Sopa de frijoles negros (Cuban black bean soup)

Name: Sopa de frijoles negros (Cuban black bean soup)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h 10 min
Total time: 10 h 30 min
Cuisine: Cuban
Ingredients: 500 g dried black beans (black turtle beans, not kuromame, the Japanese black soybean); 2 l cold water, for soaking; 1 tbsp fine sea salt, for soaking; 2.5 l water, for cooking; ½ onion, in one piece; ½ green bell pepper, in one piece; 2 bay leaves; 1 tsp fine sea salt; 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to serve; 1 large onion (about 250 g), finely chopped; 1 large green bell pepper (about 200 g), finely chopped; 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 tsp ground cumin; 1½ tsp dried oregano; ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper; 2 tbsp dry sherry (optional; choose one labelled vegan); 1–2 tbsp distilled white vinegar or cider vinegar; Fine sea salt, to taste; 300 g long-grain white rice; 550 ml water, for the rice; 1 tbsp olive oil, for the rice; ½ tsp fine sea salt, for the rice; 1 small white onion, finely chopped

Dried black beans simmered until creamy, a slow olive-oil sofrito with cumin and oregano, a splash of vinegar and sherry, part puréed. Vegan as written, and better the next day.

By the Soupmap Culinary Team

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 2 hr 10 min
Total: 10 hr 30 min
Effort: Easy
Serves: 6

The total includes 8 hr of soaking, resting or chilling.

Broth richness 6/10

Spice 1/10

Comfort 6/10

Ratings by the Soupmap Culinary Team, not readers.

Vegan Gluten-free Dairy-free

Photo: Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Black beans, frijoles negros, are at the heart of Cuban home cooking, simmered until thick and glossy and spooned over white rice. This soup, sopa de frijoles negros, takes the same pot a little further. The beans cook until creamy, part of them is puréed so the soup turns thick and velvety, and a slow sofrito (onion, green pepper and garlic cooked gently in olive oil, here with cumin and oregano) seasons the lot. A splash of vinegar at the end sharpens everything, and a little dry sherry adds depth.

It's vegan as written. Many versions lean on a ham hock or salt pork for richness; here a generous pour of olive oil does that job, and you won't miss the meat.

The usual mistakes are impatience and timidity. The beans should be cooked until creamy all the way through, not just edible, and the soup needs more salt than you'd expect. Keep the vinegar for the very end: acid slows the softening of beans, so if it goes in early they can stay stubbornly firm.

Method

Soak the beans

Pick over the beans, removing any stones or shrivelled beans, and rinse them. Put them in a large bowl with the 2 l cold water and 1 tbsp salt, stir to dissolve the salt and leave to soak for at least 8 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse.

Cook the beans

Put the beans in a large pot (5–6 l) with the 2.5 l water, the half onion, the half green pepper and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil over high heat, skim off any foam, then turn the heat down to low.
Simmer gently with the lid ajar, stirring now and then, until the beans are completely tender and creamy inside, 1 1/2–2 hours; older beans take longer. Keep them covered by about 2 cm of liquid, topping up with hot water as needed, and add the 1 tsp salt halfway through. Squeeze a few beans between your fingers to check: there should be no chalky centre.

Make the sofrito

When the beans are nearly done, warm the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the chopped onion and green pepper with a pinch of salt and cook gently, stirring now and then, until very soft, sweet and just turning golden, 15–20 minutes.
Add the garlic, cumin, oregano and black pepper and cook, stirring, until the garlic is soft and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Don't let it brown.

Bring it together

Fish the onion, pepper and bay leaves out of the beans. Scrape the sofrito into the pot with the sherry, if using, and simmer gently, uncovered, stirring often so the bottom doesn't catch, until the soup has thickened slightly and no longer smells of alcohol, about 20 minutes.
While the soup simmers, cook the rice. Rinse it until the water runs clear, put it in a saucepan with the 550 ml water, 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt and bring to a boil. Cover, turn the heat to its lowest and cook for 15 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat for 10 minutes.
Purée about a third of the soup, either with a few short pulses of a stick blender in the pot, or by blending 750 ml of it in a blender (centre cap removed, a folded tea towel held over the opening) and stirring it back in. It should be thick enough to coat a spoon but still pour, so loosen it with hot water if needed.
Take the soup off the heat and stir in 1 tbsp vinegar. Taste and season with salt and more vinegar until it tastes deep, savoury and bright.

Serve

Ladle the soup into bowls over or alongside a scoop of rice. Top with the chopped onion and a thread of olive oil.

Swaps

Cooking for coeliac disease or an allergy? Check every label: the notes below say which ones matter.

Gluten-free

It's already gluten-free as written. Keep to distilled white or cider vinegar (malt vinegar is made from barley), and if you need to be strict, buy ground cumin and dried oregano labelled gluten-free, since spices can be packed alongside wheat products.

Plant-based

It's already vegan as written. The one label to check is the sherry, which can be clarified with animal products: choose one labelled vegan or leave it out. The sour cream and ham hock variations aren't vegan.

High-protein

Stir 2 drained 400 g tins of black beans into the pot with the sofrito in step 6: about 6 g more protein a bowl, on top of the roughly 20 g the beans and rice already give, and a chunkier soup.
Top each bowl with a fried egg, about 6 g more (no longer vegan).
Serve each bowl with about 100 g shredded roast pork or chicken: roughly 25 g more (no longer vegetarian).

Tips

Salt the soaking water. It seasons the beans all the way through and helps their skins soften, so they cook more evenly with fewer split beans. The old idea that salt keeps beans hard doesn't hold up; acid is what does that, which is why the vinegar waits until the end.
Cook them longer than you think. A bean that's merely edible makes a thin, slightly gritty soup. Keep going until they're creamy right to the centre, because that's also what gives the purée its body.
Take your time with the sofrito. Twenty minutes over gentle heat turns the onion and pepper sweet and jammy, and that sweetness balances the earthy beans. Fried fast, they stay sharp and raw-tasting.
Don't skimp on the oil. In this pot, olive oil does the job that pork fat does in other versions: it carries the cumin and garlic and gives the soup its gloss. Another drizzle at the table is common, and welcome.
Buy fresh beans. Dried beans that have sat on a shelf for years can stay hard however long you cook them. Buy them from a shop with a fast turnover.

Make ahead and storage

The soup is better the next day. Cool it quickly in shallow containers and refrigerate within 2 hours; it keeps for 4 days, or 3 months in the freezer.
It thickens as it stands, so loosen it with hot water when you reheat it, then check the salt and vinegar again.
Cook rice fresh if you can. Cool any leftover rice within 1 hour, refrigerate it, eat it within 1 day and reheat it until steaming hot all the way through.

Variations

With sour cream: a spoonful of sour cream on each bowl is a popular finish. The soup is then no longer vegan or dairy-free.
With a ham hock: simmer a smoked ham hock with the beans from the start, then pull off the meat, chop it and return it to the pot. Richer and smoky, but no longer vegetarian or vegan.
Pressure-cooker shortcut: cook the soaked beans with the aromatics, the 1 tsp salt and 1.5 l water at high pressure for 10 minutes, keeping the cooker no more than half full, and let the pressure release naturally. Then carry on from step 4.
Canned-bean shortcut: make the sofrito in a large pot, then add five 400 g tins black beans, drained and rinsed, with 1 l water and the sherry. Simmer for 20 minutes, cooking the rice as in step 7 meanwhile, and carry on from step 8.

Reviews & cooks' tips

Reviews and tips from people who've cooked this appear here.