Name: Black Bean Soup
Yield: Serves 4–6
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: a fairly big bunch of coriander, coarsely chopped; 1 tablespoon cumin seeds, lightly toasted in a dry frying pan; 3 tablespoons sunflower oil; 150 ml/¼ pint soured cream (or double cream whipped with a squeeze of lemon juice); 250 g/9 oz black beans or Spanish frijoles negras, soaked overnight in cold water; salt and freshly ground black pepper; about 1.5 litres/2½ pints light vegetable stock or water; 1 celery stick, chopped; 2 garlic cloves, chopped; 2 white onions, chopped; 1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped; 400 g/14 oz tin tomatoes, drained and squeezed; a pinch of sugar

Preparation info

Serves
4–6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Eagle Cookbook

By David Eyre

Published 2009

About

This was adapted from the black beans that are prevalent in San Francisco’s taquerias, where some of the best Mexican food is to be found. They are the mainstay of any burritos worth their salt. The soup is as nourishing as it is simple to make, and hearty sustenance when faced, as I regularly am, with an empty fridge at home.

Ingredients

250 g/9 oz black beans or Spanish frijoles negras, soaked overnight in cold water
about 1.5

Method

Drain the black beans, cover with fresh water, then bring to the boil and drain again. Return to the pan, cover with the stock or water and bring to a simmer. Make sure there is plenty of liquid as the beans will swell and eventually release their starch into the soup, thus thickening the liquid.

In a separate pan, fry the onions, garlic, chilli and celery in the oil until translucent.