Black Bean, Cuban Style This simple black bean recipe is based from Cuban cuisine with a touch of sweetness and delicious over rice and staple food in Latin countries. Like many of you I am trying to incorporate more legumes and substituting meat for other sources of protein. Growing up in Brazil, rice and bean was a staple food in every meal…therefore I really take pleasure and a mix of nostalgia when I eat rice and bean. As you might be aware bean dishes are cooked in so many ways according to its Country tradition. In Brazil, we have the famous “feijoada” which uses black beans with all kind of meat in it, super tasty and flavorful…on the other had we have the “feijao”, meaning beans, which is serve daily for lunch and dinner over rice and much simpler flavor. Today, I am sharing another bean stew, which I learned after searching the internet and realized why the Cuban bean dish taste so different from the Brazilian one…bell pepper and a bit of sugar. It is amazing that just by adding these two ingredients the flavor of the bean is totally altered. The creamy bean stew over rice is so good…plain and simple and yet so satisfying. This recipe was adapted from here with some changes. Ingredients: 1lb dried black bean 1 bay leaf 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium size onion, chopped 1 large green bell pepper, cut into small pieces 7-8 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 tablespoons cider vinegar 1 teaspoon sugar Salt and pepper to taste Method: Wash and soak the beans overnight, changing the water a couple of times in between. Rinse of the water and place the beans in a pot with approximately 5 cup of water and bay leaf. Let it boil and then simmer for approximately 60 minutes until the beans and cooked throughout. Remove the suds when the beans come to boil and add more water as needed, making sure that the beans are covered. Alternatively you can use a thermo cooker by adding the beans, bay leaf and water. Let it boil, remove the suds and place the pot in the thermo cooker overnight or until ready to add the other ingredients. Once the black beans are cooked, in a large pan heat the oil and add onion, garlic and bell pepper and sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about 4-5 minutes. Add approximately 1 cup of beans to pan. Using the back of spoon smash beans against the wall of the pan, or alternatively use an immersion hand blender. Add remaining beans, oregano, sugar, vinegar and water as needed. Simmer until mixture thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste, stirring occasionally. Serve over rice as side dish with chicken, meat, ham, fried egg or with anything you wish. – For more Latin America cuisine dishes, please check these out… Did you know that beans are an excellent source of protein, very low in fat and exceptionally high in fiber? They are also a very good source of calcium, iron, folic acid and potassium. Thank you for visiting Color Your Recipes…have a colorful week! Simple Black-Eyed Pea Soup Don’t you love a bowl of thick and hearty soup as a meal when the weather is cold? You cannot go wrong with this black-eyed pea soup… How could I go by this winter without sharing a soup recipe? Don’t take me wrong, I have cooked many pots of soup however did not document therefore no posts were shared. Can you believe that this is my first time cooking black-eyed pea soup? My initial question was why is this called pea as they share similar shape as beans? This is where internet comes handy…apparently peas and beans are legumes and seeds from a pod. Some suggest that when the seeds are round they are called peas and when the seeds are elongated are called beans. Regardless of what you want to call these black-eyed seeds (avoiding conflicts…) this is the first time I had used black-eyed seed in soup. Like most of the beans or peas, the cooking time will be greatly reduced if they are soaked overnight. In this recipe I treated the black-eyed peas as I would use any other bean when making soup. You can add whatever “meat” you want, especially from pork such as ham, bacon and sausage, but feel free to use any kind of protein, or if you prefer you can make it vegetarian as well, it is totally up to your preference. I choose to use Kitchen Accomplice Chicken Broth Reduced Sodium to add an extra flavor to the soup. Before I go on…I got many products from Kitchen Accomplice free of charge and I did not receive any compensation for this post and all the content and opinion in this post are solely mine. The squeezable bottles are very neat and super easy to use, just squeeze the amount you need and it will add lots of flavors to your soup/dish. Kitchen Accomplices carries many products to enhance your dishes just by adding a little squeeze…I yet have to try the other products, but it they are like the chicken broth I used in this soup, I will definitely be using it in my kitchen. Ingredients: 1 ½ cup dried black-eyed peas 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil 1 small onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 3 carrots, diced 3 zucchinis, diced 4 cups water 2 tablespoons Kitchen Accomplice Chicken Broth Reduced Sodium ½ lb sausage of your preference Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste Baby spinach leaves Method: Wash the black-eyed peas and cover with water, approximately 2in above the beans. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature for 8 hours or overnight; drain well. In a large pot add the water and the peas, cook for approximately 40 to 45 minutes until the peas are tender. Alternatively you can use thermos cooker, pressure cooker, or any other method you like. In another pan heat olive oil over medium heat. Stir fry the sliced sausage, remove and set aside. In the same pan add onion and garlic, cook until they are fragrant. Add the peas, carrots and chicken broth, cook, stirring occasionally. Once boiled add zucchini and sausage. Season with salt, pepper to your taste. Just before serving, place a desired amount of spinach in the serving bowl, scoop the hot black-eyed soup on it. Stir gently and serve hot. Id you enjoy this hearty black-eyed pea soup you might want to try an Asian inspired soup…Kabocha with Miso. Did you know that ½ cup of dry black- eyed peas are low in fat and provide more than 20% of the daily recommended amount of fiber? Thank you for stopping by Color Your Recipes…have a colorful week! Kabocha Soup with Miso This is an Asian inspired pumpkin soup made with kabocha and a hint of miso. It is creamy and loaded with umami flavor. Pumpkin season…all kind of squashes…I love them all…all kind of shape and texture…every different squash has its own quality. Since my parents got a lot of Japanese influence when growing up, our table too was a reflection of it…and kabocha squash (Japanese pumpkin) was often seeing, either steamed or sauté…and of course I carried all my mom’s cooking tips with me…and often I call her to find out how she did this or that…and I add my “touch” into it. I have been seeing this squash all year round in regular grocery store, even at Trader Joe’s…this squash is somehow sweeter than the other species, and the texture is somehow in between sweet potato and the flaky chestnut. I usually scrub well the skin, cut into 1 to 1 ½ in cubes and steam or cook with a bit of water and serve as a side dish or add to salad. Because I decided to make soup, I removed the skin, so the color of the soup would look nicer, but if you do not care for it, go ahead and leave the skin. The combination of the sweetness of the kabocha with the salty miso gives the ultimate “umami” flavor, a very unique and exquisite one. Ingredients: Approximately 500 g kabocha, steamed 3 to 4 garlic cloves, finely minced 1 small onion, chopped 1 tablespoons olive oil 5 to 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth 2 tablespoons white miso diluted in 2 tablespoons of water Salt and pepper to taste Scallion for garnish Method: Wash the kabocha squash and dry it before cutting. Please be careful as the squash is somehow very hardy. Remove the seeds and the pulp with a large spoon. Cut into slices of approximately 1 in wedge. You can use the seed for roasting. Place the kabocha in a steamer with enough water. Steam the squash under high heat for approximately 10 minutes. Once cooked it can be served cold in salad or drizzled with miso sauce. For the soup continue with the following. In the medium pot sauté onion and garlic with olive oil under medium heat until the onion is soft, be careful not to burn. Add the broth either vegetable or chicken. Then add the steamed kabocha and the diluted miso paste. Let it boil for a couple of minutes and remove from the heat. At this point you can either transfer the soup mixture to a blender or use a emulsion stick to puree the soup.