Ellie Krieger

THE WASHINGTON POST – The chicken soup I grew up eating, my grandmother and generations before her made, is such a part of who I am, I cook it from deeply ingrained memory, and I make it often. But recently, while I was starting to whip up a batch, I had the urge to spike it with a warming tingle of ginger instead of the usual dill.

That tweak opened a wide gate, which ultimately led to this deeply delicious, nutritious recipe my grandmother would have found totally unfamiliar.

Along with the ginger, I added garlic and turmeric to bring both flavour and additional anti-inflammatory benefits to the usual onion-carrot-celery trio. I used chicken broth and added breast meat, as she would have, but you could use vegetable broth and omit the chicken to make it vegetarian if you prefer. Instead of the usual egg noodles, I went in a healthier direction with the add-ins, using a can of chickpeas for heartiness and vegetable protein, and green beans and spinach for more texture, colour and nutrition.

The result is a soup that seems the very essence of healing goodness, comforting, belly-warming and full of flavour. With its golden-hued broth, bounty of green vegetables and chickpeas, it may bear little resemblance to my grandmother’s soup, but I’m 100 per cent sure she would love it.

GOLDEN CHICKEN VEGETABLE SOUP WITH CHICKPEAS

This chicken soup is the very essence of healing goodness: comforting, belly-warming and full of flavour. The broth gets its golden hue from turmeric, and layers of flavour from ginger and garlic, all known for their anti-inflammatory benefits. With green beans, spinach and chickpeas, it is chock full of texture and vegetable nutrition, too. To make the soup vegetarian, use vegetable broth and omit the chicken.

Storage Notes: Leftover soup can be refrigerated for up to three days.

INGREDIENTS
– Two tablespoons olive oil
– Two medium carrots, diced
– Two stalks celery, diced
– One medium yellow onion, diced
– One tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
– Two cloves garlic, minced or finely grated
– One teaspoon fine salt
– Half teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
– Half teaspoon ground turmeric
– Eight cups low-sodium chicken broth
– Eight ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast
– One can no-salt-added chickpeas, drained and rinsed or one-and-a-half cups cooked chickpeas
– Four ounces green beans, trimmed and cut into one-inch pieces
– Two cups baby spinach, coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS
In a large soup pot over medium heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the carrots, celery and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, about five minutes. Stir in the ginger, garlic, salt, pepper and turmeric and cook for one minute more. Add the broth and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the chicken. Simmer, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.

Transfer the chicken to a plate. Add the chickpeas and green beans to the pot, increase the heat to medium-high and return the broth to a boil.

Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, until the green beans are tender, about 10 minutes. While the green beans are softening, use two forks to tear the chicken into bite-size pieces. When the green beans are tender, return the chicken, with any accumulated juices, to the pot.

Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, about one minute. Remove from the heat, ladle into bowls and serve hot.

G Daniela Galarza

THE WASHINGTON  POST – Cooks across the Caribbean and Latin America have for centuries turned stewed black beans into a delicious art. Hundreds of dishes are based on the nutritious staple, which is indigenous to the Americas.

“In the New World, the remains of beans were found in a Peruvian Andean cave dated to 6000BC Mentions of black beans show up in the writings of ancient Mayans,” wrote my editor Joe Yonan, in Cool Beans: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking with the World’s Most Versatile Plant-Based Protein.

Traditional Brazilian feijoada marries the velvety bean and a crunchy topping of toasted cassava flour and meat. Colombian and Venezuelan cooks season black beans with onions, garlic, sweet peppers and bay leaves. Peruvians add vinegar for frijoles escabechados.

Mexican cooks infuse frijoles negros de olla with chillies for a touch of heat. Throughout Central America, cooks top stewed black beans with chopped raw onion, cilantro or simple salsas. Cuban black beans often start with a sofrito and are especially pungent with garlic and cilantro. Haitian cooks add fresh coconut and puree the stewed beans into the sauce known as sos pwa nwa.

This recipe, for coconut and black bean soup with a mango and avocado salsa, is an homage to this legacy.

It starts with sauteed onions and garlic, plus tomato paste and cumin – a sort of cheater sofrito. Cooked or canned black beans go in next, along with canned coconut milk. The inky broth turns a stylish grey and is tinted pale scarlet with a bit of ground chillies.

Puree half of this mixture, then be sure to heat it through and season it well. You may wish to add more salt or spice, a squeeze of lime or splash of vinegar. Then, referencing Mexican and Central American traditions and Caribbean fruits, I suggest a salsa topping, a slightly sweet and acidic salad of mango, avocado, red onion, cilantro and lime juice. It’s lush and bright and offsets the density of this satisfying soup.

COCONUT BLACK BEAN SOUP WITH MANGO-AVOCADO SALSA

Ingredients
For the salsa
– One small red onion
– One ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
– One ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
– Three sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped
– One tablespoon fresh lime juice, plus more as needed
– Fine salt

For the soup
– One tablespoon coconut or vegetable oil
– Two cloves garlic, minced or finely grated
– Two tablespoons tomato paste
– One teaspoon ground cumin
– Half teaspoon ground chillies or smoked or hot paprika
– Two cans black beans, preferably no salt added, drained and rinsed
– One can coconut milk
– Three-quarter cup water or vegetable stock
– Half teaspoon fine salt, plus more as needed

Directions

Halve the onion. Grate one half on the large holes of a grater and set aside. Dice the other half.

Make the mango-avocado salsa: In a small bowl, combine the diced red onion, mango, avocado, cilantro and lime juice. Stir, and taste. Add more lime juice and/or a pinch of salt, if desired.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, heat the oil until it shimmers. Add the grated onion and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until it begins to look transparent and just starts to brown, about two minutes.

Add the garlic, tomato paste, cumin and ground chillies or paprika, and cook, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about one minute. Stir in the black beans, coconut milk and water or broth.

Bring to a boil and cook for five minutes. Add the salt, then taste, adding more, if needed.

Cook for another five minutes, stirring occasionally, then, using an immersion blender, partially puree the beans until the soup looks half creamy and half chunky, with some coconutty broth holding it all together. (To puree in a standing blender, using a ladle, transfer about half of the soup to a blender jar. Remove the vent in the blender’s lid to allow steam to escape and loosely cover it with a towel to prevent splatter. Blend on low until smooth, then stir the pureed soup back into the pot).

Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the mango salsa and serve, with extra salsa on the side.