Cuban Black Bean Soup Uncle Bills Version Food

CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Place bay leaves and beans in a Dutch oven.
• Add 12 cups water to pan; bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat, and simmer 2 1/2 hours or until tender, stirring occasionally.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Add bell pepper, chopped onion, and shallots to pan; cook 10 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring frequently.
• Stir in cumin, dried oregano, and fresh oregano; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes.
• Place vegetable mixture in a blender; add remaining 1/2 cup water; puree until smooth.
• Add vegetable mixture, sugar, and salt to beans; simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Discard bay leaves.
• Combine avocado and juice; toss gently.
• Ladle 3/4 cup bean mixture into each of 10 bowls; top each serving with about 3 tablespoons avocado mixture, about 3 tablespoons red onion, 2 tablespoons ham, about 1 1/2 tablespoons cilantro, about 1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream, 1 teaspoon pumpkinseed kernels, and about 1/2 teaspoon jalapeño pepper.
• Serve with lime wedges, if desired.

CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Place the beans in a large pan. Cover with 3 quarts cold water and add the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook the beans for 3 hours, stirring frequently and adding more water as necessary to keep the beans covered at all times.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and sauté over medium-high heat until translucent, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, and dried and fresh oregano and sauté for 2 more minutes. Remove from the heat and cool slightly. Transfer the onion mixture to a blender and puree until smooth. Set aside.
• When the beans are almost tender, add the onion puree, sugar, and salt, and continue cooking until just tender, 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.
• Ladle the hot soup into bowls and garnish with sour cream.

CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• In a large stockpot, cover the beans with water, covering them by 2 inches. Add bay leaf, cumin, oregano, and Italian pepper. Simmer until the beans are tender, about 45 minutes.
• After 45 minutes, remove the pepper.
• In a saute pan, saute onions, red, and green peppers until translucent. Puree in a blender, this is the sofrito.
• In the same pan, saute the garlic. Add to the beans, along with the sofrito, 1/4-cup olive oil, sugar, and vinegar. Season with salt and continue to cook until very thick, about 45 minutes. Garnish with finely chopped red onion.

CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Remove any debris from the beans, then rinse and soak them overnight in cold water, refrigerated. Drain any remaining water after the soaking, before adding the beans to the soup pot.
• In a large soup pot with a heavy bottom, heat the olive oil. Add the ham hock to the oil and begin to brown. Add the onions, peppers, celery, chili, and cumin, and cook over medium heat until the vegetables wilt. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook an additional 2 minutes, stirring to make sure you don't burn the tomato or garlic. Add the water and bring to a boil.
• Add the cleaned and soaked black beans, return to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until the beans are tender. Remove the ham hock from the pot, let cool enough to handle, then strip the meat from the bone. Chop the meat coarsely and add back to the soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the sherry and cook 2 minutes more. Ladle into bowls and garnish each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream and a sprinkling of scallions or chives.

CUBAN-STYLE BLACK BEANS

Steps:

• Soak the beans with the baking soda in 10 cups of water for about 3 hours. Rinse and drain.
• Add the beans to a Dutch oven and add 10 cups fresh water, along with the olive oil, cumin, oregano, sugar, vinegar, cilantro stems, bay leaves and onion. Simmer until the beans are soft, about 2 hours. Add 2 teaspoons of salt (or more to taste) and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

QUICK CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium high heat. Add ham and 2/3 cup onion. Cook, stirring, until onion is softened, about 3 minutes.
• Puree 2 cans of beans with their liquid. Add puree, remaining beans, vegetable broth, cumin, hot sauce and oregano to saucepan.
• Cook over medium heat, stirring, until heated through, 8-10 minutes.
• Add sherry and season with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with remaining onion and sour cream.

CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Blend 1 can of beans and half the broth in blender until smooth. Cook and stir onions, garlic and cumin in hot oil in large saucepan on medium heat 3 min. Add bean puree; mix well.
• Add second can of beans and broth to blender; blend until smooth. Add to bean mixture in saucepan with remaining can of beans and salsa; mix well. Bring to boil on medium-high heat; simmer on low heat 15 min., stirring occasionally.
• Serve topped with sour cream.

CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP - HEALTHIER VERSION

Steps:

• Combine beans and water and let soak overnight.
• Next day, add chile peppers (or 1/2 red pepper), 2 cloves of garlic to the beans. Cut an onion in half, "pin" the bay leaf to one half with the clove, add onion halves to beans.
• Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover loosely and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, until beans are tender.
• Chop remaining onion, mince remaining garlic.
• Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.
• Add onions, garlic, chopped peppers, celery and bacon to skillet. Cook for 4 minutes until soft, but not brown.
• Stir veggie/bacon mixture into beans. Add wine, vinegar, cumin and oregano.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Cover, reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes until beans are soft.
• Remove bay leaf, halved onions and whole garlic cloves.
• Blend 2 cups of soup in blender, return to soup.
• Season to taste with additional salt, pepper and vinegar, to taste.
• Serve topped with sour cream and scallion tops.
• (Preparation time does NOT include overnight soaking).

CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray, saute the celery, onion, garlic and jalapeno in oil until onion is tender. Stir in the beans, broth, water, seasonings and hot pepper sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Cool slightly., In a blender, process soup in batches until smooth. Return to the pan; heat through. Garnish each serving with tomatoes, sour cream and cilantro.

CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• In 4-quart Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Cook 1 cup chopped onion and the garlic in oil 4 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender.
• Stir in remaining ingredients except eggs and additional chopped onions; heat to boiling. Boil 2 minutes; reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 2 hours or until beans are tender.
• Serve soup topped with eggs and onions.

CUBAN BLACK BEAN SOUP

Steps:

• Over medium-low heat, add oil to stock pot.
• Add garlic, bell pepper and onion, and cook until onion is clear, not browned.
• Add chicken stock and dry seasonings, stirring well.
• Add black beans and cover. Reduce heat to low and cook 20-30 minutes.
• Add red wine vinegar during last 5 minutes of cooking.
• Remove bay leaves before serving.
• Serve over prepared brown rice or prepared Kasha and bulgur wheat to add additional fiber.