Black Bean Soup
This is a recipe from our Vancouver School Board World Cuisines cooking course with Chef Kathryn Hunter-Tate. We made it on the Latin American night in the class, and again tonight at home. Both times we did more or less half of the recipe listed here, and the adjustments for tonight’s version are noted below.
1 lb dry black bean, soaked overnight
4 c chicken stock
4 c water
2 bay leaves
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
2 large red peppers, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
8-10 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp dry oregano leaves
2 tbsp fresh oregano leaves, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
finely diced red onion
sour cream
Drain the beans, reserving 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid. Put the beans in a large sauce pan or Dutch oven with the stock, water, and bay leaves, and bring to a boil. After a few minutes of boiling, skim off the foam that rises to the top. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 75 to 90 minutes, or until the bean are tender.
While the beans cook, chop the vegetables. Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the peppers, onion, and shallots, and sauté until the onions are transparent - at least 15 minutes - don’t rush this step.
Add the garlic, cumin, and oreganos, and sauté two minutes more. This mixture of vegetables and spices is called the “sofrito“. Remove it from the heat and cool it slightly. Pureé the sofrito in a food processor or blender until smooth.
Remove the bay leaves from the beans. Deglaze the sauté pan with the 1/2 cup of reserved bean liquid, and add to the cooked beans along with the sofrito, sugar, and pepper. Salt to taste.
Gently simmer 20 to 30 minutes longer. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.
Serve with red onion and sour cream garish.
During class we found that the beans needed more than the 90 minutes cooking time listed. Apparently black beans are some of the longest cooking beans there are.
For tonight’s version we made the following adjustments:
- We made half the recipe (sort of).
- Used canned black beans, one 540 ml can, drained and rinsed. Simmered them in the stock and water mixture while we made the sofrito.
- Used 2-1/2 cups of chicken stock, and 1-1/2 cups of water. The stock was made from Minor’s Chicken Base paste that we bought from Chef Kathryn.
- Deglazed with 1/2 cup of the stock and water mixture that the beans simmered in.
- Didn’t add any additional salt, the stock provided enough.
Half the recipe make about 4 servings.
The sofrito has a wonderful aroma when you add the garlic and spices near the end of its sauté. Its texture, once pureéd gives the soup a distinctive character. The flavour is surprisingly sweet.