VampireGran’s Black Bean Soup

I made a pretty tasty black bean soup last night for dinner.  I’ve been reading a lot of recipes using chocolate in chili and spaghetti sauces and I thought, why not black bean soup?  The addition of the chocolate adds a slightly different dimension to the flavor but it is not distinguishable as “Hey, there’s chocolate in here!”  The other little twist I threw in was a bit of coffee, another flavor enhancer.  I like to use coffee in place of certain liquors in recipes because I don’t often have liquor in my house anymore.

 

This soup is low in fat having only 1 tablespoon of oil in a whole pot.  It is vegan so everyone can enjoy it.  The recipe is easy so cooks and non-cooks alike should have good results.    

 

 

  

  

 

VampireGran’ s Black Bean Soup

Serves 4 -6

 

3 – 15.5 oz cans black beans

1 TBSP olive oil

½ large red onion, finely chopped

½ large yellow onion, finely chopped

1 large jalapeno, minced with seeds

½ red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 medium carrot, finely chopped

2 bay leaves

1 – 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 qt. vegetable stock

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp cayenne

3 oz Mexican( Ibarra or Abuelita) chocolate, finely chopped

¼ cup strong, black coffee

sour cream, chopped tomato, & chopped cilantro for garnish ( optional)

 

Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium high heat.  When oil is hot, sauté onion, jalapeno, red bell pepper, and carrot.  Cook until veggies are softened, about 5 minutes.  Drain juice from canned tomatoes into the soup pot and add bay leaves.  Chop tomatoes into fine small pieces and add to the pot.  Cook 2 -3 minutes.  Add stock, oregano, ground cumin, salt and cayenne.  Drain and rinse 2 cans of black beans and add to pot. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer 30 minutes.

 

Ladle out 2 cups of soup and place in blender or food processor.  Drain and rinse 1 can of black beans and add to blender or food processor.  Add chopped chocolate and coffee.   Blend until smooth.

 

Add blended bean mixture to soup pot.  Simmer 15 minutes to blend flavor. If soup is too thick for your taste, add a bit of water or stock.  Ladle into bowls and garnish.  To keep it vegan omit the sour cream garnish or use a vegan sour cream substitute.

 

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