Meet my new favourite black bean celery soup. This easy to make, hearty and colourful soup is packed with plenty of nutrients, flavour and great texture. It tastes remarkably delicious because of a mix of celery, green peas, sweet corn, paprika and spices.
This kind of soup is a perfect meal for the season of colder weather. In fact, make a large pot and have it for meals throughout your whole week. It makes such a wonderful weekday dinner or lunch. Definitely a comforting meal. And it tastes a million times better than any other store-bought soup.
Oh, I love beans. More often the canned beans you can find are baked beans and kidney beans. Since I wanted a different type of bean, I started using dried beans. Which need to be soaked before cooking. Yes, just like my mother and my grandmother always taught me. Besides black-eyed peas and borlotti beans, I found the black beans.
Black turtle beans
Black beans, also known as black turtle beans, are cute, shiny, black legumes. They are very popular in Latin American cuisine. I rarely see them in a supermarket, though. But, I know for sure, they have them in a shop with Spanish food. Yes.
More, these small beans are packed with nutrients. They are high in fiber, rich in protein and minerals, cholesterol-free and almost fat-free, too. A great way to introduce more fiber and more veggies to your diet. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying you shouldn’t eat meat. Not at all. I like meat as well. I absolutely love it! But sometimes it is good to make a swap and eat something new, too.
Sometimes, a meatless meal (or almost meatless), can make you more creative in the kitchen and open yourself to a large variety of healthy fulfilling and delicious meals. If you love the idea, check these other bean recipes: black-eyed peas soup with chicken or a beef variation beef black-eyed peas stew, a comforting borlotti bean stew or these beautiful quinoa-bean patties. Simply delicious.
When making a large batch of it, simply store it in the fridge for up to five days. And, just heat it up when fancy a bowl of it. Also, the next day it tastes even better when all the flavours come together. Lovely!
Ingredients for 5-6 portions of black bean celery soup:
- 400 g dried black beans (soaked overnight)
- 300 g celery root (diced)
- 60 g bacon (diced)
- 1 red bell pepper (diced)
- 100 ml red wine
- 2 Tbsp of soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp of dried coriander
- 2 tsp of cayenne pepper
- 5 Tbsp of sweet corn
- 150 g frozen green peas
- 5-6 cherry tomatoes (for garnish)
To begin, peel the celery and cut it into small dice (bean size). Wash and deseed the pepper and dice it. Dice the bacon into just small pieces, too.
Furthermore, drizzle some olive oil in a deep pot. Once hot, add the bacon and stir it for a couple of minutes. Then, add the coriander, cayenne pepper, celery and bell pepper. Continue to stir and saute them for a couple of minutes.
Rinse the soaked black beans under cold running water. Add the wine to the pot and after it evaporates, stir in the soaked beans. Cover with water, season with salt and pepper and bring to a light boil.
At this point, reduce the heat, cover and let it simmer for 1h 30 minutes or until the beans are tender. Give it an occasional stir. Last but not least, stir in the sweet corn and frozen peas. Let it sit for a couple of minutes.
Finally, divide the black bean celery soup between the plates. Garnish with fresh cherry tomato, fresh coriander or parsley.
Enjoy.
