It’s recipes and research when characters in a story create a dish that has your tastebuds doing the tango. And this soup is no exception…
The soup that’s so good it was featured on ABC RADIO.
As part of my research for my novels, when my characters have a meal I’m known to trial those recipes to articulate the flavour sensations to see if it suits the story and those characters.
Those food adventures are known to be a case of hit and miss in our household, where some recipes make you gag. But then there are those recipes that make the tastebuds tango, like this one, that’s pretty much become a family favourite.
As for the story this recipe came from, picture this…
As the orange sunset stretches across the never-ending Territory horizon, the hazy curtain of dust settles across the land. It’s been a long day mustering, where a mob of dust-covered stockmen adjust their sweat-stained Akubras to gather around for some well-deserved tucker.
This is their soup…
The Elsie Creek Spicy Black Bean Soup.
(Or as the kids call it- the NT Nacho Veggie Soup)
Life is busy, so with this dish, I use the slow cooker. All I do is add the bulk of the ingredients in the morning and flick the switch. Easy as.
The recipe below has been adapted for making it on the stovetop cooking, but I’ve added instructions for slow-cooking and meat options as we cook-up-a-storm!
Cooking time:
45 minutes
Servings:
4 servings…
Um, well that depends on what you call a serving? A man-sized or child-sized serving, or a late-night post-beer-binge kind of serving!
Equipment:
Soup pot / or slow cooker
Chopping board and knife.
For those new to the page (Welcome!! I’m so glad you found me), the slow cooker is also known as crockpot, stockpot, or Betty! Yes, Betty is what someone nicknamed the old cooker.
Yes, Betty is what someone nicknamed the old cooker.
Ingredients:
Splash of cooking oil, or butter — for those who keep it real.
1 onion peeled and diced
Capsicum, (bell pepper) red or green trimmed, seeded, and diced
Garlic minced
Fresh jalapeno — purely optional as we use our own bird’s eye chilli from the home garden.
4 cups vegetable or beef/ chicken stock (whatever you have in the cupboard or a dollop of Vegemite and hot water if you don’t)
1 big can of black beans drained and rinsed (you can also use kidney beans or both)
1 can of chopped tomatoes
Chilli powder your choice of measurement. Or as Clint Eastwood would say, if he were an Aussie, “Man up mate, it is Mexican! Go for more.”
Or as Clint Eastwood would say, if he were an Aussie, “Man up mate, it is Mexican! Go for more.”
1 tablespoon/ 4 teaspoons of cumin powder
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Salt and Pepper
Meat options for this vegetarian dish:
Shredded leftover roast chicken can be added
Bacon! Heck yes! It is amazing with the bacon! So, um yeah, go with the bacon! 2-3 streaky rashers of bacon.
Smoked Pork hock is awesome flavouring if you are going to use the slow cooker. It’s not recommended for the stovetop.
Vegetables:
Root vegetables like pumpkin and sweet potato for added thickness.
Then your greens of choice such as spinach, kale, etc.
Basically, clean out the fridge! Everything works here.
Salt and pepper to taste
⅓ cup coconut milk
Lime (even though it’s a fruit) we add it for oomph from what we don’t use below
For Serving:
1 avocado and lime (from above) to make our easy avo-smash guacamole.
Fresh coriander (cilantro)
Tortilla chips. (Nacho chips or Doritos will do.)
Instructions
Start with
Heat the oil/ butter in a soup pot over medium heat.
Onion and garlic are fried until the onion sweats (goes translucent)
Bacon is added until cooked – if you’re doing the meat version.
followed by the capsicum and sauté until soft
Add your seasonings (with the window open or ceiling fan on)
chilli powder, cumin, smoked paprika, salt
Skip the salt – if you’ve added bacon or hock bones or Vegemite. Trust me on this one.
Pour in the stock and root vegetables.
Potato, sweet potato and or pumpkin (the more you add the thicker the soup will be)
For those using the pork hock in the slow cooker, add it here
Bring to the boil, then let it simmer in the pot for 20 minutes
Or until the root vegetables are soft.
If doing this by slow cooker, flick the switch and let it be for the day.
Near dinner time
You can blend the soup here (that’s purely optional) or leave it chunky – we love it either way.
For those who added the hock bone, remove it here and shred the meat.
If going with the chicken option, add the cooked chook, shredded here.
But this is where we add the beans (if blending the soup, add the beans after you’ve whipped this soup!)
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Finish the Soup:
Stir in the greens and coconut milk
Add a good squeeze of fresh lime – only if you like lime, you can leave wedges on the side of the plate to try.
Taste and season to your personal taste.
Let the soup simmer while you finish the garnish.
Prepare the Garnish:
As the soup finishes simmering…
Make the easy Guacamole: combine the avocado, lime juice, chopped coriander, and season with salt and pepper.
To Serve:
This is the best bit, it’s a feast of flavours all on one plate – like a soupy nacho!
Ladle your chunky chilli and black bean soup into bowls
Add a dollop of your easy Guacamole
Sprinkle with shredded fresh coriander leaves
Serve with tortilla chips on the side.
To get really fancy you can add a dollop of sour cream or Greek yoghurt on top to really make the green coriander pop with colour on the plate.
Final words as you dig in:
As one of the easiest soups to make, this soup also tastes even better the next day.
You can also freeze it for three months for that microwave feast at any time.
And you can also add to the flavour by using whatever you have in the fridge or cupboard to make many versions of this soup—like the time we added quinoa to it! (Sorry, can’t remember the measurements.)
We’re always improvising with this one, so just have fun with it.
Oh, and the character who inspired this flavoursome feast:
As mentioned earlier, this soup was inspired by a mob of dust-covered stockmen chowing down after a long day after the muster. It’s cooked by another stockman who has a thing for burritos in the ELSIE CREEK SERIES.
Don’t know what the multi-award-winning, bestselling Elsie Creek Series is? Well, you can check it out here.
Enjoy your meal.
PS: The link to the radio interview is here, aim for the time slot of 1:46:13
**All still images relating to this post’s topic are via the talented & fabulous photographers at https://unsplash.com/ Thanks guys.
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#ElsieCreek | #Escape2HEA ~ because everyone deserves an Escape from the drama in their day!
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