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Sopa negra
Black bean soup with egg
Sopa negra: Costa Rican black bean broth with soft-boiled egg
Costa Rican grandmothers make sopa negra with the broth from the week's pot of black beans, and in San José sodas it comes to the table steaming, with a soft-boiled egg halved into the bowl and rice or tortillas alongside. The broth is thin rather than creamy, savoury with sofrito of onion, sweet pepper, celery and culantro, and half the beans are blended to give it body. It is rainy-season comfort food. Blending all the beans is the common mistake: you lose the whole beans that make it a soup rather than a purée. Chef's tip: cook the eggs for exactly 6½ minutes so the yolks stay jammy and melt into the hot broth.
- Total time
- 45 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ lb cooked black beans2 × 400 g tins with their liquid, or homemade
- 3 ¼ cups water
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 onionfinely chopped
- 1 red sweet pepperfinely chopped
- 1 celery stickfinely chopped
- 3 cloves garliccrushed
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ oz fresh coriander or culantrochopped
- 4 eggs
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a pot over a medium heat and soften 1 onion, 1 red sweet pepper and 1 celery stick until sweet and just colouring. Add 3 cloves garlic, ½ tsp ground cumin and ½ tsp dried oregano for 1 minute.
10 minStep 2: Blend half the 1 ¾ lb cooked black beans with 250 ml of the 3 ¼ cups water until smooth.
Step 3: Add the blended beans, the whole beans with their liquid, the rest of the water and 1 tsp salt to the pot. Simmer for 15 minutes until the broth tastes rich and slightly thickened.
15 minStep 4: Meanwhile lower 4 eggs into boiling water and cook for 6½ minutes, then cool in cold water and peel.
8 minStep 5: Stir ½ oz fresh coriander or culantro into the soup, ladle into bowls and add a halved egg to each.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 300 kcal
- Protein
- 18 g
- Carbs
- 34 g
- Fat
- 10 g
- Fibre
- 12 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does sopa negra take?
- About 45 minutes in total: 10 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of cooked black beans?
- Kidney or pinto beans, same amount.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
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