Black bean soup recipe
This is a rich, intensely flavoured soup with lots of bold Mexican tastes. Although the soup is pureed, it retains a chunky texture by virtue of some of it being coarsely mashed while the rest is blended. Chipotle chillies have a distinctive smoky flavour. If you can't find them, add another fresh chilli and a teaspoon or two of smoked paprika.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 red onions, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 fresh green chilli, deseeded if you prefer and finely chopped
- 1 chipotle chilli, finely chopped
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 0.5 red pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
- 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
- 500 g dried black kidney beans, soaked and cooked or 800g drained tinned beans
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 l vegetable stock
- 30 g dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 good pinch of salt
- 3 tbsp soured cream to serve
- 1 avocado, peeled stoned and diced
- 2 spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
- 1 lime, juiced
Details
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Recipe Type: Starter
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 55 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy saucepan, and sauté the onion for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the garlic, chillies, oregano, ground spices, red pepper and celery, and simmer for 7-8 minutes more, until the vegetables are soft. Add the beans, tomato purée and stock, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
- Scoop one-third of the soup into a food processor and pulse to get a coarse mash. Use a hand-held blender to make a smooth purée of the rest of the soup, then return the mash to the pan. Melt in the chocolate and season the soup with salt.
- Make the avocado salsa by combining all of the ingredients in a bowl.
- Serve the soup with a spoonful of the salsa and a swirl of soured cream on top.
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More recipes from Denis Cotter
Book - For the Love of Food
Publisher - HarperCollins
Restaurant - Cafe Paradiso