Brazilian Orange & Black Bean Soup

"I have served this recipe as soon as its cooked, as leftovers the next day, and even out of the freezer. It is extremely versatile - for brunch with tortillas, dinner with cornbread, or a soup and salad lunch. I always get tons of compliments. When I reheat, I re-season a bit and it also tends to thicken up over time. From one of the Moosewood cookbooks."
 
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Ready In:
2hrs 30mins
Ingredients:
15
Serves:
6-8
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ingredients

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directions

  • Soak beans in plent of water for at least 4 hours (preferably overnight).
  • Place the soaked beans in a kettle or dutch oven with 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until tender (about 1.25 hours).
  • Heat olive oil in a medium sized skillet. Add chopped onion, 5 crushed cloves garlic, cumin, salt, and carrot.
  • Saute over medium heat until the carrot is just tender. Add the rest of the crushed garlic and diced bell pepper. Saute until everything is very tender (10-15 mins). Add the sauteed mixture to the beans, scraping out every last morsel.
  • Stir in orange juice, black pepper and cayenne to taste, and diced tomatoes (optional).
  • Puree all or some of the soup in a blender and return to kettle. Simmer over very low heat 10-15 mins more. Serve topped with an artful arrangement of sour cream, cilantro and salsa.

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Reviews

  1. I soak the beans over night & then add low fat/sodium chicken broth to the beans in a crock pot & cook on low. I saute the vegs as directed & add to the crock pot about 2 hrs before serving.<br/>I do not add the orange juice until abhout 15 min before serving....also add a little grated orange zest & a tablespoon of brandy at that time. Gives it a kick.....have the condiments on the side for everyone to garnish themselves. Love this soup!
     
  2. I used canned beans, a can of diced tomatos, skipped the cayenne, and didn't blend it. I thought it was very good, but quite spicey!! So, if you like spicey you'll like it. I think maybe it was too much cumin? I'd make it less time with less cumin to bring the spice down a notch for me. Otherwise, very tasty and good even if not blended.
     
  3. I made this for my 6 roommates, all HUGE fans of the Moosewood cookbooks. I love it (5 stars) but they thought it was really heavy on the cumin. If I made it again, I would mix up the spices a bit and add sweet potatoes (which would go well with the existing spices). Thanks for sharing your recipes!
     
  4. I followed your recipe, except that I did not add any carrots or any of the optional ingredients. If you want it to be thicker, make sure you strain out some of the beans from the water they are cooking in. Also, I serve mine with a scoup of white rice, just like they do at Bossa Nova restaurants in Los Angeles. Thank you!!!
     
  5. Very tasty soup. I bought canned black beans and used the canned beans as well as the juice from the can in lieu of the soaked ones. I was very skeptical about the 10 cloves of garlic - but it was fine. Mine was a bit too "orangey" so I added extra hot chile pepper as well as a vegetable stock cube. Obrigado!
     
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Tweaks

  1. This was great - a wonderful blend of sweet and savory, which is something that black beans lend themselves to so well. Using canned beans made the recipe quick and easy to put together. I substituted green onions and jarred roasted red bell peppers for their recipe counterparts, and put in a pinch of crushed red pepper for a little spice. I didn't do much measuring, and used a potato masher instead of a blender just enough to mush up some of the beans, so mine came out a little chunkier. I wanted the kids to be able to use it as a dip with chips, but they didn't like it. More for me!!
     

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