Black
Bean Soup is a quick vegetarian dish you can make when you're
pressed for time. Made with black beans and spinach, this South Indian
vegetarian kootu (soup) is nutritious and filling, and helps you get
some of
your daily requirements of protein and iron.
Servings: 4 Cooking Time: 15
minutes
Ingredients
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
2 1/2 cups of spinach, chopped
Salt to taste
For Kootu Masala
2 1/2 tsp chana dal (split bengal gram)
1 tsp toor dal (split red gram)
1 tsp urad dal (split black gram)
5 red chillies
Asafoetida powder (hing), a pinch
1/4 cup dry, grated coconut
For Seasoning
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds (rai)
Asafoetida powder (hing), a pinch
Preparation
In a deep pan, boil spinach with a little water and
salt.
When the spinach is half cooked, add 3/4 of the black
beans.
Roast the masala ingredients: the dals first, until
brown, then the chillies and coconut. Grind all these with a little
hing and water into a coarse paste.
Add the kootu masala to the spinach and beans.
Grind the remaining black beans into a coarse paste
and add this to the soup along with 1 cup of water.
For seasoning, heat the oil in a small pan. Add the
hing and mustard seeds. When the seeds start popping, pour it over the
soup and stir. Add salt as needed.
Let the soup come to a boil.
Serve the black bean soup hot with hot rice and a
little ghee (clarified butter).