Costa Rican Black Bean Soup

• servings: 4 servings
• total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

2 red onions, cut in thin long pieces

2 cloves of garlic

2 sticks of celery

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

1 jalapeño (finely diced with seeds removed) leave seeds if you like heat

½ a bunch of fresh cilantro

olive oil

½ a bunch of fresh thyme

3 x 400 g tins of black beans

2 fresh bay leaves

4 large free-range eggs

To serve

Chips

Feta cheese

Directions

Peel and finely chop the onions and garlic, then trim and finely slice the celery. Deseed and finely chop the peppers and chillies. Pick the coriander leaves, then finely chop the stalks.

Drizzle a lug of olive oil in a large saucepan and place over a medium-low heat. Add the chopped onion and celery and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add in the garlic, jalapeño, coriander stalks and peppers to the pan, then pick in the thyme leaves. Gently sauté the veggies for 15 minutes, or until softened but not coloured.

Tip in all the black beans with their liquid, followed by the bay leaves and 500ml of water or chicken or vegetable stock. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil.

Season, reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until thickened and creamy. If it reduces too much, add a splash more water.

Next, crack the eggs directly into the soup and reduce the heat slightly. Leave the eggs to poach in the soup for 5 minutes, or until the whites are cooked but the yolk is still a bit runny.

While they’re poaching, finely chop the cilantro leaves.

When you’re ready to serve the soup, add in cilantro, feta cheese and serve with tortilla chips.

Notes

https://youtu.be/UrJOAURIM7w?si=SXWtA43nIh8-edEU

Nutrition

• Calories: 521
• Total Fat: 24.3 g
• Saturated Fat: 4.4 g
• Sodium: 1 g salt
• Total Carbohydrate: 49.7 g carbohydrate
• Dietary Fiber: 17 g fibre
• Total Sugars: 11.5 g
• Protein: 21.2 g