Brazilian Black Beans (Yummmmmm)

I am not vegan, but I have friends are so when I make this recipe I often use Vegie stock instead of a meat stock. However, you can use whatever suits your tastebuds and pocketbooks. :-) No matter how I have made it I ALWAYS get rave reviews. Yeah ME!!!

Begin soaking beans at least 4 hours before assembling.

2 cups dry black beans

31/2 cups water or stock

 2 tsp. salt

               Group A    

1 cup chopped onion3 cloves crushed garlic

1 large, chopped carrot

1 stalk chopped celery

1 cup chopped green pepper (optional)

2 tsp. curry

2 Tbs. oil

Group B

2 oranges; peeled, sectioned and seeded

1/2 cup orange juice

1 Tbs. water

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. red pepper 

1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1. Rinse the beans. Cover them with water and let them soak for several hours. Pour off excess water. Place in saucepan with 3 1/2 cups of stock. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours over very low heat. ( I put the beans and stock in the crock pot on low all night and turned it up to high whenn I woke up.)

2. Saute' group A, beginning with the onions and garlic. If necessary, add a little water to the vegetables to steam them along. Wheneverthing seems just as it should be, add saute' to the beans. Let the soup continue to simmer over lowest heat possible. (Ok, I was a little baffled with the "as it should be" part. What I took that to means is just saute' the vegies til they are aldente', but not brown) Also I add the 2 tsp. of salt at this point cuz when you add salt to beans while they are cooking it takes FOREVER for them to get soft.

3. Add group B to the soup. Give it a stir, cover and sit down for 10 minutes. Now, return to the soup, refreshed. Look at it and ask yourself if this soup suits you. Is it too thick? Add water. Do you want thicker, heartier? You can puree' some or all of it in the blender. You can make it hotter with more pepper.

I serve mine over white or brown rice. My family loves it!!!