This red, peppery soup makes you warm just looking at it! A delicious winter meal with the goodness of roasted red capsicums, kidney beans and tomatoes, with a spicy Mexican twist. Part my own invention, part mix of other recipes (after tasting something similar in Ubud, Bali of all places!) this soup is hearty enough to fill you up on the coldest of days. I always get a huge response when I serve this one up, especially with a round of easy cheesy, spinach tortillas!
Ingredients
1 large onion,
2-3 cloves of garlic
3 or 4 large red peppers (capsicums) – roasted and peeled
600g of fresh Roma tomatoes quartered and oven roasted (or 1-2 tins canned)
1 and half cups of red kidney beans, cooked (or use canned)
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
2-3 fresh red chillies, chopped
smokey paprika
1 – 2 cups of your favourite vegetable stock
fresh coriander to garnish
sea salt, pepper, tabasco to season
Method
Heat oven to 180 degrees and roast your peppers in the oven till the skin blackens, cool to touch under the tap, then peel. If using fresh tomatoes, cut into quarters, place on separate baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and roast at the same time. Soak and cook dried kidney beans (black beans are also good) till tender.
Fry onion and garlic till golden, adding chopped chilli and spices. Add tomatoes, roughly chopped peppers, and stock and simmer for five to ten minutes to let flavours develop. Add beans. Use a stick blender to blend the mix to a smooth consistency (allow to cool slightly first). Bring back up to simmer and season to taste with sea salt, pepper, tabasco and/or smokey paprika.
To serve swirl in sour cream or yoghurt and sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander. Muy delicioso!
Notes:
This is a soup to tweak to your own style. Adjust quantities of tomatoes and stock to balance the flavours – you want the peppers to shine through with the tomatoes adding richness. I add more chilli and cumin because I like things tasty and spicy!
If you have avocados to hand its delicious with chunky guacamole dolloped on to serve.
I also serve with easy cheesy spinach tortillas. You can make these up in flash using packaged tortillas and baby spinach and grated mozzarella cheese. Place one tortilla in a hot dry pan cover with spinach leaves and grated mozzarella and top with another tortilla. Weight with a plate or pan lid and allow to warm in the pan. You can flip it over to gently toast the other side. Make 2 or 3 and cut into triangles and serve with your soup. Super yum!
Or try it with these super seedy crunchy paleo bread rolls from Canberra’s own hugely successful Merrymaker Sisters–the perfect accompaniment to a satisfying soup supper.