Serves 8
Prep time: 8 hours
Cook time: 5 hours 15 minutes
This take on a traditional Cuban Black Bean Soup cultivates a distinctive taste with tender and juicy smoked ham hock. The creamy and fiery Black Bean Soup is made with rich India Tree Black Beans and coarse-ground India Tree Tellicherry Pepper.
Ingredients
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1 pound dried Black Beans
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1 medium onion, finely chopped
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1 medium green bell pepper, finely chopped
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3 cloves of garlic, minced
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1 ham bone or smoked ham hock
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1/2 cup olive oil
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2 teaspoons India Tree Sea Salt
- Freshly ground Tellicherry Pepper
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1/3 cup distilled white or apple cider vinegar
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Cooked rice, for serving (optional)
Garnish with (optional)
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Sour cream
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Chopped raw onion
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Chopped red bell pepper
Equipment
- Colander
- Large soup pot
- Medium-sized bowl
- Sharp paring knife
Instructions
- The night before cooking the soup, rinse the Black Beans with cold running water in a colander. Pick out any beans that are broken or shriveled. Place the beans in a large (4 quarts or larger) Dutch oven or soup pot with a lid and cover with enough cold water so that it comes to one inch over the top of the beans. Soak overnight.
- Drain the beans, then return the beans to the pot. Add enough cold water so that it covers the beans by an inch. Add the onion, garlic, ham bone or hock, olive oil, Sea Salt, and a generous quantity of Tellicherry Pepper. Stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil over high heat. Skim off any white foam, then reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer until the beans are very soft and the soup is creamy, not watery, for 4 to 5 hours. Check after 2 hours. If the beans seem dry or stewy, add another cup of water. The final consistency should be velvety and thick, and the soup should coat the back of a spoon. (The beans will soften in the first two hours. The goal is to continue cooking the soup until some of the beans break down and create the smooth, thick soup base.)
- When the soup is nearly finished, stir in the vinegar and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes more. Pull the ham bone out of the pot. The meat that hasn’t already fallen off should be easy to pick off; coarsely chop and return the meat to the pot.
- Serve over rice if desired, garnished with chopped raw onions and sour cream. Add some sweet fried plantains as a side dish!
