Week #15 of 52 recipes in 52 weeks

When I visited Puerto Rico a couple of years ago, I tasted their authentic Black Bean soup and the mofongos. Mofongos are made out of plaintain banana which is fried in oil and then mushed up with spices. I kinda liked it, but my favorite was the Black Bean soup. The texture was exteremely creamy and it was quite filling . The amazing thing is that they use ground cumin(jeera) which I never thought was used in Latin cooking.This was served with some white rice, but this could easily be eaten just as a soup or a meal without any accompaniments....

Black Bean Soup is a Cuban and Puerta Rican comfort food

Ingredients:

Black Beans- 2 cups- no need to soak them
Green pepper- 1 diced
Onions- diced 1 cup
Cumin powder- 2 tablespoons
Chilli powder- 1 tablespoon
Garlic- 3 cloves minced
Apple cider vinegar- 1 tablespoon.
Olive oil-2 tablespoons
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Wash black beans thoroughly. Pour oil in a pre heated saucepan. Add onions and garlic and saute for 3-4 minutes. Put one tablespoon of cumin and then add the black beans and salt and pepper. Pour 4-5 cups water and bring it to a boil. Then reduce heat to medium and let it cook for 1 -1.5 hrs untilt the beans are soft. You can also cook this in a pressure cooker, but make sure not to overcook it also. Take one laddle of the beans out and mush them up with the back of a laddle. Add it back to the soup and bring it to a boil. Add the chilli powder, apple cider vinegar and remaining cumin powder. The soup will now be creamy and delicous. Serve with a bowl of white rice or with spring onions on top!!