Bean soup is the new black! Memento of Merida

Find the culture intimacy from the soup

Hello, my friends,

I had made a promise that I would share some inspiration recipe from Mexico. It’s been a while, why took me so long?:P  Well….the truth is… the black bean soup is SO delicious which we always finished it before we can take a picture! Am I exaggerate now? not really!  I had made this soup for at least dozen times, and just two of us keep eating it in the speed of light! my love also asks me when would I go to make the black bean soup again soon?  Try it and you will know I am not kidding!

As an Asian girl from Taiwan, I can attest to beans playing a big role in our cuisine. Mostly black beans are cooked with sugar and can be found in lots of desserts like sweet bean soup and as filling in dim sum.  The usage in Latin foods is very different: unsweetened beans are everywhere: as a salsa, as a dip, as a savory soup. When we visited Merida, the black bean soup made a big impression on my mind! beans are so simple but friendly, warm and welcoming indeed.

Today I would like to share a recipe which is so simple but very high in intimacy. It shows how the cultures are actually different and so close. For example, cilantro, black beans, kidney beans. Three of them are used in Asian and Mexican cuisine a lot. I hope you would like to give it a try and find the new fusion idea into your cooking. Let’s do it!

Serve 2-6 people, cooking time: approximately: 1 hr

Ingredients:

3 cans of beans, (black beans, kidney beans, triple beans as your choice, personally love two black beans plus one triple bean)

2 Roma tomatoes

1 medium brown onion, chopped

½ red onion, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 lb of ground beef (optional, can be cooked as a vegan version without it)

2 chorizo, sliced (optional, can be cooked as a vegan version without it)

½ green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

½ bottle (500 ml) of chicken broth

1 bundle of cilantro, chopped

1 cup of Mexican mixed cheese

½ teaspoon of oregano

½ teaspoon of paprika

1 teaspoon of  cumin

some salt and black pepper

Cooking steps:

Step 1: If you choose to cook with non-vegan version, cook the ground beef and sliced chorizo first with medium heat for about 10 mins.  

Step 2: Add a little bit salt on the beef then take out all the beef and chorizo out, cook the Roma tomatoes with the oil from the beef, about 10 mins. until they get soft and the peels are detached. remove the peels, smash the tomatoes.

Step 3: cook the chopped onion until it’s soft, about 10 mins with lid covered. Open the lid then add the minced garlic, cook 3 mins, then add one can of bean, cook another 5 mins, open the lid and smash them all well, add some salt. Add chicken broth and another two cans of the bean into the pot, add paprika, oregano, cumin, and the cooked beef and chorizo. Turn the heat to high, broil it then turn it down to small heat.

Step 4: Stir the soup nicely, add the chopped bell pepper in and add about one cup of chopped cilantro. add 1 cup of Mexican cheese in. taste it and add some salt. the soup will be getting thicker now. turn the heat down to low, cook about 10 mins.

Voila! Now, you are ready to serve the soup! Garnish it with some chopped cilantro and cheese on top, or add some chopped avocado or fried tortilla you may, they are very good too!  

Enjoy it!

Tell me how you like the bean soup, and does it change your perspective of beans like it did for me? or is this the cuisine you are familiar with? 🙂

xo,

Gabrielle