Black Bean Soup with Orange-Jalepeño Salsa Recipe
Ingredients
FOR THE SOUP:
- 6 cups cooked black beans cooking liquid reserved OR 4 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 bay leaves
- Vegetable broth powder gluten-free if you need it; optional
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 white onion diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper seeded and diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- Kosher salt or celtic salt
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon or more smoked paprika (optional - see recipe tester notes)
FOR THE SALSA*:
- 6 fresh mandarin oranges or 3 large oranges
- 1 ⁄4 cup red onion finely diced
- 1 jalapeño pepper or more to taste, thinly sliced
- 1 ⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt or celtic salt
- 1 handful fresh cilantro leaves chopped
TO SERVE:
- Mexican creme sour cream, or vegan sour cream or avocado*
Instructions
FOR THE SOUP:
- Place the cooked beans and bay leaves in a 6-quart pot. Add enough reserved cooking liquid or water (with a little vegetable broth powder, if you wish) to barely cover the beans. Bring to a simmer.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, and a big pinch of salt, and sauté until the vegetables are starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the oregano, cumin, and smoked paprika and cook for 1 minute more. Remove from the heat.
- Pluck the bay leaves out of the beans. Stir the onion mixture into the simmering beans.
- For Blendtec: Using Fourside/Wildside Jar - Remove up to 2/3 of the soup from the heat and transfer into blender and secure lid and hold down. Use Manual Speed 7 or Med/High for about 30 seconds.
- For Vitamix: Using a 64oz Jar - Remove up to 2/3 of the soup from the heat and transfer into blender and secure lid. Start on Variable Speed 1 and slowly bring up to Speed 10/High for about 30 seconds.
- Return the soup to the heat. Add more water or broth as needed to produce a soup that’s moderately thick, but thinner than a stew. Taste and adjust the seasoning. It will almost certainly need salt unless you used pre-salted canned beans. You may also find you want more cumin or smoked paprika. Simmer for at least 10 to 15 minutes to allow the flavors to develop.
FOR THE SALSA:
By hand (and recommended if using Blendtec):
- Peel oranges and remove the membrane. Cut the oranges into supremes and then cut those into cubes. Mix with the red onion, jalapeño pepper, and 1⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Immediately before serving, stir in the cilantro.
For Vitamix: You can chop in the blender for a textured salsa*.
- Place the red onion, jalapeno pepper, and kosher salt into a clean wet 3-inch base Vitamix container and secure lid. Pulse four or five times on Variable 3 to chop. Add the orange supremes and the cilantro to the container, and pulse three more times to combine.**
TO SERVE:
- Ladle the soup into bowls and either top with approximately 3 tablespoons of the salsa and some creme or regular sour cream. For a vegan version, use vegan sour cream or avocado.
- All done! Enjoy!! Now take a photo, rate it, and share your accomplishments to enter our weekly photo contest! :) Tag @BlenderBabes & #BlenderBabes
Notes
* The salsa is the more time consuming part of this recipe. You must hand chop/dice/mince ingredients beforehand for a textured/chunky salsa. You can save a little bit of time by chopping in the Vitamix (not recommended for Blendtec). You can also blend this salsa to save even more time but will lose the texture contrast.
**8 To make this dish vegan, use vegan sour cream or avocado slices
**8 To make this dish vegan, use vegan sour cream or avocado slices
Nutrition
Serving: 1gCalories: 417.6kcalCarbohydrates: 60.9gProtein: 19.9gFat: 11.9gSaturated Fat: 3.6gCholesterol: 7.9mgSodium: 884.1mgFiber: 18.4gSugar: 10.2g
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