Caribbean Black Bean Soup

2011-2-2

Caribbean Black Bean Soup

I apologize for the photograph that doesn't do justice to this dish. My husband said he really liked it; wondered whether I had put barbecue sauce in it. Barbecue sauce? Huh? No.

One thing I would have changed in how I prepared this soup yesterday, my first attempt, was to soak the dry beans over night, cook the beans by themselves first, cook the beans longer . . . the beans could have been more tender. I'm getting ahead of myself.

This is the 4th recipe in the Good Housekeeping Vegetarian Meals recipe book.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound dry black beans
• olive oil
• 2 medium red onions, chopped
• 3 jalapeno chiles, seeded and minced
• 2 tbsp fresh garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 4-6 garlic cloves minced, via garlic press
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 7-10 c water
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small squares
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• sea salt
• 3 bunches of green onions, washed and cut finely
  

Directions:

• Soak the black beans over night (translation: don't be stupid or last minute like me; I soaked the dry beans for maybe four to five hours) and perhaps even cook them separately first.
• In a pan, throw in a modest amount of olive oil and cook the red onions on lower medium heat until they are transparent. I threw in a few pinches of sea salt.
• In a pot (stock pot?), throw everything else in. Bring to a boil. Allow to simmer for an hour or long enough for the sweet potatoes and black beans to be tender and for the flavors to soak into the potatoes and beans.

Our whole house smelled flagrantly of this delicious soup, and when my husband arrived home, his interest was peaked and ripened for tasting the aromatic food.