Gooey-Good Black Bean Soup

I am not a vegetarian. I have no intention to become vegetarian. The word "vegan" makes me crave fried chicken. I like meat and I lobby for fair treatment of both animals and the workers who process animals for food because, damnit, meat tastes nice.

That said, this dish is vegetarian. Vegan, if you skip the delicious cheese, sour cream, and cornbread (which you really, really shouldn't). I found the recipe online here and made it for the simple reason that I was hungry and had all of the ingredients on hand to make it. Well. I had half the ingredients, as in half of the listed requirements for the ingredients, so I made a half-batch. That gave us enough food for four meals, total, so a full batch would make eight meals, almost enough for a week's worth of lunches. That, in my opinion, is downright swank.

Plus, it doesn't really call for anything that spoils readily, save for the sour cream (cheese lasts longer than sour cream) so it's the kind of meal that you could have the stuff on hand to make and make when you don't feel like cooking or going grocery shopping, and your conscience is telling you not to call Pinky's Pizza again, for the love of both your wallet and your cholesterol. =_=

Enough out of me. Enjoy!

Gooey-Good Black Bean Soup
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (dry) black beans OR 2 15-oz cans black beans, drained (rinsed if you're scared of the salt/sugar)
Water to soak the beans if you go with dry beans

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, coarse-chopped

1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne red pepper

2 cups water
2/3 cup prepared salsa
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp lime juice (or lemon if you, like me, have that handy but NOT lime juice)

1 good-size sweet potato, peeled and chopped
Sour cream for topping
Monterrey jack cheese for topping
Tasty, tasty cornbread


Instructions
- Soak your beans AT LEAST 24 hours. I don't know why, but these little devils do NOT soak quickly like other kinds of beans, and they are BAD when not properly softened.
- If you're using tinned beans (lazy bastard), open the can, drain the beans, rinse them some.

- Warm oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the onion and let it caramelize. This means leaving it alone an worrying constantly that you're going to burn it, if you're me, which you're not, and that's just sad for you.
- I usually use this time to measure out all my spices into one of those neato little spice-cups you see fancy chefs using in TV cooking shows (thanks, Ma-in-law, your gift of little spice-cups makes me feel fancy)

- Once the onion's browned and starting to go translucent (maybe 3ish minutes), add the chili powder, cumin, black pepper, and red pepper.
- Stir it all around until it's decently evenly distributed.
- Add the water, salsa, salt, and lime/lemon juice.
- If you're using tinned beans, toss them in, too. If you're using soaked beans, drain them, then toss them in.

- Simmer heartily an hour and a half if you're using soaked beans, 10 stupid minutes if you're using tinned.
- If you're going with soaked beans, you're going to need to add water. A LOT of water. I think I added an additional 3 cups last time I made this. Oh, and CHECK YOUR BEANS BEFORE MOVING ON TO THE NEXT STEP. Make sure they're cooked down. Under-cooked beans are NASTY.

- Use the simmer time to peel and chop your sweet potatoes. They should be maybe 1/2" to 3/4" thick and cut into like 1" or smaller pieces.
- Toss them into the pot and let them boil ~20 minutes, at least. They will fall apart some. This is a good thing - thickens the chili.
- Serve over cornbread topped with cheese and sour cream. Mmm.

 Enjoy!