Black Bean Soup

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a Black Bean & Tomato soup on one of the food blogs, but forgot to bookmark it: sad.

Tonight I decided to make my own version of Black Bean & Tomato Soup using canned black beans, tomatoes, and spicing it up with adobo sauce. Add fresh avocado, sour cream, cheese and fried tortillas, and you are ready for a comforting meal that takes less than 30 minutes to make.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tablespoon cumin powder
3.5 ounces adobo sauce
2 15 ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
28 ounce can cubed tomatoes, with juices
1 cup water
Garnish: avocado, cilantro, cheese, sour cream, fried tortilla chips (take a regular tortilla, cut it into strips, and quickly fry in some canola oil)

Directions
1. Heat oil, add onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add cumin powder and cook for a few more minutes. Do the same with adobo sauce.
2. Add black beans, canned tomatoes, water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
3. Using an immersion blender, puree about 1/2 of the soup. (Feel free to puree the entire soup if you want, or not at all...it's all up to you.)
4. Serve the soup in a bowl garnished with avocado, sour cream, cheese, cilantro and fried tortilla chips.



Notes: am I happy with this meal? I'm thrilled! The adobo sauce added great smokiness and spice to the black beans, while avocado and sour cream cooled things down. This is a very versatile meal: have it as a soup, or as chili, on top of rice or baked potato. I bet the soup thickens up over night, which you can solve by adding some chicken stock, water, or vegetable broth when you reheat it.

For similar ideas, check out Chili Topped with Cornbread.