I’ll start with a disclaimer…this recipe needs improvement. I edited it from a recipe from Smitten Kitchen that was for slow-cooked black bean soup. And although I have a slow cooker, I didn’t have the time, so I used canned beans and headed on my merry way.
This soup was alright, but it wasn’t great. It was quite mediocre, if you want the truth (which is how I proposed it to Christie and Becca, and they still ate it, which is why we’re friends.) It was fine, but not stellar, and so I would say this is a base for a recipe that could be great.
Here’s what I used:
olive oil
1 medium red onion
1 medium red bell pepper
2 garlic cloves
3 teaspoons ground cumin
2 can black beans
1 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
ground black pepper
3 cups water (too much – aim for 1 can. Probably for slow cooker you’d need this much, but just as soup, too much!)
Here’s how I did it:
Chop your onion and pepper, mince your garlic.
Saute your onion and garlic for about ten minutes, with your olive oil.
Add in your red pepper, and let that saute too.
Add your beans in. Delicious, right?
Now add your water. I added too much water – don’t do this. You want it to be thick so you can taste the delicious beans!
Not pictured: I pureed about 4 cups of the soup with my immersion blender. I think I could have done more, but it was late and I was hungry. It definitely made it thicker and more delicious, though!
I even used corn starch and water to thicken the soup, because I added too much water. Try this when you need to thicken your soup in a jam!
I let the soup simmer for a bit and reduce, and that helped, too.
Here’s my finished soup. I put a dollop of sour cream in it, as you can see slipping below the surface. I’d suggest you serve with salt and pepper, too.
I would definitely add more cumin, less water, and a few more peppers. I would probably add some more onion too.
Do you have a black bean soup you like? What do you put in it?
[addtoany] Yum