Chunky Chilli Bean Soup

After travelling through 5 states during our trip to take Mom's ashes home and settle her business, we were really tired of restaurant food and were looking forward to eating just regular meals.  One staple of my diet is soup, I really missed that while away.  So I found a recipe that sounded interesting in the WeightWatchers The Complete Kitchen cookbook.  It was delicious and so easy, with ingredients readily found in a kitchen. So here it is! 

Chunky Chilli Bean Soup

1 onion chopped
1.2 litres (2 pints) vegetable stock
3 celery sticks, diced
1 red pepper, de-seeded and diced
1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and diced
2 teaspoons cumin  *
a pinch dried chilli flakes
2 tablespoons tomato puree
400g can chopped tomatoes
410g can kidney beans, in water, drained and rinsed **
198g can sweetcorn, drained
juice of a lime
3 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

1.  Place the onion in a large lidded saucepan with 100ml (3 1/2 fl oz) of the stock.  Cover and cook for 3 minutes then add the celery and peppers.  Cover again and cook for a further 5 minutes.

2.  Add the cumin or whatever spice you use, chilli flakes and tomato puree  and cook for 1 minute, stirring to bring out the flavour, before adding the chopped tomatoes and the rest of the stock.  Bring back to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. 

3.  Add the beans and sweetcorn to the soupand simmer for 5 minutes.  Mix in the lime juice and serve the soup scattered with the coriander. 

16 Propoints per recipe
Serves 6
Vegetarian

As you can see by the picture, the only way I can figure out what the serving size is, is to just put the soup in 6 containers when getting ready to store it! 

* I used "Magic Swamp Dust" a spice mix I bought in New Orleans since I cannot use cumin
**  Since I don't care for kidney beans, I soaked a cup of mixed beans I bought at Holland & Barratt over night, boiled them following the instructions and then added them to the soup.

This soup was delicious and I enjoyed every bit of it!  And everyone around me was really interested in it since it smelled fantastic and looked great!  So easy to make....


“There is nothing like soup. It is by nature eccentric: no two are ever alike, unless of course you get your soup in a can.”
Laurie Colwin, 'Home Cooking' (1988)