Black Bean and Vegetable Soup

Winter has us in its icy grips and in order to please Mrs. Shopaholic and her ever cold feet I often make soup. This soup if full of vegetables and is both nutritious and delicious.  This soup is an excellent source of dietary fiber, vegetable protein, vitamins A, C, folate, calcium and other minerals.

Black Bean and Vegetable Soup

This recipe takes about 45 minutes to prepare and serves 6 adult portions.  You can garnish it up with a dollop of sour cream.

Black Bean and Vegetable Soup
Combine in a stock pot:
	1 TBSP of Vegetable Oil or Canola Oil
	2 Celery Stalks, diced
	2 Medium Carrots, diced
	1 Medium Onion, diced
	2 Cloves Garlic, minced
	1/2 TSP Ground, Cumin
	1 Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
	1/2 TSP Salt
	1/4 TSP Pepper
Ingredients for Step 2:
	2 Cans Black Beans (19oz/540ml), drained and rinsed
	2 Cups (500ml) Sodium Reduced Chicken Stock
	4 Cups (1 L) Water
Ingredients to Finish Soup:
	1 Green Onion, diced
	1/4 Cup Fresh Coriander (loosely packed), chopped
Steps:
	1) In a large stock pot, heat oil over medium high heat with celery, onions and seasonings.  Stirring often about 6 minutes or until vegetables are softened.
	2) Add Black beans, chicken stock and water and bring to a boil.
	3) Reduce heat to a simmer and cover with lid.  Cook vegetables until tender about 20 minutes.  Stirring occasionally.
	4) Using an immersion blender puree the soup until smooth or use a blender and perform in batches.  Simmer soup until needed.
	5) Prior to serving soup add green onion and coriander.  Stir soup to mix in.  Serve hot and with a dollup of sour cream (if desired).
Soup will last up to 3 days in the fridge.  When reheating consider adding more water to get to desired thickness.  Soup will thicken overtime.

Ingredients for Black Bean and Vegetable Soup

Step 1: Frying the Vegetables and Seasonings

Step 2: Add Beans, Stock and Water, and bringing the Soup to a boil

Step 4: After Blending the Soup

The Finished Soup

Additions and Substitutions:

• For spicier soup add 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper.  
• For those who don't like Coriander (aka Cilantro) omit it from the recipe. 

Fun Facts that I learned while 'wiki-ing' some of the ingredients for this recipe:

• Black Beans are also known as Black Turtle Beans and are commonly used in Latin American cooking.  Further there are 6 common sub-varieties: Black Magic, Blackhawk, Domino, Nighthank, Valentine and Zorro.
• Coriander is also known as Cilantro and Spanish Parsley. Approximately, 1 in 10 people have an allergic response to it.  For those who have the allergy the side effects could as limited as horrible taste in ones mouth, swelling tongue and gums, itching throat to abdominal cramping, bloating, vomiting or diarrhea. It is a genetic pre-disposition and if you are allergic to coriander you are also allergic to birch tree pollen.  I could not find an article that I would recommend on the subject from Google.  
• Onions need not be stored in a fridge.  Just a dark, dry and cool place.  However, onions stored in the fridge will release less sulfenic acids, which turn into a gas and irritates the eyes.  Also, cutting onions routinely will reduce the eye irritation.  Another alternative to reduce eye irritation and the smell is too light a candle near the cutting board.