The other day I was reading another cooking blog, Je Mange la Ville and I came across a recipe for Black Bean soup. The moment I read the recipe I knew I wanted to make this. It was great to be inspired again to cook. (I’ve been a slacker – the Saturday morning healthy mac & cheese got me started again, thankfully.)

Here is the recipe (I have made a couple of changes):

Black Bean Soup with Cumin & Jalapeno (originally found on Je Mange la Ville ) adapted from a recipe in Bon Appetit!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped (I used a good sized sweet onion)

1 carrot, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp ground cumin (I added more because I love cumin!)

1 jalapeño chile with seeds, finely diced(although the recipe called for seeds, I did not add all of the seeds from my jalapeño. I added a very small amount)

2 15 to 16 ounce cans of black beans 1 can undrained and the other can drained and rinsed (I used reduced sodium black beans, they be hard to find – but keep looking!)

1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes in juice (look for a can that does not have a lot of sodium to help reduce the salt in the soup)

1 14 1/2  ounce can of low salt (or homemade) chicken stock (If you are a vegetarian or a vegan, you can totally use vegetable stock or just stick to water – there is plenty of flavor in the rest of the ingredients!)

1 cup of water

Garnishes:

Cheddar cheese

chopped green onions

chopped fresh cilantro

hot sauce (if desired)

(I also really enjoyed eating my soup with some lime tortilla chips… I think you could add a little bit of lime juice to this recipe and it might add some more really good flavor. Next time I might try this…)

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat.

Add onion, carrot and garlic. Sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about six minutes (make sure not to burn the garlic!). Mix in the cumin, about half the jalapeño and 1/2 a cup of water. Sauté for another two minutes.

Add beans, tomatoes with juice, broth and ½ cup of water. Bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium (or medium low), cover, and cook until carrots are tender, about 15 minutes.

Transfer 4 cups of soup into a food processor (or blender, or you can use a hand blender if you have one – and then you don’t have to transfer the soup) and puree until smooth. Return puree to pot.

Simmer soup until it slightly thickens, about 10 – 15 minutes. Season to taste, if needed, with salt, pepper and remaining jalapeño.

Serve soup hot, and garnish with any or all of the recommended above.

I had another bowl of soup tonight. I put a ton of cilantro (did you know Julia Child hated cilantro??? She apparently thought it tasted like dirt… I love it!) and green onions, along with some hot sauce, cheddar cheese and sour cream. Amazing.

I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do!