Stormy Black Bean Soup
Whew! I can't believe I'm actually online, able to update this blog. It rained all day yesterday and most of last night, the first real rain we've had in months. I was ecstatic to see it...right up until the time the weather knocked out my internet connection. It went out around 8:00 last night, and it's still out. I'm only able to connect now thanks to someone else's wireless internet and my husband's laptop. The cable guy is supposed to come tomorrow morning, so somehow I'll have to get along until then.
Anyway, with the rainy weather, my thoughts turned of course to soup, and this slightly spicy black bean soup really hit the spot. I normally add a little corn right at the end of cooking, but since I was serving this with corn bread, I skipped the corn. And I just had to make corn bread in order to use the cute cactus-shaped, cast iron cornbread pan I got at a yard sale last week (brand new for $3!)
Stormy Black Bean Soup
(click for printer-friendly version)
Vary the amount of spices in this to suit your taste. I used the minimum amounts given, which put this right at the outer edge of my daughter's spice tolerance.
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cans (or 3 cups) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tsp. cumin
2 bay leaves
1-2 tsp. chile powder
generous grating of black pepper
1-2 tsp. minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes
4-5 cups vegetable broth or water
1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels (optional)
lime wedges
In a large pot, saute the onions, garlic, and bell pepper until the onions soften, about 3 minutes. Add the beans, seasonings, and tomatoes, and stir to combine. Add 3 cups vegetable broth or water. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, for about 1 hour, adding additional water or vegetable broth as needed to keep a soupy consistency. Just before serving, add the corn, if you like, and heat through. Serve in bowls with lime wedges. Makes 4-6 servings.
Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free Eat to Live
Labels: eat to live, gluten-free
posted by SusanV at 3:15 PM
37 Comments:
I love black bean soup... The flavors you added are incredible. It has been rainy here too--nothing like soup on a cool, rainy evening!
I'm really loving that pan--those cornbreads are so cute!
thos cactus cut-outs are adorable!
Megan the vegan
So cute! The cactus shaped cornbread is MUCH better than the corncob shaped ones.
I just noticed your new header...it's beautiful! Not sure how long it took me to notice the change ;) (I also very much liked your old one too...it had a Thai lemongrass soup look to it). I'm wondering what dish is now pictured? It looks so tasty!
Hey anon--Don't worry. I just changed the header yesterday. :-)
It's a photo of this: Shiitake, Sweet Potato, and Zucchini Foo Yung. I just felt like the blog was due for a little makeover.
I made your pea soup recipe yesterday. It took forever to cook... I think I'll steal my parent's pressure cooker next time haha. I'm very impatient when yummy things are cooking!
I wanted to invite you to my blog; I just got it up and running tonight and the first post is entitled "Ode to the Fat Free Vegan". *giggles*
I know it's my first time posting a comment but I've been a long time fan of your yummy recipes!
We did need that rain, didn't we. I made soup as well with cornbread! This looks so good. I'll have to try it out later, as tomorrow it's supposed to be 90! Isn't this OCtober?
Ahh I love everything you make. The cactus cornbread rocks - I want to get more funky shaped pans like that!
And I just made your skinny fig bars the other day.. A++!
Hi Susan! Your black bean soup looks great! I love the cactus corn bread though, that totally makes the dish!! Lol! What a great deal you got on those! :)
Hope this all helped you enjoy the rainy weather you had!
Susan - your new header looks absolutely fab. I love it! Your photography is amazing.
And the black bean soup sounds right up my alley. Love the cactus cornbread [how cute is that?].
Susan, that cornbread pan was a real find ! So cute !
Yum, that sounds really good. I sure do love your blog - always such beautiful pictures, and such healthy AND enticing recipes. hoorah! And I agree with Anon, I noticed the new header right away, it looks fantastic.
Plus, those little cornbreads are extra super cute... what a score!
That cactus cornbread is SO cute! I love black bean soup-this looks delicious.
At first I thought you found corn naturally with this shape, which I considered increadible and amazing. Maybe OGM corn ? The way you cooked them is very funny. I didn't notice this recipe when you posted it ; your stormy Black Bean soup's drawn me the attention on it.
I love the cactus cornbread! What a way to make eating fatfree fun. I love it!
did u ever know that you're my hero?? you're everything i would like to be.... oh susan.. just having u makes the vegan world brighter... this soup looks so yummy i might just make it for dinner tonight!!
I love your cacti! It belongs in my home though (here in AZ).
My favorite part... " I'm only able to connect now thanks to someone else's wireless internet..."
You have been doing some fabulous soups lately! And those cactus bread shapes!!! I found some online:
http://www.cornkits.com/customer/product.php?productid=770&cat=61&page=1
(There's a photo.)
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
This soup looks amazing and your catus bread is a very nice idea.
ekk sounds like one heck of a storm. Your new pan is awesome. I've never really been to a garage sale before (just swap meets)- I need to go out to know.. seems like they have wonderful deals
teddy
Those cactus are so much fun and your stormy soup sounds delicious! Can't wait to try it.
I made your eggplant parmesean the other day and luckily for me, I doubled the recipe and froze one casserole dish for later. It was awesome. Really. You totally outdid your self with this dish. The only thing that hubby and I both agreed on was that we prefered a little extra sauce so we topped it with some jarred spaghetti sauce. I also got 6 servings instead of 4 because I served it over a little pasta. This will definitely become a staple in our house. Thanks!!!
I made this soup this afternoon and it was wonderful. I used rounded teaspoons of the spices, a red pepper instead of a green, 2 cups of corn instead of 1 (I really like corn!), and one small can of green chilies because they didn't have chipotles in adobo at the store so my husband bought the chilies instead. It had an excellent flavor - the blend of spices was great. Next time I will make sure I have the chipotles before I make the soup because I want to see what kind of flavor that adds. This is my new black bean soup recipe. It is great! Quick, easy, and very yummy!
Love the soup!! After making a batch for myself I made some for Christmas for my family and it was a big hit. Thanks for a great recipe!
i made this soup and loved it! my non-vegan family tried it and ended up loving it as well.
Hi Susan! What a peachy header! :) I couldn't find gf chiles in adobo - do you have a recommendation for a substitute? I've never tried them so I don't know what they are supposed to offer the dish. It's already chilly for me here in Boston so this chili sounds perfect :( Thanks!
Hi M! Congratulations on being the first to comment on the new header!
The chipotles offer heat and smokiness, so any combination of gf ingredients that will get you that will do. There's a chipotle powder that would work, if it's gf. If not, try some chopped jalapenos for the heat. For smokiness, I often use smoked Spanish paprika, but again, I don't know if it's gf.
Hope you can make this work. I envy you your chilliness!
hi susan, i love your blog!!! and, this is my favorite soup to make! it's great for freezing for lunches. it takes a long time to cook though. can you recommend a pressure cooker time for this recipe? i'm thinking about buying one because my extended work hours leave me little time to cook soups and other long-cooking meals.
Stephanie, if you're using pre-cooked beans, this won't take long at all in the pressure cooker, about 8 minutes I would guess. The reason for the long stove-top cooking time is to give the seasonings a chance to blend together.
If you've got a crock pot, this would be a good recipe for it. You could just put all the ingredients in in the morning, set it on low, and it would be done when you got home. I think it would make a better slow cooker recipe than pressure cooker.
I'm so glad you like the soup and the blog!
Hi Susan,
I wanted to share my results of making this soup in my crockpot. I used 1 heaping teaspoon of chipotle powder instead of chile powder and a 4 oz can of mild diced green chiles instead of the minced chipotle chiles since they are gf. I used 4 cups broth, 28-ounces of canned tomatoes, and 1 sliced carrot instead of corn. Since the crockpot preserves the liquid, I recommend further reducing the liquid to maybe 3-3.5 cups or so. The resulting soup was extremely spicy (I'm thinking that I should halve the chipotle powder next time) and watery so I added a third 14 oz can of drained and rinsed black beans. I then used the immersion blender to puree the soup. The spiciness was still too much though, so I added an extra 2 carrots, let them cook, and blended those. Now the soup is tolerably spicy and will be tasty with cooling bites of avocado :)
Made the soup yesterday, enough for three days. It is delicious!!! Thank you :-)
Jacob
Love this Bean recipe -how do I make the corn bread? Thanks, Micki F
I cannot wait to try your soup as the weather gets colder! Thanks for the perfect rainy-day lunch and all your wonderful recipes!!
This is delicious. I make it regularly, though omit the bell pepper as not a big fan of them.
Making another batch right now!
Thank you :)
Do I have to soak the beans for 12 hours first?
Daniela, this recipe starts with cooked beans, so to use dried beans, you will need to soak about 2 cups of them overnight and cook them until tender. Then measure out 3 cups of the cooked beans to use in this recipe.
I just found this recipe in my search for cold weather dishes. Thanks!
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