Red bean soup–Another meal-for-one!

 

I had a good day today, met a friend and her adorable daughters in the evening, and generally had a lot of time for myself, to think, to introspect and to wonder about life… But then one of the inevitable things in life is food, and like everyday of this month, I had to make something for myself, yet another meal-for-one. Seriously, thinking of a new meal every single day is tiresome even for a foodie like me, especially if the meal has to fit in what-I-think-is-healthy-bucket. Phew!

I wasn’t in a great mood to eat food, I had the awesome Banaganapalle mangoes at hand, as a life-saver if I were to get really hungry at night and so I decided to make something super light for dinner. Like a soup. I could’ve had Maggi, but since the food-revolution in the household which started a couple of years back, all packaged food is

Yday, I had tweeted asking for suggestions for a meal-for-one, and one of the suggestions I got from Kishi was this easy no-fuss-meal.

Now, while tidying up the grocery unit over the weekend (yeah, an annual activity in the household), among a zillion items that I already have 2-3 sachets/packets of, I also found a packet of kidney beans (rajma). In an attempt to get to them sometime this week, (God alone knows how , I am meeting friends every single day of the week, and yet I plan for dinner at home every single day!) I soaked them to soften them. So I read the recipe from the link above, made a quick mental math on what ingredients I actually have handy, and gave it my own spin. Here it is…

Ingredients
Red Beans – 100 gms , soaked overnight and pressure-cooked till soft
Spring Onions – 4-5, chopped
Garlic – 5-6 cloves, chopped or crushed in a mortar-pestle
Tomato – 1 , cut into medium sized chunks

Olive oil – 1 tbsp
Herbs like Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Basil – 1 tsp each
Paprika Powder – 2 tsp (depending on how spicy you want it to be)
Sea salt – a pinch, or per taste
Mexican Seasoning – Optional, I use the ones from Keya

Instructions
In a deep-bottom pan, heat the olive oil, and slightly roast the garlic and onion pieces in it. Put in half the amount of boiled red beans to this, and roast it slightly. Now add the tomato pieces to this mixture, and let it cook for 5 minutes on a medium flame.
Now add the herbs to this mixture, and mix well, so that the veggies and beans take in the flavour of the herbs. Add the salt, and paprika powder to this, and close the pan with the lid, and cook for another 5 minutes on medium flame.
Turn off the stove and let this mixture cool for a bit.

Now, mix these well enough in a mixer with the remaining beans and just a little water. The resulting paste should be thick enough.

Transfer the contents from the mixer into the pan and add some water to this. Now boil the contents. Add the paprika powder and salt again to suit your taste, and add a pinch of the seasoning, if required.

Bring this thick mixture to a boil, garnish with onions, garlic and coriander leaves.

Serve hot as it is or with toasted bread, or garlic bread.

Optional – You can add more water to this if you like, but since the whole purpose of eating the bean soup is to get as many proteins as possible, I made it very thick.