Recipe request: authentic Mexican black bean soup

Mongo

Mongo

Joined
Nov 5, 2001
Messages
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Howdy all, I have this great little mexican burrito place within walking distance of home. They make the greatest black bean soup I've ever tasted. I begged and pleaded with them for the recipe, even offered to trade them a few good ones of mine... to no avail.:(

So, I am hoping that my fellow BFC-er's can come up with a good recipe for me to try out this weekend.
Thank you (hopefully) for your help
Mongo
 
Soak a pound of black beans overnight and discard the water. Put the beans in a soup pot (or slow cooker) with a large smoked ham hock, an onion, three ribs of celery, and three carrots, all diced. Add a couple of bay leaves, a few smashed cloves of garlic, and eight cups of water. Cook several hours on low heat until the beans are tender and the meat is falling off the bone. Discard the bones and skin and stuff from the hock, chop up the meat and add it back to the soup, and then season with salt and pepper (and hot sauce, if you like).

You can also reduce the amount of water to make a thick stew and serve it over rice as a main dish.
 
That's a hard one, too many variants, typically you get some black beans and soak overnight as craigz mentions, then prepare the soup, common ingredients are olive oil, oregano, garlic, chile, bacon, etc...

Another common ingredient is a herb called epazote (sometimes called Mexican tea in USA) which adds taste and is supposed to help with "gas" problems, probably hard to find outside of Mexico though.

A Google search for: sopa de frijoles negros, should bring up lots of info (in Spanish).

Luis
 
Yeah, my recipe is certainly not authentic.

And despite its carminative value, I can't get past the burning tire smell of epazote. They don't call it pigweed for nothing.
 
Craigz, that's how I cook lentils , except that they don't have to be soaked at all. A peasant dish but one that makes me very willing to be a peasant once in a while !!!.....I should add that , though perhaps not PC, you can chop up the skin and add it too !When you buy the hocks make sure you pick the ones that have a good bit of meat , not just skin and bones.
 
Ok, this thread put me in the mood for beans, so we had the quickie version of black beans and rice for dinner, taught to my wife by her Cuban ex-boyfriend. Just put two cans of Goya black beans and two cans of water in a pot with a healthy glug of olive oil and warm it up. Season with Goya Adobo powder, Goya Sazon (MSG), garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. Simmer for 10 minutes. Cook some rice (I like sticky sushi rice, myself). Grill or pan-fry a couple of cube steaks and cut them up into chunks. Serve the beans (with plenty of juice) over the rice, spread some of the steak pieces around, and top with lots of fresh lemon juice. Cheap, quick, and really really good.
 
I do something similar to Craigz'(Craigz's?) what is the possessive of Craigz?
Sorry for the sidetrack. The difference would be that after removing the hock, I mash or puree the bean soup, then put the meat back in, and serve with a dollop of sour cream. Hmm, may have to make some this weekend.
 
Quickest version:
1 can black beans,
1 can condensed chicken broth,
1 can water.

Heat all together, add pepper flakes and a hit of hot sauce to taste........ that's it!!

Serve with sour cream and side dish of raw chopped onions or scallions. You can also add a poached egg to each bowl - I first had this served this way in Costa Rica - a very nice touch and one of the quickest meals.
 
This is the one you want:

3 cans of Goya black beans (or more if you want more soup)

12 oz of homemade chicken stock
OR
1 meaty ham bone

1 red pepper, grilled and minced

1 small sweet onion, grilled and minced

2 celery stalks, minced


2 bay leaves

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 teaspoon cumin (essential)

salt and pepper to taste (may not need salt because of ham bone)

Boil ham bone in several cups of water for about 1 hr (make sure it is not too salty) and add beans and cook down until reduced but still loose. Add other ingredients and simmer until thick. OR substitute the ham bone/water method for home made chicken stock.
 
Well, after seeing probably close to 30 different recipes after a little online searching, I decided to "wing it". The results turned out pretty good, but I made a few mistakes that I will correct next time. I started out with one of those Lysander packets, a half pound of bacon from my butcher (best I've EVER tasted), and a carton of chicken stock. Where I went wrong: I didn't soak the beans long enough, and I poured off most of the soaking liquid. I should have cooked the beans in that and used more water than chicken stock. It was too salty for me. Otherwise, it was pretty darn good for my first time and winging it. Of course, some fresh diced sweet onion and cilantro topped it off just right.
Wicked fart producer though!:eek: :thumbup: :D
 
You should not cook the beans in the soaking water; that makes them even more farty. Dump it out and use fresh. Also, if you can't soak the beans overnight, the quick method is to bring them up to a hard boil, then turn the heat off and let them soak in the hot water for an hour or two. Then drain and start the soup with fresh water.

There's also a longrunning argument about whether you should cook beans with salt. Some people swear that you must cook them in unsalted water or the skins get tough. You only salt them after they're cooked. I've never noticed a difference myself.

Another trick when you've oversalted the soup is to put in some big pieces of peeled potato and let them simmer until done, but not falling apart. Then take them out. The spuds absorb some of the salt from the broth.

Hey, I'm gettin' hungry!
 
Here is mine...not mexican but could be easily adapted.

1 or 2 boneless chicken breasts, diced
2 cans blackbeans, undrained
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 onions chopped
1 whole garlic
half a jar of salsa
1 bag of frozen okra (leave this out for a more mexican taste)
olive oil
chicken broth

Separate garlic into individual peeled cloves. Using a large pot, sautee garlic in a bit of olive oil until soft. (This gives the garlic a sweet taste.) Set garlic aside. In the same oil, sautee onions and chicken breasts until tender. Add sauteed garlic, beans, tomatoes, salsa, and enough chicken broth to preference. Simmer for half an hour. Add okra. Simmer for another half an hour to 45 minutes. Obviously better the next day.
 
All right, I normally do pastries but I look in one of my cookbooks and here's theirs it's a Black and White Bean Soup, presented with an almost marbled appearence.

16 oz of black beans, soaked
2 1/2 q. of water
6 cloves garlic
16 oz of white beans, soaked
6 T Balsamic
4 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
6 scallions
juice from fresh lime
2 oz olive oil
2 oz cilantro, plus some for garnish
salt and black pepper to taste

Boil black beans in 1 1/4 q. of water, boil. Lower heat and simmer until soft, about an hour. At the same time do the same to the white beans. Puree white beans, add balsamic, jalapenos and half scallions. Puree black beans, add lime juice, olive oil, cilantro and the remaining scallions. Reheat both mixtures slowly (and seperately).
 
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