Savory Black Bean Soup

Savory Black Bean Soup
From Clean Food

Printable Recipe

Hands on time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes or so
Serves 8

Ingredients::
1 thumb size piece of kombu (I couldn’t find any and made the soup without it…tasted just fine to us)
2 tbsp good olive oil
4 large cloves garlic, minced (or finely chopped)
1 onion, chopped
½ fennel bulb, chopped (recipe called for 1 celery stalk, but I prefer fennel)
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp cayenne pepper ( perhaps a touch more if you like it really spicy)
¼ tsp sea salt
6 cups cooked black beans
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup tomatoes, peeled and diced (or, canned fire roasted worked great for me)
2 tbsp mirin (I ran out so I used Chinese cooking wine)
1 tbsp tamari
Chopped fresh cilantro or parsley for garnish

Directions:
1. If you are using kombu: place in a bowl with enough warm water to cover. Soak for 10 minutes or until soft Drain, mince kombu and set aside.

2. Heat the olive oil over medium low heat in a large heavy bottomed Dutch oven (or really large pot). Sauté garlic and onion for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the carrots, fennel/celery, cumin, cayenne & salt and sauté for 8-10 minutes or until carrots are tender.

3. Add the beans, broth, tomatoes, mirin and tamari (plus kombu if using). Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes to combine the flavors.

4. For a creamier texture (knowing my family is partial to thick soups) I followed their advice and pureed some of the soup with an immersion blender – much easier for cleanups.
Garnish with cilantro and serve.