BLACK BEAN & BEEF SOUP

Whenever I visit a friend or family member’s house, I love to look at their books. It’s a bit of an obsession. Usually I know the person I am visiting quite well, but on occasion when I don’t I think they find it really strange. I was at my Aunt and Uncle’s new beautiful house in the Gurdies, very close to Philip Island in Victoria a few weekends ago and I found myself entranced by my Aunt’s very organized bookshelf. I like to look in cookbooks for ideas and inspiration; hence I pulled out a few of her huge cooking chronicles and absorbed myself in them until lunch was ready. I came across an interesting ‘Cuban black bean soup’ recipe, which gave me the notion of creating my own black bean soup when I got home. This soup has a bit of a kick to it, however the black beans and beef balance out the spiciness.  

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup black beans 
• 250g extra lean beef mince
• coconut oil
• 1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, peeled & finely chopped
• 4 cups gluten-free beef stock
• 810g tinned or fresh tomatoes, diced

COOKING 

1. Place black beans in a large bowl or saucepan and pour water over the top of the beans, making sure that the water level is a few inches higher than the beans. Leave to soak for a minimum of 4 hours, or overnight. 

2. Heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until garlic is fragrant. Add beef and spices, stirring often so that the spices do not stick to the pan and the beef browns. Use a large cooking spoon to break up any lumps in the mince. When mince is browned, add tomatoes, carrot, beef stock and 2 cups of water to the pan. Bring to the boil, then simmer, uncovered, for around 45 minutes or until the black beans are tender. (To check if the beans are tender, make sure that you taste 4-5 of the beans as some may cook faster than others). Remove from heat and serve topped with fresh parsley if you desire. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 10 minutes (plus a minimum of 4 hours for beans to soak)

Total Cooking time / 60 minutes / 1 hour 

x E