Soothe your soul with this comforting and fragrant black bean soup! It is loaded with the goodness of aromatic garlic, ginger and fresh thyme along with the kick of chili flakes and freshly ground black pepper. Super easy to make, great source of fiber and protein, a crowd feeder and pleaser!!
Ingredients
2 x 15 oz. cans of black beans, drained and washed well [ 3 cups cooked beans ]
2 bay leaves
5-7 whole black pepper corns, roughly crushed
1 cup sweet onion, chopped [ 1 medium size ]
1 cup red bell pepper [ 1 medium size ]
2 tablespoons garlic, minced [ about 5-6 cloves ]
2 teaspoons ginger, grated
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes/chili flakes [ I used 1 teaspoon for extra kick ]
1 teaspoon dry oregano
32. oz. low sodium vegetable stock
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons Himalayan pink salt or kosher salt [ divided ]
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
chopped parsley, for garnish [ optional ]
extra olive oil, to drizzle on top [optional ]
Method
In the large soup pot/stock pot heat up the olive oil over mediam heat.
Add bay leaves and roughly crushed black pepper corns (optional - read notes) and stir for few seconds.
Now add in chopped onion. Cook, stirring often, until the onion has softened and translucent, about 2 to 4 minutes.
Add the minced garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant, about one minute, stirring frequently and making sure they do not burn.
Add chopped red bell pepper and chopped thyme, cook for another 2-4 minutes. Keep stirring so it does not burn.
Add in chili flakes, oregano, freshly crushed black pepper and half the amount of salt (1 teaspoon at this point) and cook for another 1-2 minutes. If the mixture sticks to the bottom of the pan then add 1 tablespoon of vegetable stock.
Meanwhile, reserve half cup of black beans and put the rest of the beans in a blender along with enough vegetable stock to make puree.
Add the black bean puree to the soup pot, add the reserved half cup of whole beans to the pot as well.
Add the remaining vegetable stock and add in 1 more teaspoon of salt ( or to taste) and black pepper.
Stir well and bring it to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes or more if desired.
Give it a taste test and adjust slat and pepper if needed.
Serve piping hot, can be garnished with freshly chopped parsley, more freshly cracked pepper and a good drizzle of oilve oil or just serve it up right as is!
Enjoy.
My Notes
You can go easy on the spice by avoiding chili flakes or just adding half the amount mentioned.
Same way, If you do not want the larger pepper corn pieces in your soup, you can use skip this step and add the ground version of the pepper later in the soup.
I like the texture in my soup, but you can dump the prepared onion-bell pepper mixture in the blender along with stock and beans and puree the soup. Bring it a boil and simmer as mentioned. Remember to discard the bay leaves if you use this method.
This soup can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days, when you reheat add water or more stock in tablespoon increments to bring it to the soup consistency as this soup thickens as it cools!
Recipe by at https://www.urbancilantro.com/spicy-black-bean-soup/