Black Bean Pumpkin Soup
3 cans black beans, rinsed (4.5 cups)
1 can diced tomotoes
1 can pumpkin puree (16 ounce, 1.5 cups)
1-2 white onions chopped
1/2 cup chopped shallot or green onion
1/2 cup dry sherry
approx 4 garlic cloves minced (2-3 tbsp)
1/2 stick soy margarine
4 cups veggie broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3-4 tablespoon balsalmic vinegar
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoon ground cumin
Place soy margerine, onions, shallot, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper into a large pot. Cook until onions are beginning to brown. Add black beans (hold one can back if you want a chunkier soup) tomatoes, pumpkin and half veggie broth. At this point, I use a handheld tool to puree all ingredients in pot. (You can use a food processor on the beans and tomatoes before you add them to the pot if you prefer.) Add remaining broth, and the sherry. Simmer uncovered until thick enough to coat a spoon, about 40-45 minutes. Before serving, stir in the balsalmic vinegar. Garnish with toasted punpkin seeds if you like. The soup should be smooth and hearty, with a rich flavor.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This is so good...I've made it several times and love it. This last time I made it, I was out of onions and garlic (I know, time to go shopping) and used garlic powder and dried onion flakes (blasphemy, I know). Also used a couple tablespoons of olive oil in place of the margarine. I put everything but the balsamic vinegar in the pot and let it simmer for about an hour and then pureed it and added the vinegar. Excellent, despite the "cheat" ingredients.
I've switched it up a bit here by using fresh black beans that I cooked and soaked earlier. At first I was not really feelin' the final product so I decided to add about two teaspoons of paprika and almost all of a fresh jalapeno. Maybe it's the Mexican in me, but I had to bring up the heat in this soup. Guess I like my black bean soup with a kick. Ended up being an interesting and tasty experiment, but I think I'll keep it old school and leave the pumpkin out next time!
Soo. This may sound crazy but I made a few changes to the soup. It was very yummy already but I really wanted to give it a really distinct taste. I added molasses, a little bit more cumin, and five spice powder.. The clove in it.. the heat... and the tad of sweetness from the molasses really made it spectacular! :)>>> I made it as a pre-full moon snoe shoe hike meal for a group of my friends.. Needless to say... no leftovers.. And it fed a lot!
Delicious ;) , I did'nt have any Sherry so I just didn't put any.. It came out wonderfully, definately a favorite. Thanks!
I made this for dinner tonight alongside some pumpkin muffins (as suggested). It was good, but not so good that I'd make it again. I found it to be rather bland. Now, in all fairness, I did change it up a bit: I was out of shallots/green onions, so I added an extra onion and extra garlic (I used about 8 cloves of garlic), subbed 1/4 cup of spiced rum for the 1/2 cup of sherry, only used half the veggie broth, and added cinnamon, allspice, garam masala, and about 1/2 Tbsp of brown sugar. I wasn't sure if the tomatoes should be drained or not, so I left them undrained. I only blended 2 cans of the black beans and left the 3rd whole. Despite all of the additions and substitutions, I found it to be lacking something. I'm sorry! :-)
delicious! I used chunks of fresh pumpkin and only blended half the soup, making it more stew-like. left out the margarine and green onions, subbed pineapple juice for sherry, and reduced the vinegar to about 1 T. I ruined the pretty color by putting in a bunch of kale, so now it's kind of greeny-brown, but the flavor combos are unexpectedly great and kale is good for you. very flexible, will be making again (but probably with canned pumpkin to save time).
We used steamed hokkaido squash in place of the pumpkin and added a dash of chipotle powder and it turned out great. Thanks for this!