Spiced black bean soup

For T.O.M

As I have written before, I have a bit of an obsession with Mexican culture. I have realised since writing that first post that it isn’t just about the gory history and the beautiful art, its about death. Or rather, about life and death – by acknowledging death, life can be really noticed, and appreciated much more. Colours are brighter and more saturated, music is louder and flavours are stronger and more vibrant.

This soup is adapted from Thomasina Miers’ book Mexican Food Made Simple. This is the third recipe I have made from that cookbook, the others being warm corn salsa and ceviche, and I definitely think it is wonderful. Mexican recipes can be tricky, the ingredients aren’t necessarily that easy to get hold of in the UK, and it is quite pig and shellfish focused, not that easy if you are vegetarian or kosher. This book however is really accessible and contains loads of suitable and delicious authentic recipes.

When I first made this soup, known in the book as ‘sopa azteca’, I was completely blown away by how delicious it was – I did not expect something so simple to make to taste so complex. It is rich and deeply savoury – it tastes almost meaty even though it is vegan.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

Two 380g cartons cooked black beans – don’t drain

2-4 fresh plum tomatoes, depending on how big they are

3 cloves garlic, unpeeled

½ onion, or a whole one if it is smallish, diced

1 tsp chiptle paste

500ml chicken or vegetable stock

juice of 1 lime

salt and black pepper to taste.

Garnishes: (optional – it is very nice on its own too)

Tortilla chips, broken up

Feta or goats cheese, crumbled

Tomato salsa

Sour cream

Diced avocado (tossed with lime juice to stop it discolouring)

Method

First you need to toast the tomatoes and garlic. Heat a frying pan (no oil needed) and when its really hot, add the tomatoes and garlic cloves. Let them blacken on all sides (charred splotches is fine, don’t worry about blackening them completely) and remove. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the skins and roughly chop. Don’t worry if you can’t get all the skin off the tomatoes.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the diced onion and sauté for about 5 minutes until translucent. Then add the garlic, tomatoes and chipotle paste, and fry off for about a minute before adding the beans with their water, stock and lime juice.

Let the soup simmer for 20 minutes, blend, and season to taste. Serve on its own, or with some of the garnishes suggested above.

Sorry again about the lack of photo – have a poem instead.

FRIDA KAHLO COMES TO DINNER
Christine M. Strickland

Frida Kahlo has come to dinner,
Late, as usual, a little drunk, as usual,
Scattering fag ash like confetti,
Partnered by her perpetual pain
Whose grim claws she wears as lightly
As the ribbons on her dress.
Undefeated, her thirst for life unquenched,
There is more energy in her hair
Than in my entire body.
The brass band of her beads and bangles
Transforms her limping steps
Into a fiesta dance, all rainbow skirts
And flashing teeth and eyes.
Frida Kahlo has come to dinner,
Though eating frankly bores her,
Gets in the way of talking, drinking,
Smoking, making love.
Aware of this I give her tiny pastries
Olives, nuts, morsels of spiced meat;
Fuel for her flame, swallowed without tasting.
Frida Kahlo has come to dinner
And the carnival never stops.
Her long hands are two kites,
Trailing coloured tails of laughter,
Sketching, in the smoky air between us,
Whole galleries of portraits.
Frida Kahlo has been to dinner
And is now gone, taking the party with her,
Leaving this withered Puritan
Faded, dusty, unbearably alone.

Tilapia ceviche with lime, coconut and chilli

Adapted from Thomasina Miers’ Mexican Food Made Simple

Happy New Year!

I can’t quite believe that I have been consistently blogging for three years. It really is the longest that I have ever stuck with any kind of extra-curricular activity, and I am so proud of myself. I love reading old posts and seeing how much I have learnt and grown over the past three years. It is good to see that my photography has become a little better, although I am still rubbish at remembering to take photos (as you will see here).

I made this recipe for friends after Limmud conference, where we were all feeling a little fragile (the Limmud-hangover lasts for days), and in desperate need of fresh, healthy and light food. I have never cooked with tilapia before – Thomasina Miers’ recipe called for sea bass, but when I was at the shop the tilapia fillets were much cheaper, and I thought that I would give it a chance.

According to the Good Fish Guide, tilapia are rated ‘1’, meaning that they are the most sustainably produced seafood. They are also omnivores, and “have a low requirement for fishmeal and fish-oil in their diets, making them net producers of fish protein and therefore a valuable aquaculture species.” They also don’t have such an amazing flavour, which means that they are excellent for dishes that have a lot of marinade or strong flavours, such as this recipe. 

Because I am a bit of a smug show-off at times, and a bit lazy, whenever I entertain I always take into account the ease:impressive-ness  scale – how easy something is to make, versus how delicious and impressive it is. Hands-down, this recipe wins on all counts. It is super easy to make, very impressive, and absolutely heavenly to eat.

Serve this to guests and they will go absolutely bananas.

Serves 5-6 as a starter

Ingredients

5 tilapia fillets (no skin), diced into 2cm (ish) chunks (or use sea bass)

Juice of 4 limes (you could, if you like, zest them before squeezing and dust the ceviche with a little zest just before serving)

½ can coconut milk

½ tbsp olive oil

Pinch sea salt

1 small red onion, finely diced

1 red chilli, finely diced (seeds in or out depending on your preference – to be more authentic you could use half a habanero chilli, but they are too spicy for me)

Handful roughly chopped coriander leaves

½ avocado, diced (squeeze some lemon or lime juice over the avocado to stop it discolouring)

Serve with tortilla chips (or lettuce cups for healthy people) and lime wedges

Method

About an hour (max. two hours) before you want to eat the ceviche, combine the fish, lime juice, coconut milk, olive oil, salt, red onion and chilli in a glass bowl, and stir well (careful not to mush the fish). The coconut milk might look like it is splitting a bit in the lime juice, but don’t worry about it. Cover the bowl with cling film and stick it in the fridge.

When ready to serve, drain the ceviche of some of its liquid (you don’t want it too dry though), and mix with some of the coriander. Scatter the rest of the coriander and avocado on top.

And that’s it! “oooo” “aaahhh”


(sorry about the lack of photo)

Mayan style toasted pumpkin seed dip

Adapted from http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/mayan-pumpkin-seed-dip

Hello you lovely people! I hope you that you had a wonderful break, however you choose to mark the season (if at all). I marked it by getting a year older, eating a delicious salt-caramel chocolate torte from Babkalicious and attending Limmud conference and learning a lot of new things.

I am one of those weird people who gets oddly excited about kitchen utensils, the bigger the better. My favourite Selfridges window is the one with the display of giant saucepans, and I have confused many people by stopping in my tracks to gaze longingly at it. The flat I am currently living in contains one of the largest frying pans I have ever had the privilege to be able to use, and as soon as I saw it my mind just started fizzing with new recipes to try. It is the perfect size and shape to toast a ton of pumpkin seeds, and so this recipe just had to be made (I get inspired by normal things too, like sunsets and art, I’m not a complete lunatic).

This dip is absolutely delicious, it is simple and just works in that way that ancient and authentic recipes do: toasty, wholesome, citrus-fresh and ever-so-slightly bitter. Toasting pumpkin seeds transforms them in the most wonderful way. They become crunchy and fragrant, with a complex roasted nutty flavour.

The quantities given here make enough for a smallish bowlful, or rather, enough as part of a Mexican/South American mezze-style dip selection for about 6 people. The original recipe uses a food processor, but I decided to use my mortar and pestle, and then an immersion blender. This probably kept the texture a bit rougher, which I liked, and was less complicated for washing-up purposes. But really, I just love using my mortar and pestle – it is rough stone and heavy, and makes me feel a bit more authentic.

Ingredients:

1 cup plus 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds

2 tbsp olive oil

½ onion, finely diced (or use a whole one if it is small)

1 jalapeño, seeds and white pith removed, and finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Small handful fresh parsley (equivalent to about 1/3 cup)

Small handful fresh coriander leaves

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

zest of half an orange

salt

Serve: with tortilla chips, crudités, warmed soft tortillas and other South American delicious dippy things like salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.

Method:

Heat a large frying pan and toast the pumpkin seeds in a single layer (no oil), tossing occasionally, until they crackle and pop. Some will jump out of the pan in an over-excited kind of way. You may need to do this in stages if your pan isn’t big enough.  

Saving a few of the seeds for garnish, grind the rest to powder in a pestle and mortar and add to a large bowl. You will definitely need to grind them in stages.

Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in the frying pan, add the diced onion and jalapeño, and fry over a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once it starts getting a little softened and translucent, add the garlic and fry for a few minutes more, and then add to the bowl with the pumpkin seed powder.

Add the parsley, coriander, lime juice, orange zest, 1 tbsp olive oil, pinch of salt, and 1/3 cup of water to the bowl with the ground pumpkin seeds and fried things, and use an immersion blender to puree everything together to a rough, humous-like texture. Taste and add a little more salt if needed.

Serve at room temperature, scattered with the reserved toasted pumpkin seeds and a little drizzle of olive oil.

Corn muffins with chilli and cheese

This recipe is an evolution, or adaptation of the cornbread recipe I wrote about here and here. I love it when you get that true moment of experimental inspiration ‘I wonder what would happen if…’ its my favourite type of cooking, and it works, when it really really works, its just so amazing.

One of the many things I love about cooking this recipe is how incredibly quick and easy it is, and also very light on the washing up. These savoury little cakes make a lovely addition to any picnicy/potluck kind of meal, and of course go especially well with rich chillis, soups or stews. Best eaten fresh.

230g fine polenta/cornmeal

100g plain flour

1 tsp salt

2tsp baking powder

2 eggs, lightly beaten

300ml/ ½ pint milk

1 cup (or so) frozen sweetcorn (take out of the freezer about 5-10 minutes before, so it starts to defrost a tiny bit)

1 fresh chilli, deseeded and diced (I used red for the colour, but some sort of pickled jalapeno would be nice too. A crumbled dried chilli, or some chilli powder would work, but fresh is better in this instance)

2 spring onions, whites and greens finely sliced (make sure to slice the greens lengthways before washing them, to get rid of the dirt they can accumulate)

grated cheese (I used a mixture of mozerella and cheddar) 1 large handful – more or less depending on your preferences

pumpkin seeds

olive oil

Makes 20 – you will need a non-stick cupcake tray – preferably two of them

Preheat the oven to 200c.

Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil into 20 holes in the cupcake tins, approximately a quarter teaspoon per cake, and put the trays in the hot oven. The oil needs to be hot when you put the batter in, so it might be worth doing this before you weigh out the ingredients and get everything ready.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the dry powder ingredients, add the eggs and milk and mix until you get a smooth batter. Then mix in the corn, veggies and cheese.

Take the cupcake trays out of the oven (be very careful of the hot oil) and portion out the batter between the 20 oiled sections. When they bake they rise into very elegant and considerate cone shapes, so you don’t need to worry about any Hiroshima-style cake explosions. Scatter a few pumpkin seeds on the tops of each cake, and bake for about 13 minutes, until they are risen and golden. As soon as they are cool enough to touch, pop them out of the trays so that they do not continue to absorb oil.

Apologies for the lack of post-bake photo – I was too busy eating them!

Version made at a later date with coriander leaves added to the batter

South American style black beans with roasted peppers and cornbread

Here is another example of the South American style cooking that I raved about in my warm corn salsa post. As a vegetarian dish it isn’t particularly authentic, but it is really delicious. This recipe is of my own invention, but based on reading a lot of recipes on cooking black beans, especially those by Thomasina Miers, who I love. While it might seem a little bit too wholesome or ‘hand-knitted yogurt’ – the beans are incredibly meaty and flavourful, with the additions of cheese and sour cream, it doesn’t have to be all that wholesome. When I make chilli con soya, I throw in so many different ingredients to try and make it taste of something (chipotle paste, chocolate etc) and it never really works – this recipe though, is so simple and yet has exactly the depth of flavour that I am looking for. I thoroughly recommend it.

This is the first time I have cooked with dried beans, somehow they always scared me. Maybe I am just generally not organised enough to get them soaking from the night before- that tends to require forward planning. Or maybe its just that it is so much easier to open a can. After boiling these babies for 2 ½ hours, yeah it is easer to reach for a can – but – 1) I am 100% sure they taste better this way 2) canned black beans aren’t the easiest to find 3) I feel incredibly smug for doing something properly for once. Stirring that black, bubbling, pot brought up my inner witch too – staring into the pot’s murky depths I cackled, and thought dark thoughts at those who deserve them (you know who you are) with a counter-clockwise stir after every 7.

Ingredients:

1 packet of black beans - 500g

2 onions, 1 quartered and 1 diced

4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and bashed

1 bay leaf

1 shallow tsp fennel seeds (if you have them)

1 -2 red peppers

Olive oil

2 heaped tsp paprika

2 heaped tsp ground cumin

½ tsp cinnamon

Tabasco – to taste, but at least 5 drops

Lime juice – approx the juice of 1 lime (I used a few spoons of juice from a bottle, as the limes in asda looked particularly manky – that’s what you get for shopping on a bank holiday I imagine.

1 bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Salt and pepper

To serve:

Tomato salsa

Sour cream

Cheesy corn-bread – use the recipe from the polenta pan-pizza post, but add a pile of grated cheese to the batter. Another delicious use for this cornbread recipe is to add frozen corn, chopped chillies and coriander to the batter.

For the beans – soak the beans overnight. Add them to a large pot with covered with 10cm of water. Add the quartered onion, the garlic, the bay and fennel. Bring to the boil and cook for at least 2 hours, stirring every now and again to stop it burning, and skimming the white foamy stuff off the top with a spoon. You will also need to top the water up at some point. Once the beans are soft (for me this was at 2h 25) add salt, at least 1tsp, and cook for a further 10 minutes. Make sure that the beans are soft as salt can make them go tough if they are not properly cooked. When ready, drain them, discard the bay and other bits (if you can find them) and empty the beans into a clean saucepan ready for later.

For the peppers – preheat the oven to 180 or so (with fan). Cut the peppers into large strips, toss in olive oil and roast until they are looking a little shrivelled and toasty. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the skins from them, chop them roughly and add them to the cooked beans.

While the peppers are cooking, fry the diced onion with all of the ground spices on a medium-low heat until translucent and slightly caramelised. Add these to the cooked beans too.

Put the beans back on the heat while you prepare the cornbread, also adding to the pot the lime juice and Tabasco. Stir through the coriander just before you are ready to serve.

Serve with the cornbread in generous wedges, salsa and sour cream.  Put some extra lime juice and Tabasco on the table, so people can adjust the flavours more according to their preferences. 

Warm corn salsa

This recipe comes from Thomasina Miers' Mexican Food Made Simple. It is a really fantastic book and this former Masterchef winner and owner of the chain Wahaca really does know what she is talking about. The TV series accompanying the book is fantastic also, from her beautiful gappy smile, stunning Mexican locations, history and evocative food. Ever since I learnt about how Aztecs used to cut people’s hearts out while they were still alive (I was probably around 8) I have been obsessed with all aspects of Mexican culture. I love the silly movies set in Mexico like ‘From Dusk till Dawn’ and ‘Desperado’, Frida Kahlo, Like Water for Chocolate, songs with Mexico in the title (Down in Mexico, Mexican Radio) and the food, most of all. I distinctly remember rolling my eyes at my grandparents trying to eat fajitas with a knife and fork at the age of 10. Somehow if you don’t have salsa dribbling down your wrist, it doesn’t really count.

Apologies for the lack of photos on this one, I made it last night for dinner and was so impressed that I wanted to get it up here as soon as possible. If I make it again I will add some photos in. it really is a delicious salad, sweet, warm and spicy, smoky and fragrant with lime and coriander. Serve it with sour cream and some tortilla chips.

Ingredients

Approx.. 4 cups of fresh or defrosted frozen corn (not tinned)

1 onion, finely diced

1 or 2 green chillies, deseeded and finely diced

Cooking oil

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Juice of 1 lime (sadly my limes had absolutely no juice in them so I had to use lemon, it still tasted great though)

Handful of fresh coriander, roughly shredded

½ teaspoon of ground allspice

Salt and pepper

Heat oil in a large frying pan and when its hot add the onion, chilli and corn. Sauté over a medium heat for about 5 minutes until the onion starts getting a little translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another 5-10 minutes until the onion looks cooked and the corn has taken on some colour. Add the allspice, salt and pepper, lime and coriander and cook for a minute or two more until the coriander has wilted slightly.