South of the border black bean soup

If you read the title and wonder what border this is south of, I will say, the Canadian border. The farther south you go there's more bean or black bean consumption. South in United States, and south of that border, in Mexico, black beans are consumed in various ways. South of Mexico and into central and South America, it's also a popular staple along with other types of beans.

When I was a child, if someone had told me about black beans, I would have said "eeyuck!". My friends and I would not have believed that people ate beans that were black. I only knew about canned baked beans that were sweetened. I was raised by my father. When he made dinner, it often was canned baked beans on toast. When he went all out, he made brown rice to go with it. I loved those dinners. I was not a picky eater.

When I was in my late teens I discovered Americanized Chili which contained red kidney beans. I loved it.

I can't remember the first time I had black beans. I think it was in Cuba in my late 20's, or Mexico in my early 30's.

Now here in Canada we are exposed to many foods from the world and have access to items that were not found decades ago.

There are many variations of black bean soup or stew, which depends on the family tradition, personal taste, or available ingredients.

I have made a black bean soup that most likely represents Mexico but the rest of Latin American could easily have similar variations of this.

Black bean soup
600g cooked black beans
65g carrot
60g celery
250g green pepper
20g hot pepper
1 litre vegetable broth or water
20g parsley
20g cilantro
20g chili pepper
Juice of a lime
380g tomatoes
50g chipotle in adobo sauce (canned)
25g maple syrup
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 bay leaves
Salt to your liking

I have used chipotle in adobo sauce because I was given a huge can of it months ago and put portions in the freezer. This gave it a more smokey and spicy flavor.

I chopped all the vegetables in small dices.

I used basic ingredients that I would use for a soup broth. I also used both parsley and cilantro.

I decided on a spicy soup and used chilies. The last time I made black bean soup, I didn't make it spicy. It was still good.

I added the onion, garlic, carrot and celery to the hot oil in a pot, and turned it to medium. It was cooked down for around 20 minutes then I added the tomatoes and cooked for another 10 minutes or so on medium low covered.

The black beans were soaked the night before and cooked for over an hour. When they were cooked they were tender all the way through. It didn't matter to me if they were a little over cooked, because I mashed some of them to thicken the soup. I just used a potato masher but of course this is a personal preference.

I saved the water from the beans to add later if it was necessary. The beans were cooked with salt and bay leaves so the water had some flavour.

I always prefer to use broth, rather than water but it would still be good with just water. The ingredients added will do the flavouring as well. I sometimes buy a broth or use water with bullion cubes, but it's easy to make a very basic broth.

Basic vegetable broth
2 Carrots
2 Celery
1 onion
5 cloves garlic
1 handful parsley
5 or 6 peppercorns
2 or 3 bay leaves
Water to cover
Bring to a boil and then simmer for an hour.

Broth can be made with your vegetable scraps. Baking the veggies in the oven first can make it even better. Adding other roots, or pepper, or mushrooms could be used as well. I always use the basic ingredients. I don't always use the same amounts. I just throw stuff in the pot.

Add the beans and the liquid then simmer together for 10 minutes or more. Adjust seasonings.

I happened to have corn on the cob. It must be in season somewhere. I'm seeing it in the stores now for a decent price. I decided to blanch it in hot water for 30 seconds then added to the soup.

At first I was going to add potatoes, but I didn't want them to turn black. I instead made mashed potato tortillas. I didn't intend to. It just was an after thought.

This is a soup that satisfies even without an added starch. Usually I have leftovers of soup for the freezer, but not this one. In fact all of the bean soups don't last with us.

Thanks for dropping by and have a great day.

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Photos taken with a Nikon D7500 by me except for the ones of me taken by my other half