Is that enough beans for you...

While I found a lot of interesting Mexican recipes that I wanted to try for the Monthly mingle this month, I had to stick to one of my favorite dishes- black bean soup! And that is only because I waited till the last minute and had a hard time deciding on what to make....as usual (and I am not even sure if the picture is in focus!)
Well here is the recipe, modified from here

Ingredients
olive oil
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1-2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp chopped ginger
1½ c. chopped onions (reserve ½ cup for garnish)
½ c. chopped celery
1/3 c. chopped carrots
1/2 cup corn (whole kernel or corn on the cob, when in season)
2 medium jalapeño peppers, seeded and diced
3 15-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained
Vegetable broth
1 15-oz. can chopped fire roasted tomatoes
1 tbsp ground cumin (I added a generous amount)
2 tbsp ground chilli powder
chopped parsley and cilantro
1 lime, juiced
Salt and pepper

Method

Add oil to a pot. When the oil’s hot, but not smoking, add the cumin seeds, then add chopped onions, celery, carrots, ginger and jalapeños. Add a pinch of salt (I added sea salt) and turmeric, saute the vegetables over medium heat.

When the vegetables are soft, about ten minutes, add the beans, the water or stock, and the tomatoes. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat, and let it simmer. When everything is very tender, and the soup has begun to thicken, stir in the cumin and chipotle powder.

Remove the pot from the heat, cool it and blend it until it’s creamy but you still see some whole beans (I blended about 3/4th of my soup, I like mine creamy)

Stir in the parsley-cilantro and heat again, stirring often to keep the thickened beans from sinking and sticking to the bottom of the pan. Serve the soup hot, sprinkle of cilantro, and a good squeeze of fresh lime (I forgot to garnish with some nice chopped onions). I also cut up some strips of whole wheat tortillas- spiced it up with some chilli powder, pepper and salt (all in some olive oil), baked the strips at 350F for about 12 minutes (garnished my soup with these crunchies).

I simply love this soup and does everyone else in the house! It is hearty and flavorful (like most mexican foods are...and that is why I love MEXICAN food!). This goes to Monthly mingle-Mexican fiesta hosted by Jenny started by Meeta.

Comments

From "The Baker's Daughter"

I love to read books and I love to cook- so "Cook the Books" event called out to me, what more can I say? When I didn't want to just sit around and catch up Breaking Bad episodes leading up to the finale yesterday, I threw these buns and some great vegan-gluten free strawberry cupcakes in the mix. The book chosen for the bi-monthly event Cook the Books is Sarah McCoy's "The Baker's Daughter "- a story about that intertwines food, history and a great narrative (toggles between WWII times in Germany and the present). I am just about a third done and so far like what I have read. I will post the review once I am done reading but in the meantime I leave you with these gorgeous buns that are traditionally made on St. Thomas Day that falls on Dec 21st (which also happens to be the shortest day). Thomasplitzchen Buns 1 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 cup butter 1/4 cup raw sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 cup almond milk Filli

Noel Nut balls

Oops, I forgot to post my day 4 recipe for the marathon, I did post day 5 with the chocolate cake! Anyway barring that mistake, this would be the day 6 of the marathon and the 11th in my books (confusing numbers eh?!) Well these are yet another batch of cookies that I made to be sent to friends this year- absolutely delicious people! A success story modified from the Martha Stewart recipe for Noel Nut balls , I am beginning to like her cookie recipes... Ingredients 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 2 tbsp honey 1 tsp orange juice 2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour 3/4 cup chopped pecans (best if chopped by hand) 1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar, plus more for rolling 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 1/2 tsp clove powder Method Cream butter and honey until fluffy. Add orange juice, and beat to combine. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pecans, confectioners' sugar, and salt, nutmeg, clove powder. Add

Cookies galore for friends- Lime Meltaways

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion and desire- Aristotle You do understand that I had to do this, don't you? The 7 day-7 recipe marathon that a lot of us have signed up for, check Nupur's blog to check about rest of the players. This year, just like the last, I am making a bunch of cookies for friends. Lime meltaways as Martha Stewart calls them are the first of the lot. They have the very refreshing, very familiar citrus flavor and they were so delicate that I decided not to ship them. Ingredients 12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature (I did half butter and half crisco vegetable shortening) 1 cup confectioners' sugar Grated zest of 2 limes 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour 2 tbsp cornstarch 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 1 tsp ginger powder 1/4 teaspoon salt Method Cream butter and 1/3 c

Soulful Creations

Search This Blog