Saturday, January 2, 2010

This bears repeating. Black bean and Tortilla Soup.

It all started when I was thinking up dinner tonight. I looked in the cabinets for inspiration. Found an opened packet of tortillas that my husband had thrown back in, after our fajita dinner the other night. The two tortillas left in the pack were dry, stale, inedibe. I was about to get mad in the way that only an anal housewife can, but then I remembered that tortilla soup is pretty popular back in my home state of Texas....voila.

First off, cut your leftover tortillas in strips, and fry them on a pan with a little oil. I used canola. They'll brown and become crispy, and that's just what you want. Set your fried tortillas aside.

- Fry up an onion in some oil.
- Add a tsp. each of turmeric, cumin, garlic powder and paprika.
- When onions are soft, add one can of tinned tomatoes, and one can of black beans. (I used canned, because I wanted to make this quick, and I hadn't any pre-soaked)
- Add a little extra water and a broth cube. (I use Herbamare from the health food store)
- Let it all simmer together, adding salt and pepper and a dash of cayenne to taste.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, chopped coriander, a few drops of lime juice, and a handful of your fried tortillas. Some of the tortillas will go soft in the soup, but that's ok. Also, for extra nutritional value, I added to finely diced potatoes to this soup, to bulk it up, and so my kids wouldn't only get full on the fried tortillas. A hearty inconspicuous addition! Enjoy.

12 comments:

Bri said...

I'd never heard of tortilla soup before, sounds like we'll have to give this a shot too! I love herbamare stock, I have allergies to alot of additives and it's the only one I've been able to find here that's ok for me. Certainly helps that it makes a great tasting stock too.

DreaminginDanish said...

Yum!

Anonymous said...

Fairy - Tortilla soup is a staple of most Tex-Mex restaurants. Funny though, I never ordered it! I think actually it would do more justice to the black beans to just use stock, and not the tinned tomatoes. I'll give that a try next time around. LOVE the herbamare. Even just the broth as a light lunch, it's fab. Do you use with or without salt? The one with salt is cheaper, so that's what I get!

Dreaming - girl, next time you're here, I WILL cook for you, and not send you off with just booze in your belly :-)

Bri said...

There's one without salt? I haven't seen that anywhere around here. My blood pressure is borderline low so I generally try to get as much salt as I can stand.

Anonymous said...

Fairy - yes! They have it my local store, Urtehuset on Trianglen in Cph. Sometimes I do want the herbal flavors w/o the saltiness. I may need to invest.

Bri said...

I see. I'll be over østerbro way today so I'll see if I can have a look there. Gotta go into the Australian consulate, get me some fancy 'no impediment to marriage' certificate :)

Anonymous said...

Does that mean...?? Congrats! :-)

Bri said...

:) Yes it does.

Alex said...

Oh oh, please tell me you know where to find corn tortillas in Copenhagen. I've found the cripsy ones, but not the soft corn ones I'd normally fry up to use in tortilla soup. Are they available in Copenhagen? I've been here three weeks and although I love rugbrød like nobody's business, I'm craving corn tortillas desperately.

Jennie said...

Hey Alex!

I'm actually finding corn tortillas in the most unlikely of places, like the Kiwi store near me. But Føtex usually has them, as does Super Best. And although I don't shop at Super Brugsen much, they probably have them too. Good luck! :)

Jennie said...

Hey Alex!

I'm actually finding corn tortillas in the most unlikely of places, like the Kiwi store near me. But Føtex usually has them, as does Super Best. And although I don't shop at Super Brugsen much, they probably have them too. Good luck! :)

Alex said...

Awesome! Thank you. Føtex in Amager doesn't have them, but that gives me incentive to hunt down the Supers.

You've saved my life. ;)

Love your blog btw, and I cannot wait to try out the celeriac schnitzel. I love celeriac and I never would have considered battering it. The photo is alarmingly mouthwatering.