Black Bean Soup
There are very few meals that fall into the categories of; simple to make, nutritional, and satisfying. Black bean soup, like its cousin lentil soup, would definitely fall into all of these categories. The only real decision to be made when making the soup is spicy or not spicy. I will leave that up to you. The spicy version follows. You can leave out the heat if you like.
- 1 recipe of basic black beans found here, or 1 14 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1/2 medium red onion diced
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 1 carrot diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
- 2 cups home made chicken broth, or 1 14 oz can low sodium chicken broth
- 1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced (you can leave this out, or you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or we also use a spicy banana pepper)
- 1 lime cut in quarters
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a 3 to 4 quart soup pot heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrot and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeno pepper and saute an additional minute or two. Add the chicken broth, the black beans, the cumin, bring the mixture to a simmer, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes. Add about 1 tablespoon of the cilantro and simmer an additional 15 minutes.
To thicken the soup I recommend removing about 2/3 of the soup and placing it in a blender or food processor to be processed for about 30 seconds which creates a black bean emulsion. Return it to the soup pot and heat through. The other alternative is to remove about 1/3 of the black beans and using a handheld immersion blender puree the black beans in the pot, returning the other beans when done.
The soup is ready to serve into 4 appetizer portions or 2 meal portions. Squeeze a bit of lime juice onto the top of the soup and garnish with a little cilantro.
Sour Cream Topping
I like to take the soup a bit further and add dollop of seasoned sour cream as follows:
- 2 giant dollops of sour cream, should equal about 1/4 cup
- 1/2 tablespoon cilantro finely chopped
- juice from 1/4 lime
Put the sour cream in a small mixing bowl. Add the cilantro and the lime juice and mix thoroughly. Place a small dollop of the sour cream in the center of each serving of black beans.