Black Bean Soup

Lunch is over and the bowls wiped clean. A new soup recipe this, gathered from an old book left on a travellers' shelf in Costa Rica. An American one, 'More Home Cooking' by Laurie Colwin, subtitled 'a writer returns to the kitchen'. It is a writer's book, a pleasure to read. And this simple recipe is a great success, easy, filling and satisfying, unusual and very good for you. 

Black Bean Soup

A packet of dried black beans - usually 500g, but this is a very flexible recipe

Soak them in cold water for an hour and then drain.

Put into a large pan with about 1 and 1/2 pints of water, a couple of beef stock cubes (or spoonfuls of veg stock if you wish) a large can of chopped tomatoes, 2 large cloves garlic fnely chopped or grated, a finely chopped onion and 2 or 3 small potaotes chopped.

Now bring to a simmer and then leave on a very low heat for a long time, she says 5 hours. I went for 3, checking to see there was enough liquid and that it wasn't boiling hard.

When you take it off the heat, add the juice of a lime - or 2 if yours is small.

Puree half the mixture in a blender or food processor. You can leave it as it is; you can add yoghurt to make it creamy.

This amount makes a minimum of 6 portions. I froze 2 lots, and to the pan for our lunch I added not only salt but also a teaspoon of hot sauce. So taste and do what suits you. A simple bread, a flat bread for instance, is all you need alongside.

We ate this with yoghurt swirled over the bowls and it was hard not to lick them at the end.