Spicy Black Bean & Sweet Potato Soup

It's a warm sunny day here on Costa del Sol after days and days of wet, dark, stormy days and floods. In fact, it's like Swedish summer. It's one of those breezy days filled with sunlight. There are yellow flowers blooming in the verdant fields and the sky above you is a perfect shade of blue. It's one of those nearly perfect days when you can simply enjoy the weather and be happy that you are in this place and have the time to take a walk.

It's perhaps not the ideal weather for a piping hot bowl of spicy soup, but since I already had some black beans soaking in some water in a bowl, I thought I'd go ahead and make soup anyway.

Some people like their soups devoid of texture or fiber and always use a blender and sieve, and although I do use the blender from time to time (depending on the soup), I prefer a chunky wholesome soup where the ingredients have managed to retain some semblance of their former glory.

If you're vegetarian or freaked out by bouillon cubes, just omit the beef bouillon and I'm sure it will still be fine. If you or someone in your family is freaked out by texture, you can also put the soup through the blender before serving it. Remember to remove the bay leaves and dried chilies if you're blending it, and if you are afraid that 2 chilies might be too much, use 1 chili. Well, you know the drill?

Spicy Black Bean & Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients

2 Cups Black Beans (soaked overnight and cooked for 1 hour or until soft)

1 Large Sweet Potato (peeled and diced)

1 Medium Potato (peeled and diced)

4 Medium Tomatoes (diced)

1/4 Onion (chopped finely)

2 Cloves Garlic (chopped finely)

2 Bay Leaves

1 Tsp Cumin Seeds

1 Tsp Coriander Powder

Pinch Nutmeg

2 Whole Red Chilies (Dried or Fresh - Seeded)

1 Tsp Smoked Paprika Powder

2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Whipped Cream (1 spoonful on top of each serving)

Fresh Cilantro (chopped and sprinkled on top, a sprig for garnishing or none if you hate it!)

1 Beef Bouillon Cube*

Salt & Black Pepper (to taste)

Whipped Cream (unsweetened)

*Optional. I used half a cube.

Step 1: Heat up the oil in your soup pot and when the oil is hot enough throw in the cumin seeds and let them pop a bit before putting in the garlic and onion. Sautee a bit and then add the rest of the spices to help them release their aroma.

Step 2: Put in the rest of the ingredients and blend them with the oil and spice mixture well first, and then add the tomatoes.

Step 3: Add enough water to cover the ingredients and lower the heat to simmer it for 1 hour. Add the bay leaves and beef bouillon if you wish.

Step 4: After around 60 minutes taste the soup and add salt & black pepper to taste.

Step 5: Serve with a dollop of whipped unsweetened cream on top and enjoy!

Spicy New Potato & Green Bean Salad (Warm)

I guess this is a standard, but I've revised the basic recipe to suit my own taste buds. I wanted something with a crispy, crunchy texture and bursting with flavor....so here it is:

Ingredients

20 Unpeeled New Red Potatoes (halve the bigger ones)

20 Green Beans (cut into bite size lengths)

Onion (a few very thin slices will do for flavoring)

1 - 2 Big Garlic Cloves (crushed)

2 Tsp Coarse Sweet Paprika Powder

1/2 Lemon (the juice of)

2 Tsp Parsley (chopped)

Rosemary

Parmesan Cheese

3 Tbsps Extra Virgin Olive Oil (you don't have to measure this, but you get the idea)

Chili Powder

Black Pepper

Coarse Sea Salt

Step 1: Preheat oven to 250C.

Step 2: While the oven is heating-up slice the bigger new potatoes into two. The smaller ones can be whole. The whole point of this is to make all your cute little potatoes uniform in size.

Step 3: Coat the potatoes in salt, pepper, rosemary, olive oil, chili powder and coarse sweet paprika. Put the crushed garlic into the casserole dish with the potatoes, and roast them in the oven for 60 minutes or until nice and crisp on the outside.

Step 4: Chop a handful of parsley and slice your onion. Use very little onion as you just want a touch of onion flavor and you don't want it to dominate.

Step 5: When you think your potatoes are almost ready, bring some salted water to boil and parboil your green beans. I put the beans into the water and when the water comes to a boil again, they're ready.

Step 5: Toss the roasted potatoes and green beans together with the rest of the ingredients. Grate some Parmesan cheese into the salad and squeeze some lemon juice.

You'll find that the tang of the lemon juice along with the flavor of roasted garlic, chili, sweet paprika, black pepper, extra virgin olive oil and salt will deliver that nice feeling of 'bursting with flavor' and be a perfect compliment to the crispy skin of the roasted potatoes and the crunchiness of the green beans!

If you have some fresh rucola, you might try garnishing the salad with them.