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Well, we’ve made it here once again, friends. Tomorrow is the official start of fall. Happy, happy! Joy, joy! Now I can fling comfort food recipes around as much as I want! I want to kick fall off in grand style with a giant vessel of soup or stew. What’s your favourite thing-that-holds-soup? I love those mug-slash-bowl jobbies! You can wrap your hand around it and slurp if the urge strikes or lay it on the plate and plunge a spoon into the contents if you’re feeling more genteel. Either way, a bowl full of warmth is exactly the way fall should begin.
This recipe I’m sharing today is my version (influenced by my little sister, Jessamine) of an old favourite from the original Moosewood Cookbook. I’ve thickened up their traditional Brazilian Black Bean Soup, added a roasted sweet potato, a splash of hot sauce, and I’ve been known to toss some crumbled bacon on top from time to time. It’s hearty, thick, and eminently spoonable. Soft black beans, fragrant garlic, sweet bell peppers, and tiny tender cubes of roasted sweet potato, all are suspended in a thick broth with tomatoes and a surprisingly perfect undertone of orange. It’s what fall demands.
Hang on, hang on, hang on… I’ve written ONE AND A HALF paragraphs in thirty minutes, and I feel compelled to tell you why. My beloved Evil Genius is sitting five feet away from me interrupting me every time I get my train of thought going with questions like:
- “Is there a reason -a legitimate one- that someone would have a long pinky fingernail? I work with a guy with a long pinky fingernail.”
- “Oh good! You’re on the computer! Would you look up the radar?”
- “Is this yogurt pre-sweetened? It says plain, but it tastes sweetened to me.”
- “Look. Here comes that dark cloud, I bet that rain is going to start any minute.”
- “Can you look up whether there’s such a thing as a food-grade caulking gun?”
- “Why do you figure dogs like sweet potatoes so much? What is it about them?”
I looked at him lovingly and said, “If you keep asking me silly things, I’m going to backspace through everything I’ve written and write down what you’re asking me instead.” He looked me straight in the eye and said, “Oh good. Please do. Maybe someone else will know about the pinky nail!” Then he went on to sing, “I think the rain’s-a-comin’… Coming ’round the bend…” to the tune of ‘Folsom Prison Blues’.
I. Just. Can’t.
I’m abandoning the talk about beans and soups and stews and bowl-mugs and fall and all that to put this recipe up here for you and go spend some time with my weird, fabulous husband.
One quick parting word about using dried beans
Yes. This stew uses dried beans. Don’t worry… it’s not as scary as you might think it is. For this recipe, you soak them first. While research has proven that you don’t NEED to soak beans first, it makes the results of this particular soup more predictable. I like food to behave predictably. Besides this, the texture and flavour of beans that you’ve cooked yourself are so infinitely superior to the ones in cans. Cans are a-okay in a pinch, but take the plunge here and use dried ones! It only takes an hour and change to cook the stew, so don’t worry about it being a huge time investment. Most of it is hands-off, so you can spend the time playing research librarian on Google or calling up radar images for your dear ones.
Brazilian Black Bean Stew {with roasted sweet potatoes}
Rate RecipeIngredients
- 2 cups dried black beans rinsed and picked over, then covered by at least double the height of water to soak. *See Notes
- 5 cups water
- 3 teaspoons salt divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 1 large sweet potato scrubbed, peeled, and diced into 1/8 to 1/4-inch cubes
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 3 cups chopped onion
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic divided
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper to taste
- 1 medium carrot peeled and minced
- 1 red bell pepper seeded, stemmed, and diced
- 1 1/2 cups fresh orange juice or unsweetened orange juice
- 2 medium tomatoes diced, or 1 small can of diced tomatoes
- the zest of one orange
Optional Toppings:
- Plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
- fresh cilantro
- hot sauce of choice
- avocado cubes
- crumbled crispy bacon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Drain and rinse your soaked beans, then add them to a large soup pot with 4 cups of the water. Bring to a boil, stir in 2 teaspoons of the salt, cover tightly, lower heat and simmer until the beans are very, very tender, about 1 hour and 15 minutes or so.
- While the beans are simmering, toss the sweet potato cubes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt and a goodly amount of freshly grated black pepper. Roast on a small rimmed baking sheet in the oven for 20 minutes, stirring every so often, or until the cubes are tender, caramelized on the outside, and lightly charred in just a few places. Set aside.
- Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to a heavy-bottomed skillet or frying pan and swirl to coat. Toss the onions, carrots, half of the garlic, the cumin, cayenne, and a pinch of additional salt into the oil and saute over medium heat until the carrot is tender. Stir in the diced bell pepper and the rest of the garlic and saute until all of the vegetables are almost meltingly tender, about 10 minutes.
- Scrape the cooked vegetables along with the tomatoes into the finished black beans. Add the orange juice and final cup of water to the pan used to cook the vegetables and swirl it to get all the good bits from it. Pour this into the beans as well. Use a stick blender to puree the stew ever so slightly. You still want a lot of texture in the stew! If you don't have a stick blender, you can scoop 2 cups into a blender and pulse to break it up before returning it to the rest of the stew.
- After you've pureed, stir the roasted sweet potato cubes into the stew and simmer for another 8-10 minutes. Taste the stew, adjust seasonings if you wish, and serve with any or all of the optional toppings!
Notes
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Reader's Thoughts...
Lois says
In ingredient list note you mention amount of water to soak beans in but no amount of time. Recipe begins with “drain and rinse your soaked beans.” I follow your slow cooker procedure for dried beans – do I use those prepped beans? I think you’ve referred to beans from slow cooker as being “recipe ready” but the terms “soaked”, “cooked” and “recipe ready” are all getting jumbled for me. I’ve made this recipe once using slow cooker beans I had frozen and just heated them up with other ingredients. Can you clarify please? Thanks so much. Love your site and ordered your canning book. Will make use of it this canning season for sure!
Rebecca says
Hi Lois! Let me see if I can break it down a little better. When I say the slow-cooker beans are recipe ready, I mean they’re fully cooked. In other words, if you so desired, you could dig into those beans with a spoon. 🙂 Soaked beans, on the other hand, are beans that are ready to be cooked but aren’t yet. You can definitely use the slow-cooker beans, just skip step 1. 😉 Does that help?
Lois says
Yes it does…. thank you so much!! But one more question if I may. If I choose to soak beans as recipe calls for how long do I soak them before simmering for the hour and 15 minutes? Btw, you totally rock…
Rebecca says
Thanks so much, Lois! The slow-cooker recipe is soak free, so if you opt for doing it that way, you don’t have to soak them. If you opt to do the recipe as written here, a soak is usually 8 to 12 hours. 🙂
Jukkisoo says
I made this for my grown son, and we both loved it. It IS the orange juice. I had some butternut squash, so used that instead of sweet potato. I also didn’t have any tomatoes, so added some tomato sauce. I made buttermilk cornbread, and it was great crumbled on top. It is equally good leftover. Thanks!
Jenn says
I made this recipe the other day and it was OUTSTANDING! I have never cared for sweet potatoes (I like my foods savory) and I was absolutely amazed how wonderful this stew was. My husband and I started eating gluten-free and low fat, and this meal tasted like a meal that was fattening, and yet it wasn’t! That’s the type of food, that keeps us on this lifestyle…. Thank you!!!
Amber says
I loved loved loved the look and sound of this stew. I have now made it and it looks nothing like the picture at all. It’s brown and not dark. And I’m worried that I missed something lol it tastes lovely, but not quite right. Maybe I didn’t blend/purée it enough, it’s quite chunky. Thoughts or suggestions?
Rebecca says
Hmmm. I’m kind of at a loss. Since beans are a natural product, each batch can be a little different. If it tastes lovely, I’d call that a win! 😀 If you’d like it less chunky, by all means, puree it a little longer. I like my stews a bit on the ‘meatier’ side. 🙂
Kristin says
Mine didn’t turn out dark and beautiful either. I think the difference is I discarded the water I used to soften my beans, as I’ve heard that gets rid of some of the chemicals that cause tummy issues for folks.
Tag-Along says
I found this recipe a couple weeks ago. I wanted to make a “side” dish for Thanksgiving I knew no-one else was going to make or has ever tried. I can’t wait to make this! I soaked the beans last night. I’m substituting 1/4 of the black beans for marrowfat beans. They have a very smoky tone so I can have the bacon tone without actually adding it. I can keep this totally vegan! (I’m not a vegan, but I like the idea of having no diary or meat in it.)
Traci says
This turned out great!!
Chris says
I love this, I could see adding some shredded jerk chicken thighs into this great dish.
Lauren says
How long should the beans be soaked for?
Katie @ Produce on Parade says
Oh yum, yum, yum this looks perfect! It’s that soupy time of year 🙂
Jeff @ Cheese-burger.net says
This is an amazing vegan recipe. Whoever said that vegan food aren’t as delicious.
TraceyD says
How long do you soak the beans for? I have previously used the overnight soak and the boil and wait soaking methods.
As usual I did not come to my computer today looking for more food recipes, but your photo on that darn pinterest ; ) got me!
Thanks for sharing.
Rebecca says
GREAT QUESTION! I soak them at least four hours. Sometimes overnight… but four hours is my minimum! And I’m awfully glad you came!
Andrea says
I love your interruptions. So glad to her that I’m not the only one who gets this sort of thing when I’m trying to get something done on the computer!
It rained here over the weekend, which is a bit unusual for mid-September, but put me so totally in the mood for Fall food. This recipe is on board for tomorrow night! Thanks again for the chuckle and inspiration!
Chris @ Shared Appetite says
Wow this soup sounds so amazing, especially on one of the rapidly approaching cool fall nights. Thanks for the inspiration!
Sommer @ ASpicyPerspective says
Great-looking warm-weather meal!
Karissa Sjaarda says
Okay, here’s the three things I know about long pinky fingernails. (besides that they are SO gross to look at). It’s just men who do this. Two, so the illegitimate is probably what you’re thinking–a way to sniff up the illegal stuff. BUT, after spending a year in Vietnam and seeing this there as well, we learned that long fingernails are an outward sign that you do not do manual labor. You’ll also see both men and women completely cover up when they are outside so that their skin does not tan. Light skin is desirable because, again, it’s a sign that you do not work outside, but have a (potentially) better job, that has you inside.
Happy Valley Chow says
Wow that is a beautiful looking stew, so much flavor! Also, that spoon looks pretty awesome, very unique haha.
Happy Blogging!
granny says
The long pinkie nail is used as a scoop for cocaine powder for snorting purposes.
Tieghan says
This looks and sounds so incredible!! Perfect way to kick off fall for sure!
Tonia says
I’ve often wondered about the extra long pinky fingernail myself.
I’m going to put my beans on to soak right now. . .thank you!
April says
I love using dried beans vs. canned. You’re so right, the texture is spot on! I never would have thought to pair black beans with orange juice. Sounds delish!