Food on the Road: Black Bean Soup

We've only been traveling for a few weeks, but we've already learned that food on the road is a bit of a balancing act. It's much easier to eat meals out at a restaurant, and it's a neat way to get a feel for a culture and it's cuisine. But it's also expensive, and not the healthiest way to live!

To keep our costs (and health) in control, we're trying to cook a few meals each week. Thankfully, most hostels have kitchens available for guests to use. Often they're not the fanciest of kitchens (they often lack any kind of sophisticated cooking tools like, say, ovens or blenders), but they usually have the basic tools we need to make a meal for ourselves.

We're trying to make the most of our "hostel-cooked" meals. Ideally, our meals will be:

1. Filling. Tom gets cranky when he's hungry.

2. Relatively healthy. Right now we're in the land of (amazing) beef and red wine, so ideally these meals will give usa dose or two of veggies.

3. Inexpensive.
4. Simple and pretty quick to make. We don't want to spend our whole trip sitting in a kitchen!

We'd also like to make use of leftovers, so that we don't waste food and we don't have to lug ingredients around the world!

So, with that overly-thorough introduction, here's our first recipe:

   Black Bean Soup

  

Black bean soup. Served with wine.

   Ingredients:

   4 cloves garlic, minced
   1 onion (small), chopped
   1/2 red pepper, chopped
   1/2 green pepper, chopped
   1 carrot, chopped
   2 tablespoons of cumin (or, to taste)
   2 tablespoons of olive oil
   Small chunk of beef
   Black beans (about half a bag)
   Diced tomatos (half a can)
   2 bullion cubes

   For garnish:

   1 avocado
   Bunch of greens (I think we used arugula)
   Sour cream or yogurt (we used Doble Crema, and we're still  not sure what it is!)

   Directions:

   Step 1 - Soak the beans for a long time (we soaked them for about 24 hours.) Then, boil the beans in a pot of water with the two bullion cubes (we used enough water to cover the beans, plus another inch or so.)

   Step 2 - While the beans are boiling, chop up all of the vegetables. Saute them in a small pot with olive oil and a bit of cumin.

   Step 3 - Cut up the beef into bite-sized pieces, then brown them in a small pan.

   Step 4 - Once the beans are soft enough to eat, add in the vegetables, beef and tomatoes. Simmer 5-10 minutes, then serve. Add garnish to taste. 

This meal was a perfect conclusion to a long day of hiking in sprinkling rain. The hike was gorgeous, but the cool, damp air left us craving a warm fire and a big bowl of stew. This definitely fit the bill. And, it hit all of our four requirements.

Tom, chowing down.

We'll definitely make some version of this stew again. It's pretty inexpensive and easy to make. It doesn't need any fancy equipment-- the only thing it needs is time. 

Share some recipes with us in the comments! And if you have any ideas on how to make this recipe tastier, cheaper or easier, please let us know!

-R