasting.
What it is made with
Underlined ingredients link to Local produce.
How it is made at home
- Fry pieces of bread and the almonds in olive oil; set aside.
- In the same oil, lightly toast the wheat flour.
- Add the milk or water little by little, stirring to avoid lumps.
- Sweeten with sugar or honey and flavour with cinnamon and aniseed.
- Cook, stirring, until it thickens like porridge.
- Serve hot with the fried bread and almonds on top.