Caldinho de Feijão – Brazilian Creamy Black Bean Soup for Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays

I'm taking part in #FoodandLit on my favorite book site, Litsy. Each month we read books from a different country, try foods, cook foods and do other things that immerse us into the culture. This month it's Brazil! I have a few different Brazilian-inspired recipes on this blog, including a couple of soups. This Sunday I wanted black bean soup so I found a recipe for Caldinho de Feijão – Brazilian Creamy Black Bean Soup.

I got the recipe from Brazilian Kitchen Abroad, where the blog author has lots of recipes I'd like to make for various dishes and components with a Brazilian flair. She gives the option of making seasoned black beans for the soup or for pepping up canned black beans if you are lazy like me. 

She says, "I grew up eating this soup, and it’s been one of my favorite bean dishes since I was a kid. But, this creamy black bean soup, or caldinho de feijão how we call it in Portuguese, is such a popular dish that it’s also a common appetizer in bars and at winter parties, where it’s often served in mugs or little shooter glasses"

Sounds good to me! I made this mostly to the recipe, opting out on the bacon and adding a touch of liquid smoke and a little extra cumin for smokiness. I had been seeing other Littens trying BraziBread, a Brazilian-style cheese bread and I found a locally made version to serve with the soup.

Caldinho de Feijão – Brazilian Creamy Black Bean Soup

Very Slightly Adapted from Alina at Brazilian Kitchen Abroad

(Makes 4 large or 6 small servings)

 

2 Tbsp olive oil + more for serving if desired

1 small onion diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups of cooked black beans with liquid or 2 cans (I used 3 cans)

(I added 1 tsp liquid smoke)

(I added 1 tsp ground cumin)

(I added 2 bay leaves) 

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (I used 1 tsp)

sea salt and black pepper

lime juice, optional

 

Toppings: lime wedges, jalapeno slices, cilantro, sour cream, hot sauce

In a large sauce pan or soup pot heat up olive oil, add the onion and saute until onion turns translucent 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and saute another 2-3 minutes until fragrant Add in the beans, plus 2 cups of water or broth, the liquid smoke, cumin, bay leaves,white wine vinegar, the smoked paprika, Worcestershire, sauce, and salt and black pepper to taste. Bring soup to a gentle boil. Cook soup about 15 minutes to blend flavors and turn off the heat.  Let the soup cool a few minutes, then, blend it until creamy with a blender, or immersion blender. Taste and add more seasoning as needed. I added the juice of one lime.  Serve in mugs or bowls, topped with your favorite toppings. and enjoy!   

 Notes/Results: Creamy, smoky and savory, this is a simple and tasty soup. I liked the brightness and acidity the vinegar and lime give the earthy beans and the cheese bread was a good dipper. I need to look up the Brazilian cheese bread and see if it was just my local version that has taro root/mochi in it. An easy lunch or dinner, I would happily make it again. 

 

We've got a lot of friends in the Souper Sundays kitchen today, let's see who is here:

The Crafty Gardener shared Potato & Pasta Soup saying, "My latest soup, potato & pasta, should be called the whatever soup as it turned into whatever was available to add from the cupboard, fridge and freezer. Cook until all veggies are soft. Usually I partially puree my soups but this one was left just as is. If you want a creamier soup you can add a bit more milk. Delicious!"

 

Kim of Stirring the Pot made Split Pea Soup with Crisp Kielbasa and says, "I have to say we were not overly impressed. Don't get me wrong, the soup is good and if you love split pea soup then you would love this recipe! The crispy kielbasa is really great and the soup is A LOT better the second day, but it's just not something that we crave or feel we need to eat on a regular basis. So, if split pea soup is your jam, then you'd probably love this recipe..."

Debra of Eliot's Eats is here with a Fennel Salad with Toasted Walnuts and Blue Cheese she created for Food 'N Flix saying, "The toasted walnuts add more crunch to this fennel salad and the blue cheese just adds the right amount of creaminess (and tang). ... I would definitely slice my fennel thinner next time and use a mandoline. This salad was just as good or better the next day for lunch."

 

Judee of Gluten Free A- Z Blog teaches us How to Make a Great Salad on her blog this week, she says "I only make salad twice a week, but I make enough salad for the entire 7 days! To minimize mess and clean up, I make enough salad for 4 days. I place some of it in a bowl for our dinner and then divide the remainder of the salad into 3 Mason jars. ... Our salad was crisp and crunchy and the dressing just put it over the top. I like salad plain, but I love salad with dressing-especially Avocado dressing. I like the creamy texture and fresh mild taste that avocado add to a dressing."

Finally Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen brought Sweet Potato Cumin Soup and said, "Ideally I would liked to have put some fresh coriander to the soup as I think it would have cut through some of the sweetness, a little like lemon.  But i cannot remember the last time we had fresh coriander at home; and I will confess its one soft herb, I struggle to grow at home.  Nevertheless, it was still a good soup to eat with homemade bread, albeit from the bread machine."

Thank you to everyone for joining me this week!

 

(If you aren't familiar with Souper Sundays, you can read about of the origins of it here.
 

If you would like to join in Souper (Soup, Salad, and Sammie) Sundays, I would love to have you! Here's how...

To join in this week's Souper Sunday's linkup with your soup, salad or sandwich:

• Link up your soup (stew, chili, soupy curries, etc. are fine), salad, or sandwich dish, (preferably one from the current week or month--but we'll take older posts too) on the picture link below and leave a comment on this post so I am sure not to miss you. Also please see below for what to do on your blog post that you link up to Souper Sundays in order to be included in the weekly round-up.

and 

On your entry post (on your blog):

• Mention Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays at Kahakai Kitchen and add a link back to this post. (Not to be a pain but it's polite and only fair to link back to events you link up at--so if you link a post up here without linking back to this post or my blog on your post, it will be removed.)
• You are welcome to add the Souper Sundays logo to your post and/or blog (completely optional).

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Have a happy healthy week!