I am an avowed salt-aholic - a confession I will make online but not to my doctor's face. I like my salt upfront in pretzels, potato chips, cheese, olives, pickles. If I'm going to indulge, I want it to be worth it. So I have made a concentrated effort not to use commercially produced stocks or the ubiquitous Israeli yellow flavoring powders. They are very useful and very tasty and very high in sodium and salts I haven't even heard of.
Hence, black bean soup made with dried beans.
Please feel free to use the tinned kind. So much easier and a lot less mess.
Don't forget the oranges! They make a difference.
BT's Slightly Spicy Black Bean Soup
Ingredients:
2-2.5 cups (400-500 grams ) dried black beans - 6-7 cups cooked beans
1 medium bunch fresh thyme
1 round tablespoon kosher salt
Filtered water to cover beans*
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion
3 small rib dark green celery
1 star anise
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
5 whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns
1 dried red chili (omit if you don't want heat)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 fresh bay leaves (use dried if unavailable)
3 tablespoon rum
1 teaspoon sugar
1 large orange
1 lime
6 cup (1.5 l) filtered water
Salt to taste
* see directions
Directions:
Soak bean in cold water for half an hour
Discard water and rinse beans several times to remove any debris
Add beans to pressure cooker and barely cover with water
Add salt and half of the fresh thyme
Turn flame to high and when pot begins to whistle turn down flame to medium low and cook for 25 minutes
Remove pressure cooker from heat and leave to cool 15 minute
In a small cast iron pan toast- 1 minutes on medium heat - star anise, dry thyme, oregano, coriander, cloves, cumin, paprika, chili and peppercorns
Remove spices from pan and add to spice/coffee grinder and process into fine powder
Add oil to heavy gauge cocotte and turn flame to medium low
Dice onion and celery and add to pot
Sauté 2 to 3 minutes
Add spice powder and continue sautéing 30 seconds
Add rum and sugar and filtered water
Remove cooked beans from pressure cooker
Discard water and thyme
Add beans to stock and turn flame to medium high
Cut orange in half and squeeze juice
Set juice aside and add the orange husks to soup
Add remaining half of fresh thyme
Add bay leaves
When soup begins to boil, cover the pot and reduce flame to low
Cook 25 minutes
Remove oranges, thyme and bay leaves
Blend with a wand blender until the beans are 90% broken down
Juice lime and add to soup
Taste for salt and pepper
Serve with sliced avocado, cilantro, raw onion and lime slices
Enjoy! !בתיאבון
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