Recipe: Brazilian Black Bean Soup

I think this is the most delicious and exotic soup that I ever tasted! It reminds me of "feijoada", a typical brazilian dish of black beans with pork, served with rice and a side dish of orange cubes.

This is a vegetarian recipe, of Moosewood Cookbook, by Mollie Katzen.

Brazilian Black Bean Soup

Preliminary: soak 2 cups dry black beans in plenty of water for at last 4 hours (and preferably overnight)

2 cups dry black beans, soaked
6 cups water
1 tbs. olive oil
3 cups chopped onion
10 medium cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp. cumin
2 to 2 1/2 tsp. salt
1 medium carrot, diced
1 medium bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 cups orange juice
black pepper, to taste
cayenne, to taste
2 medium tomatoes, diced
parsley to serve.

1) Place the soaked beans in a kettle or Dutch oven with 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until tender (about 1 1/4 hours).

2) Heat olive oil in a medium-sized skillet. Add onion, half the garlic, cumin, salt, and carrot. Sauté over medium heat until the carrot is just tender. Add remaining garlic and the bell pepper. Sauté until everything is very tender (another 10 to 15 minutes). Add the sautéed mixture to the beans, scraping in every last morsel.

3) Stir in orange juice, black pepper, cayenne, and tomatoes. Purée some of the soup in a blender or food processor, and return to kettle. Simmer over very low heat 10 to 15 minutes more. Serve topped with parsley.