Basic Bean Soup

Healthy Bean Soups

Bean and lentil soups are protein heaven for vegetarians. They provide us with good amount of protein and other essential vitamins and minerals. I hear people complain about not getting enough time to cook after they come home from a very hectic day of work, so they are unable to eat healthy. But Guess what? Eating healthy is not difficult, it is just training your brain to understand that healthy vegetarian food can be scumptily upmptious. I hope my blog gives people some good recipes so that they can eat healthy and get in shape.

Beauty of bean soups is that they are highly filling and satisfying after a hard day. When you need all the energy and you have no mood to cook 10 different varieties to get the same nutrition. They are also good when someone is trying to recover from illness.. yummy tasty bean soups are a HUGE staple in our house hold. Men love it... i am still unable to understand the relationship between beans and mens' taste buds... neways, below is the recipe.

(This is a basic soup, i will post Photographs and variations shortly... please bear with me. Thank you)

Prep Time: 15 to 20 minutes approx (includes cleaning) 

Cook time: 1/2 hour to 2 hours

Servings: 6 approx 

Basic Bean soup...

Ingredients:

1. Beans of your choice - 1 16oz can
(pink, pinto, navy, black, red, great northern and many more) i buy the Goya cans. 1 can will make about 4 big bowls of soup.
2. Celery - 2 Stalks
3. Onion - 1 big or 2 medium sized
4. Garlic - 3 to 4 pods (can be reduced)
5. Tomatoes - 2 to 3 or 1/2 of 6 oz can of tomato paste
6. Cumin Powder - 1 to 1/2 tsp
7. Dry parsley - 2 tsp
8. Dry Oregano - 1 1/2 tsp
9. Black Pepper powder- to taste
10. chilli/cayenne/paprika powder - to taste
11. Salt - to taste
12. Oil - 2 tsp

13. Water enough to cook the beans, please eye ball it. It depends on how thick or watery you like the soup to be.

Method:

1. Take a big pot and heat oil in it. Turn the stove on medium heat.
2. Add the parsley and oregano and saute it for 15 seconds, this infuses the flavours of the dry herbs and promotes deeper flavour.
3. Add garlic and saute for about 15 seconds to infuse the flavour.
4. Add onions and half a tsp of slat saute and let it get transparent.
5. Add celery to it and saute for a few minutes.
6. Now add cumin powder, chilli powder, pepper powder and saute for a few minutes.
7. Add tomatoes and saute till it gets soft and leaves out moisture. If using paste, you may have to add a little water and let it cook for about 3 minutes.
8. Add your choice of beans from the can without draining it. Draining the beans will take away some essential nutrients. Drain the beans only if you are concerned of the gas it may form after you eat them.
9. Saute all the ingredients for 2 to 3 minutes add sufficient water and let it cook for about 1 hour atleast and the soup is ready to eat. If you want it more tangy, add some lime or lemon juice.

Tips:
1.You can prepare it ahead of time and leave it in a slow cooker. since you don't have to chop everything fine, you can actually finish the chopping and sauteing in 15 minutes when done simultaneously. so just do the sauteing and go to work, come back and cook it for an hour or put it in a slow cooker before you go to work and you have a meal ready to eat.
2. Cook it for more than an hour for additional taste, if u are in a hurry to eat, it can be ready in just 1/2 an hour (cooking).
3. Never pressure cook these soups, it will destroy all the wonderful flavors.
4. Canned beans contain salt in them, so be careful when you add salt to the soup.
5. It is always a good idea to cook in medium heat, if you are in a hurry, use high heat. Remember to stand near the stove if you cooking on high. for more flavour, simmer the stove for 5 minutes before you turn it off for soups.
6. Use a thick bottomed vessel for cooking all kinds of soup.
7. Anise root or fennel root can be used in any of the bean and lentil soups. They add a lot of aroma and unique flavour to the dish. Add about half a cup pf any of these roots.

Serving Suggetion:

You can serve almost all soups with some bread, like ciabatta, garlic bread etc. You may also garnish these soups with variety of (seasoned/plain)croutons available in the market. Just be careful when you add salt to your soup, as croutons are salty if you wish to use them in your soup as a garnish.