Ingredients
- 2 cups dried black beans
- 8 cups beef stock
- 8-10 slices of bacon
- 4 shallots, diced
- 3 carrots, diced
- 1 jalapeno, diced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, diced
- a small handful of fresh cilantro
- salt
- pepper
- cumin
- turmeric
- chili powder
- crushed red pepper
- white pepper
- bay leaf
Yogurt Crema
- 1/2 cup whole milk plain or Greek yogurt
- small handful fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
- juice from 1/2 a lime
- a dash of ground cumin
Directions
- Soak the beans overnight OR boil the beans in water for a few minutes, cover, remove from heat and let sit for about an hour. Or cook in a pressure cooker if you’ve got one.
- Heat stock in a large pot.
- Cook bacon in a skillet and set aside. Reserve bacon grease in a bowl, leaving a few tablespoons in the skillet. Chop bacon into bits. Leave some for serving atop the soup and add the rest of the bits back to the pan.
- Add shallots to skillet and saute for a few minutes. Add pepper, jalapeno, garlic and bay leaf and saute for a few more minutes.
- Add skillet ingredients, beans, and remaining ingredients to the hot stock in the large pan. Let simmer for about an hour.
- Remove bay leaf. Use immersion blender to bring the soup to desired consistency. Add handful of cilantro and season to desired taste if more salt/pepper is needed.
- Mix together yogurt crema ingredients.
- Serve soup with a dollop of yogurt crema sprinkled with bacon bits.