Cuban-Style Black Bean Soup
It’s cold out. So very cold! And when it’s cold, I like to make me some soup. This is adapted from a recipe for Cuban Black Bean Soup.
Of course, the hallmark of most foods that say “Cuban” in them seems to be the addition of ham (or at least some part of the pig). Of
course, that’s a no-can-do for me. The next best thing? Fake ham!
Many of the online vegan grocers sell it, but I like to pick up a frozen log of vegetarian (vegan) ham when I’m in Boston at Super 88.
The recipe goes like this:
1 lb dried black beans
1 onion, minced
4 cups of water
8 oz Fake Ham
1 veggie bouillon cube
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 dried red chili peppers, seeds removed (or not, if you’re really
adventurous)
2 bay leaves
1 pepper, diced
Rinse and sort the beans; soak overnight. Drain and rinse again.
Spray the bottom of a dutch oven with canola oil or commercial non-
stick spray, turn the heat up to medium and toss in the onion. Cook
the onion until soft, but not brown. Add the beans to the pot along
with the water, bouillon, thyme, salt, bay leaves, chili peppers.
Cut the fake ham into 4-6 large chunks, and toss that in, too (make
sure to remove any paper covering first!). Bring to a boil, reduce
heat and simmer, covered loosely for 1.5 hours. Remove the bay
leaves and chili peppers; discard these. Remove 1 cup of beans.
Mash with a potato masher and return to the pot. Remove the chunks
of fake ham, dice them and return to the pot. Add the diced pepper
(poblano is really good in this, but any bell pepper will do.
Tonight I used some frozen diced tri-colored peppers). Cook for
another 15 minutes, remove from heat. Serve over brown rice, garnish
with scallions, vegan sour cream or anything else that you think
might be good! Eat. Enjoy!
