Turtle (Black) Bean Soup, Slow Cooked: A Recipe

But first, some coffee.

I love my coffee. There is nothing that makes me feel so good about life, so warm and comforted, so safe in the world, as a great cup of coffee.

But my sadness is that most places don’t make a good cup of coffee. And it was this week that I realised just how scientific making coffee is. To be a good barista, it seems you need to be part scientist, part researcher, part technician, part foodie, part dishwasher, very analytical, very precise and detailed and above all, very consistent.

Adelaide does great coffee in general, thanks to our rich Italian heritage via huge immigration in the 1950′s. Our coffee is much better than Sydney’s or Melbourne’s (in general). And so there are places in Adelaide that do great coffee — Queen St Cafe above is one of those, or my favourite Cikolatte. But my interest in the making of a good cup of coffee all started this week with an all-too-familiar poor cup of coffee from a cafe that a friend recommended.

It was bitter, and the film that normally is left in the cup was thick and patterned, not a great sight. So I spoke to my favourite baristas to try and understand why a potentially good cup of coffee could go so wrong. Different people had different theories, including: lower quality beans (unlikely at this place), new beans improperly aerated, poor quality milk (possible at this time of year if they are buying local milk, or if they use a brand not good for coffee), burnt milk, using a milk jug that had contained burnt milk, poorly washed cups, badly texturised milk, ….. In summary, it could be the coffee, the cup, the milk or the barista.I have become obsessed with checking the film in the cup! Something that I had taken for granted all this time, and have now only begun to notice. What an insight it gives into the overall quality of the coffee making process.

I also had a chance to discuss cocoa/chocolate in or on a cappuccino with @coffeeadelaide on twitter. He is doing a great blog, visiting one cafe in Adelaide each week to review the coffee. Just the coffee, and I love that focus. He and I agree – no cocoa on our coffees please! In Adelaide it is currently the fashion to ladle about a kilo of cocoa on top of the coffee and I am not a great fan of the flavour adulteration that this causes to my beloved coffee.

Did you know that some places add their cocoa at the bottom of the cup before adding coffee and milk, some on top of the expresso before adding milk, but most (at least here in Adelaide) add it on top of the milk. I never knew that the “proper” place to add it is on top of the expresso.

I have come away with an increased respect for those who have the patience to get it all right when making coffee. Thank you Cen, Sam, Dan, Rachel, Peter – some of my favourite baristas in Adelaide.

Other places I have loved coffee:

• The Pursuit of Coffee in London
• The Best Coffee in the World. India.

Comfort, Soup and my Rice Cooker

Not only does coffee provide great joie d’vivre, so does a great soup on a cold night.

I have been playing with a couple of things at home this week. The first is using porridge as a savoury item. I love a well cooked, wet, steel-cut oats porridge treated the same way as congee with similar flavourings. And it works so well as a basis for a sloppy bean stew instead of rice. I love savoury breakfasts, so it is not a great leap for me to get over the “porridge as a sweet breakfast” barrier, but if this is unusual for you – I so encourage you to experiment.

Another wonderful and rewarding experiment is using my 4-functioned rice cooker to cook a range of other foods. And it is amazing how well it does. The settings are

• Rice Cooker (able to set this up to 9 hours ahead, so the rice gets a good soak before cooking – so good for the final flavour)
• Steamer (This gives great control over steaming foods, but I have to admit I do most of my steaming on top of the rice, stirring the results into the rice after it is cooked, with some spices and ghee. Think Spinach, asparagus, Chinese greens, tomatoes, cabbage, etc etc)
• Slow Cooker (extraordinarily useful – up to 9 hours of cooking)
• Porridge Cooker (great to set and have porridge available in the morning – although I also love to cook porridge, especially steel cut oats, in the slow cooker)

I have had a slow cooker most of my cooking life, and have an ancient, orange one that still sits on my shelves. It is just that the Rice Cooker Slow setting is so convenient, always sitting on my benchtop. I have used it to make yoghurt, cook unsoaked chickpeas for freezing, rice congee, porridge and soups. I find that for most things except the chickpeas, it is good to place them into a saucepan and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes or more while you potter around the kitchen getting your meal ready. It seems to balance the flavours and “complete” the dish more than serving straight from the cooker.

So here is a recipe for Turtle Beans Slow Cooked in the Rice Cooker, adapted from an excellent recipe from Babble. Turtle Beans have a dense, earthy texture and flavor, slightly salty and reminiscent of mushrooms.

Turtle Beans Slow Cooked in the Rice Cooker

Source : inspired by Babble, who adapted a recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Cuisine: unknown
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 8 or more hours
Serves: 4 – 6 people, depending how you use it

ingredients
2 Tblspn or more ghee or olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped (dice if stalks are wide)
1 red capsicum, diced
1 – 2 carrots, diced
5 garlic cloves, chopped fine or put through a garlic press
1 fresh red chilli, chopped finely (or use dried if you don’t have fresh)
1 Tblspn cumin seed
1.5 tspn turmeric powder
2 cups turtle beans (these are black beans. I have also made this soup with whole masoor dal – whole red lentils – with great success)
1/4 – 1 Tblspn chilli powder, depending on your tolerance for heat.
1/2 – 1 tspn smoked paprika (optional)
7 cups water or vegetarian stock
juice of a lime or half a lemon
Celtic sea salt

method

Switch your rice cooker on and set it to the Rice Cooking or Steaming setting. Leave the lid open.

Add the oil or ghee, and after a few moments, add the diced onions, celery, carrots and capsicum. Stir with a wooden spoon and allow to sauté until soft and looking like they are beginning to brown. The browning adds a depth of flavour to the dish.

Add the garlic, fresh chilli and cumin seed. Stir and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes.

Now switch the rice cooker to its slow cooking setting. You may need to turn the rice cooker off and then on again to change settings.

Add the beans, turmeric, chilli powder and stock or water. Stir, close the lid and cook on low heat for up to 9 hours. My cooker will switch to “keep warm” setting when it is finished, which is just right for a long day at work. Slow cooked dishes are infinitely forgiving in the amount of time that they are cooked.

[UPDATE: Some cookers will cook quicker than others, ie at a higher temperature. Check the cooker after about 5 hours for water levels and "doneness". I made this in my daughter's cooker (Panasonic) and it was sufficiently cooked after 5.5 hours. It is worth doing a test run when you use your slow cooking setting for the first time.]

As you are preparing the rest of the meal, tip the soup into a saucepan and bring to a simmer on the stove. With an immersion blender, partially puree the soup in the pan so that some is pureed and some beans remain whole. If you dont have an immersion blender, blend half of the soup in a blender.

Add the lemon or lime juice and season with salt and a pinch of black pepper.  Allow it to simmer until you are ready to serve. Or if you want to keep it until the next day (flavour improves even more), simmer for 10 minutes, cool and refrigerate.

Serve with fresh green coriander and/or a dollop of yoghurt, sour cream, creme fraiche or mascarpone cream (leave off for a vegan dish).

The Soup Series

• Cauliflower Walnut Cream
• Ginger Garlic Lentil Soup
• Golden Gentle Dal
• ISKON Easy Mung Dal
• Pumpkin and Red Pepper Soup
• Spicy Parsnip and Carrot Soup
• Spicy Rustic Red Lentil Soup with Thick Thick Yoghurt
• Take a Tomato - Quick Tomato Soup
• Taking Stock - Making Great Vege Stocks
• Tomato Rasam for a SPICE Hit!
• Urad Tamatar Dal (Urad Dal with Tomatoes)
• Velouté d’asperges (Cream of Asparagus Soup)

Read More on Turtle Beans

• Panfried Turtle Bean Cakes 
• Turtle Beans with Green Lentils
• Chocolate Turtle Bean Tosadas
• Veggie Black Bean Burgers
• Black Bean, Corn and Quinoa Salad
• Black Bean and Avocado Salad
• Turtle Bean and Rice Soup in a Crockpot

Other ways with Turtle Beans

• Turtle Bean Salad with crunchy red and green peppers, onion, coriander and a tangy umeboshi vinegar dressing.
• Turtle Bean HotPot made with sweet corn, leeks, onion, bay leaves, mint, garlic, cajun style spices, paprika, black pepper, fennel seed, cinnamon, thyme, cayenne.

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