Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers (36 page)

Read Viva Vegan!: 200 Authentic and Fabulous Recipes for Latin Food Lovers Online

Authors: Terry Hope Romero

 
This delicious, classic Cuban soup features antioxidant-loaded black beans. This soup is practically a meal—serve on a mound of hot white rice in the center each serving, for just that.
 
Most preparations of this soup are robust but not exactly spicy. Knowing that many folks crave the spice, I’ve included a Caribbean-style variation with habanero pepper, to suit anyone looking for flavorful additional heat.
 
 
Tip:
Shortcut this recipe by substituting ½ recipe of Basic Onion-Pepper Sofrito for the onion and green pepper. Or use the Sofrito con Tomate variation. Heat the
sofrito
in the pot over medium heat, add the garlic and tomatoes, and proceed as directed. If the
sofrito
looks a little dry, add 1 extra tablespoon of olive oil.
 
1 pound dried black beans
6 cups cold water
1 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
½ pound white onion, chopped finely
½ pound green bell pepper, seeded and
diced finely
½ pound ripe tomatoes, seeded and
diced finely, or 1 cup diced canned
tomatoes with juice
½ cup red wine or vegetable broth
1½ teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional but
yummy)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or
lime juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
 
 
Garnishes
 
A generous dollop of Cashew Crema
(page 51)
1 tablespoon finely minced sweet white
onion
1 tablespoon finely minced cilantro
1 cup hot long-grain white rice per serving
 
 
1. Sort through the beans and remove any random particles or broken beans and place in a large bowl. Add cold, fresh water to cover by 4 inches and soak for 8 hours or overnight. After the beans have doubled in size, drain, rinse briefly, and place in a 3-quart soup pot. Add the 6 cups of fresh, cold water, bay leaves, and kosher salt. Partially cover and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Skim off and discard any foam. Lower the heat to low, stir, and cover. Stirring occasionally, cook for 2 to 2½ hours, or until the beans are very tender. A perfectly cooked bean should mash easily when pressed with your tongue toward the roof of your mouth. You should have about 5 cups of liquid when all is said and done, but feel free to add a little more water or even vegetable broth if necessary (or if you like a thinner soup).
2. While beans are cooking, prepare the
sofrito
. In a large skillet, combine the olive oil and garlic and bring to a sizzle over medium heat, cooking the garlic for 30 seconds. Add the chopped onion, green bell pepper, and tomato. Stirring frequently, cook until the mixture is very soft and liquid has mostly evaporated, about 15 minutes. Add the red wine vinegar, oregano, and cumin, and simmer for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and set aside.
3. When the beans are completely tender, stir in the cooked
sofrito
, making sure to scrape every bit into the pot. Add the liquid smoke, stir, and partially cover. Bring to a boil over medium heat, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook for 30 to 35 minutes, until the soup has slightly reduced, then remove the bay leaves and discard. If desired, ladle 2 cups of soup into a blender jar, puree until smooth, and stir back into the soup to create a thicker, smoother consistency. Likewise, you can use your immersion blender directly in the soup and puree as desired. Season the soup with more red wine vinegar if desired and salt and pepper to taste. To serve: Ladle the soup into individual bowls, swirl with a dollop of Cashew Crema, and sprinkle with minced onion and cilantro. Serve with the hot rice.
Variations
 
As with many Latin bean dishes, you can also reduce the total amount of liquid used, so it’s less soupy and more suitable as an entrée. Skip pureeing the beans and keep cooking them until they’ve reached your desired consistency. Serve the beans alongside the hot rice. This soup will continue to thicken as it sits overnight and will also be more flavorful the next day.
 
 
Black Bean Soup Habanero:
This is a typical technique of using habanero pepper in soup. You’ll likely only need one pepper per soup; because habanero pepper can very in size, experiment with smaller peppers for less of a punch. Take a whole unsliced habanero pepper and gently poke a few tiny holes along its sides with the tip of a very sharp knife. The larger the holes, the hotter your soup will become, so poke lightly! Add the pepper to the soup after it’s reached a boil (after the
sofrito
has been added), and simmer as directed. Remove the pepper prior to seasoning with the vinegar and salt and pepper. The longer you leave the pepper in, the hotter the soup will become. Discard the pepper when you’re done.
 
HEARTY PUMPKIN AND CRANBERRY BEAN STEW (POROTOS GRANADOS)
 
 
•
Serves 6 or more generously
•
Time: 2½ to 3 hours, most of that being inactive while the soup simmers. Does not include bean overnight soak time.
•
Gluten Free, Soy Free
 
 
An earthy Chilean soup that often is accidentally vegan! Smooth, chestnut-flavored cranberry beans (called
porotos
in Chile) make sweet soupy music simmered with pumpkin and corn. The result is a soup that maybe won’t win beauty contests but it’s another hardworking, belly-filling Latin soup that soothes whether eaten out of a thermos at your office desk or on an Andean mountainside. There seems to be some dispute as to whether tomatoes belong, but they’re included here because tomatoes make everything better.
 
Tip:
I use an old trick to help break down the beans faster. A tiny pinch of baking soda added to the cooking beans hastens the breakdown of the beans’ cell walls, resulting in a softer, creamier texture that mimics long hours over the fire. My mom usually adds this to her beans but I do this only occasionally, as apparently baking soda may destroy some of the B vitamins present in the beans. If you’re eating plenty of veggies and whole grains daily then you can flirt with the occasional baking soda bean.
 
1 pound dried cranberry beans,
Roman beans, navy beans, or any small
white bean
6 cups cold water, plus 2 cups water or
vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
A pinch of baking soda (less than
⅛ teaspoon)
2 tablespoons peanut, olive, or
vegetable oil
1 large (½ pound) yellow onion,
chopped finely
1 hot green chile, seeded and minced
(optional)
3 teaspoons sweet ground paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried basil
3 plum tomatoes (about ½ pound),
seeded and diced
1 pound calabaza pumpkin, peeled,
seeded, and diced into ½-inch cubes
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
(thawed and drained, if frozen)
1½ teaspoons salt, or to taste
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, rinsed and
lightly packed
 
 
1. Sort through the beans and remove any random particles or broken beans and place in a large bowl. Add cold, fresh water to cover by 4 inches and soak for 8 hours or overnight. Drain, rinse, and place in a 3-quart soup pot. Add the 6 cups of fresh, cold water, bay leaves, and the pinch of baking soda. Partially cover the pot and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Skim and discard any foam. Reduce the heat to low, stir, and cover the pot. Stirring occasionally, cook for 1½ to 2 hours, or until the beans are very tender. A perfectly cooked bean should mash easily when pressed with your tongue toward the roof of your mouth. You should have about 5 cups of liquid when all is said and done, but feel free to add a little more water or even vegetable broth if necessary (or if you like a thinner soup).
2. While the beans are cooking, in a nonstick large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat, add the minced onions and chile pepper, and stir. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the onions are soft and transparent. Sprinkle in the paprika, oregano, cumin, and dried basil, stir, cook for 30 seconds, and turn off heat. When beans are completely tender, add the onion mixture, making sure to scrape every bit into the pot. Then stir in the additional 2 cups of water, diced tomatoes, and diced pumpkin.
3. Puree the corn kernels to a chunky consistency with a blender or immersion blender and stir into the stew. Bring the stew to a boil again over high heat, stir, and lower heat to a low simmer. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until the pumpkin is very soft and easily mashes if pressed against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. If desired, create a creamier consistency by mashing more beans and pumpkin this way, or scoop out a few cups of soup, puree until smooth, and stir into soup.
4. Allow the soup to cool for 15 minutes before ladling into individual serving bowls. To use fresh basil for garnish, layer a few leaves on top of one another, roll into a tight cylinder, and slice thinly to create thin shreds. Sprinkle a few on top of the soup or even stir directly into the soup. Like all bean soups, this soup becomes more thickened and flavorful the next day.
SANCOCHO (VEGETABLE, ROOTS, AND PLANTAIN SOUP)
 
 
•
Serves at least 6
•
Time: About 1 hour, most of that being inactive while the soup simmers
 
 
Sancocho
is a big, comforting soup that features delectable chunks of vegetables, root vegetables, and yuca—long simmered until the broth is gently thickened and rendered sweet and mild. Whole pieces of corn on the cob make this soup visually interesting and fun to eat. A little hot white rice on the side is just the thing, if you’re in need of something extra.
 
There’s room for variation when using potatoes, green plantains, or other Latin root vegetables such as
ñame
(pronounced nyah-meh) or anything that falls under the huge category of “yam” (
yautia
in Spanish). In New York City, these tropical root vegetables can often be found in even the most humble supermarket for prices that rival that of potatoes, making it easy to experiment and try something new.
 
 
Tip:
For a boost of protein, I like to toss in 1 to 2 cups of reconstituted TVP or sautéed seitan. Or frozen green fava beans (not traditional, but this large, meaty bean goes great with the hearty veggies) or even chickpeas.
 
2 tablespoons olive oil or peanut oil
2 tablespoons Annatto-Infused Oil (page 31)
1 hot chile or habanero pepper (optional)
1 large leek, well washed, trimmed, and
sliced into thin rings
4 shallots, sliced into thin rings
1 large red onion, sliced in half and cut into
¼-inch semicircles
6 green onions, white part separated
from green, both parts chopped into
¼-inch slices
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ pound yuca, peeled and sliced into
1-inch rounds, then into quarters
1 large carrot, sliced into very thin rounds,
about ⅛ inch
1 pound calabaza pumpkin, peeled,
seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes
½ pound tropical tuber, such as
ñame
or waxy or green plantains,
peeled and sliced into
½-inch rounds
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced, or
½
cup
crushed tomatoes
2 ears of corn on the cob, cut into
2-inch pieces (a total of 8 to
10 pieces)
6 cups well-seasoned vegetable broth or
bouillon
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 to 2 cups reconstituted TVP, sautéed
seitan, or frozen fava beans, lima beans,
or chickpeas (optional)
3 tablespoons lime juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
 

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